The recent news of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, broke my heart. I experienced a rush of emotions. I was immediately overwhelmed by sadness and I prayed for everyone involved. Soon, my thoughts included frustration and confusion. Perhaps you experienced these same emotions. How can we stop these senseless killings, I wondered?
One of my favorite scenes in the Bible is when Jesus walks on the water of the Sea of Galilee and calls St. Peter to come out to Him. And Peter does it. He steps out of the boat and onto the water, and he walks toward Our Lord. But then he notices the wind and the storm around him, and he begins to sink. It’s easy to imagine how his fear must have risen as he sank into the cold water. He had been a fisherman on that sea probably his whole life; he knew the dangers and treacheries of the sea during a storm. Perhaps he had seen men drown, or perhaps he simply knew of those who had gone out onto the water and never came back.