Mourning

We are told that almost a year ago, a little boy named Martin Richard from the Dorchester section of Boston made a bright blue sign for school. It was decorated with hearts and the words, "No more hurting people.” 

We monks grieve with our nation and our world and try to understand the violence that took away young Martin’s life in the explosions in Boston on Monday. Prayer and our own efforts to be more loving help us parse the incomprehensible. And the heart of Jesus is our only refuge. For it is the compassion of Christ that urges us on to go and do likewise, to be compassionate, to create a place, a world where peace and prayer and compassion and forgiveness may have a home.