Sacramento, April 2022
I do what I can to resist a creeping numbness concerning gun violence and renew my efforts to say and do what I need to keep myself human.
Divine Mother,
Heavenly Father
and all other aspects
of the Ultimate Source
of Truth and All That Is:
Please be with us and our brothers and sisters who are suffering from the news of this latest tragedy and grieving the loss of friends, loved ones and community members.
Please help all who struggle to find new meaning, purpose and joy living in this world that presents us with holes where our hearts feel a lost loved one should still be.
Help us to know their essential natures live on although unseen by mortal eyes.
Help us to see our lost ones in unexpected beauty and kindnesses this world still offers us, even as we grieve deeply.
We pray the lost will be redeemed and remembered and that their spirits will find peace and grace.
We pray that we become better teachers so, when we encounter tormented souls sliding down a path to violence, our natures will help them see
better choices,
better options,
better futures
than the desperate acts they may be contemplating or even simply drifting toward unconsciously.
May we see and know and act on opportunities that come to us to make a positive difference in the lives of those who happen to enter our presence, no matter how briefly.
May we continue the good works of fallen brothers and sisters and take up those tasks, as we are able, that they had to leave uncompleted.
May we bring comfort and support to the grieving.
May the tormented souls find Mercy, Forgiveness, Redemption and Release from any demons, real or imagined, that compelled them to take another’s life.
May we judge not, lest we be judged.
May we not wish ill on anyone, lest we sink into hating and, like falling dominoes, perpetuate the violence we would pray should come to an end.
We seek to break the cycles of trauma, pain and abuse that haunt our world today.
We ask your divine hands to life us up to become ever-better versions of ourselves, even as we seek to become closer to You by uplifting others and sharing mercy, forgiveness and compassion with our brothers and sisters, no matter how far afield they may stray.
And, if our hearts feel closed to some, please forgive and heal us. We are not perfect even though we try to glimpse what your Perfections might eventually teach us.
Please accept the blood of slain innocents as sacred as the blood of the One you sent us so long ago. May the city of the Sacrament find this communion—
May we see the Sacred in our daily lives, in the bread we eat, in the wine we drink and in the eyes of those who share a table with us.
It is a very large table.
So it is. Amen.
As it happened, I was near Sacramento on April 4, 2022, barely a day after a 2 a.m. shooting in the downtown area left six dead and a dozen more injured. I felt divided— I don’t want to seek out or contribute to sensational event coverage and yet I felt drawn to the place to try to be a witness not to the crime itself, but to the shock and suffering shared by nearly everyone in the area. I hoped maybe I could help to ground intentions for peace, in some subtle way, even if only by practicing quiet meditation or prayer in a nearby park.
If nothing else, I hope this post serves as a reminder of the role we all share “holding space”, listening, reflecting and encouraging people in our lives who’ve been subjected to trauma. By giving voice to our desires for healing and peace, perhaps we subtly enhance the possibility for the same. — Martin Truther Bishop, April 2022.
https://www.kcra.com/article/second-arrest-made-downtown-sacramento-mass-shooting-police/39637559