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“My heart is wrenched,” St. Angela said. My heart – our hearts – are wrenched.

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
Lord, hear my voice! (Psalm 130)

How many cities, how many lives before these…?
Minneapolis – Lord, have mercy!
Baton Rouge – Christ, have mercy!
Dallas – Lord, have mercy!
Nice – Christ, have mercy!
Ankara – Lord, have mercy!
By the time this blog gets posted, what further hatreds will have erupted into murderous violence?

If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt,
Lord, who would survive?

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., had faced the darkness which would eventually take his life. Yet he could say “Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love…. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Our world has so much darkness…. Can I be light?
So many injustices create chasms between parts of the human family…. Can I build bridges?
So much vengeance scars our communities…. Can I forgive?

Angela’s heart was “wrenched” on behalf of the many people who do not know God and are “blind” to God’s love.

The One who prayed from the cross, “Father, forgive them” called each of his followers to be “the light of the world.”

Because with the Lord there is mercy
And fullness of redemption.
Israel indeed God will redeem
From all its iniquity.
 

– Mary-Cabrini