Our Friday morning was a carbon copy of our every other normal school day morning, but across the country the school day morning at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut was shattered by gun fire, violence, and terror. A school shooting, 28 dead. Children, families, communities devastated in minutes. Our everyday morning became an afternoon of mourning.
In considering this tragedy I found comfort in these words:
"When Christ rose from the grave, becoming the firstfruits of the Resurrection, He made that gift available to all. And with that sublime act, He softened the devastating, consuming sorrow that gnaws at the souls of those who have lost precious loved ones.
I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross. It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God.
But the doom of that day did not endure.
The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind. And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise...
Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.
But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." Joseph B. Wirthlin: Sunday Will Come
I celebrate Christmas because I believe that Christ was born on earth and lived as the Son of God. I believe He gave His life on the cross and became the Savior of all mankind. I believe that on Easter morning He was resurrected and because of that all of us will also be resurrected and reunited with our loved ones. And in that day, like on the morning of Christ's resurrection, there will be joy where there was sorrow.
I ache for those who will spend nights of anguish and emptiness as they mourn this tragedy. I pray they will remember when they face Christmas without their children, that because of Christmas, they will have their children again, and that because of Christ, "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."Psalms 30:5
