Open Our Hearts To Hope

Today we join the Church in remembering those affected by the Navy Yard shooting here in Washington, D.C. yesterday. Together we pray for the victims and their families with the very same words that Blessed John Paul II used, the day after the September 11th attacks in New York City twelve years ago:

O Almighty and merciful God, you cannot be understood by one who sows discord,  you cannot be accepted by one who loves violence:   look upon our painful human condition  tried by cruel acts of terror and death,  comfort your children  and open our hearts to hope,  so that our time may again know  days of serenity and peace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

May the Mother of Peace and Justice pray for her children, that they may draw close to her Son in their suffering and trials.