From the September 27-28 Bulletin:
There are moments in history that remain etched in our hearts forever.
I still remember that Friday, November 22, 1963. I was only a child in first grade at St. Timothy’s Catholic School when our principal, Sister Mary Bede, came over the loudspeaker to announce that President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed. We knelt, we prayed, and we were dismissed early. When I arrived home and saw my mother in tears, the reality of loss and disbelief sank in.
Years later, on September 11, 2001, I was serving as Director of Faith Formation at Our Lady of the Lake Parish in Holland, Michigan. That morning, as I was preparing to speak to young mothers about raising their children in the faith, the tragic news began to unfold, of one plane then another crashing into the Twin Towers. Our parish staff sat together in stunned silence, watching as fear and grief gripped our nation.
This year, on August 27, news broke of the killing of two students and the wounding of many more during Mass at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis. Young lives lost, innocence shattered—at a school Mass of all places. Once again, disbelief gave way to sorrow and even a sense of insecurity.
And then, just days later, another act of violence reminded me how fragile life can be and how real evil is in our world. In recent days, I came across a few videos of Charlie Kirk. Whether or not one agrees with his views, I was struck by the way he engaged with people who disagreed with him. He would lower his microphone while they spoke, listening with patience and respect. Only after they had finished did he raise the microphone again to respond. What a simple, but powerful, example of treating others with dignity—even in disagreement. This is a quality our world sorely needs and one that we as Christians are called to model.
My friends, we cannot deny that evil exists. We see it. We feel it. We grieve it. And yet, Christ never calls us to give in to despair. He does not invite us to live in fear or let darkness dictate our response. Instead, He calls us to courage, to light, to hope. His cross and resurrection assure us: evil may roar, but it will never, ever have the final word.
So what is our response? We must become people of prayer, people of love, people of steadfast witness. We must treat others with dignity and respect—even those with whom we disagree. We must build communities where hope is stronger than hate, where mercy overcomes violence, and where the light of Christ outshines every shadow.
Evil must not win. And, through Christ, it will not win. The empty tomb is our eternal proof.
So let us go forward – not hiding, not shrinking back, but shining the light of Christ in every word, every action, and every encounter. This is how we honor those who have been lost. This is how we resist evil. And this is how, by God’s grace, we live as Easter people: people of hope.
Love,
Fr. Mark
