As the United States is caught in a violent grasp of terror, watching the reports of a senseless shooting in Las Vegas…watching the horrific images of people running and screaming…. we find ourselves wrought with fear and trepidation…Our hearts filled with anger and uncertainty…We need to pause and catch our breath…resting on the quietness of God. Then, as we remember the patron saint of Oct. 4th, St. Francis of Assisi, we need to turn our trembling  hearts to the Lord, and placing our trust in Him, we should pray…

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love;

         where there is injury, pardon;and where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand; to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive, it is pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

On a day when we are faced with a violence we can’t understand…and more questions than we have answers for…..let us unite ourselves in this prayer of peace, as we mourn for those who were killed or for those who lost loved ones.  Let us also pray as we unite ourselves in prayers of thanksgiving for those who were spared…for those who made it out alive…But, we need to remember, there is a long road of healing before them…they will need our prayers, long after the camera men are gone….They will need to be lifted up, so that they will be able to find the love of God in all of this… and not lose hope.

The world has become home to an angry giant, which will not rest until people turn away from the Truth about God and give up hope…it’s that downward spiral we often talk about...Situations like these bring out the worst in men…but they also bring out the best in them as well….Work on the side of God… And in order to do that, we must become like St. Francis and imitate the Lord with our life…with our hearts… We must unite our hearts with those saints who came before us…and offer our prayers to the Lord, so that with each and every moment of our every day…we may grow to reflect the Light of Christ to everyone we meet… in both the good times and the bad...may we become instruments of God’s peace.