Christ be our Light

Our vigil began tonight as the coordinating team gathered for the first hour from 12am-1:00 in the cover of darkness. Jim’s son Jacob dedicated himself to the task of keeping candles lit in spite of the cool breeze coming in, a harbinger of rain. We prayed silently, and then Jim opened the Word, reminding us that Moses did not fear the foe because the Lord stands with the People called in His Name. Then Jane shared a Word from Isaiah, and one image struck me as I listened: that of mourning for the dead.

I was reminded of the glossy obsidian Vietnam Memorial wall in our nation’s capital. I went there with my family at the age of seven and I remember praying for those who died, who were gone but not forgotten. I remember going to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where a daily retinue of soldiers march in solitary staccato for those nameless dead struck down in service to our country. I remember the sombre feeling in my heart and the quiet stillness from the crowd.

This flashback then brought to mind my family’s trip to El Salvador on the 25th Anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Romero, where we visited a memorial wall for all of the Disparecidos, the Disappeared. Over the course of a decade-long and hideous civil war that erupted after Romero’s death in 1981, thousands of persons “disappeared” at the hands of a ruthless military regime. Thousands of civilians remain unaccounted for, their corpses strewn throughout the countryside, and their killers still free to hold public office. The wall lists column after column of innocent men, women, and children who were taken, tortured, and killed under suspicion of conspiracy. Their blood screams to heaven.

So I came back to 320 E. Fulton in prayerful contemplation.

We stand before a wall- a plain, nondescript office wall, remarkable in its banality. Nothing about it would indicate that here takes place a daily atrocity. I feel such peace, such genuine and sacred comfort when I stand in vigil that I forget to mourn sometimes. I feel such blessings for the children that I sometimes forget that they have died a most horrible death.

It’s an easy thing to forget when the children remain nameless, millions of disparecidos, whose names are written in the Book of Life and nowhere else. If we knew each name, and we constructed an obsidian wall…how many miles would it stretch?

When we stand at 320 E. Fulton, we stand in mourning. We honor the memory of those who are gone but not forgotten. They barely had the chance to exist, but they are not forgotten! Our solidarity with them draws us into the mystery of God’s unfathomable mercy. We have no concept of 48 million. It’s too vast a number. We vainly compute the devastation of the Shoah. We barely grasp what it meant that a few thousand died on September 11 or that a few thousand have died in Iraq.

How can we hope to fathom 48 million lives taken, tortured, and buried under miles and miles of deceipt and ignorance?

Thus we pray.

We entrust each and every life to God’s mercy. We pray that the radiance of the Lord’s mercy—the blood and water gushing forth from His side—we pray that it may wash over 320 E. Fulton. We pray that a healing baptism of tears may wash over this bloodstained and saturated ground.

As I spoke this prayer in the stillness of my heart, in the wee small hours of the morning, it began to rain. Droplets fell like tears, and they began to wash the building.

Baptism washed away our sin and claimed each one of us for Jesus Christ. Let us pray that Jesus baptize this plot of earth, this place of devastation so that a transformation may take place. And as it takes place in this city, let it transform every city where 40Days has commenced; let it transform every heart:

-the heart of the abortionist and the staff
-the heart of the mother wracked with fear and desperation, or worse, apathy
-the heart of the pedestrians passing by
-the heart of the drivers cruising past
- your heart and mine!

And as the Lord transforms our hearts, may He transform this nation. May healing be brought to our land: May divisions cease, may justice prevail, may Love reign supreme!!!

May the Lord transform the heart of our President and his administration.
May the Lord transform the hearts of our Senators and Representatives.
May the Lord transform the hearts of those who gather in judicial chambers.
May the Lord transform the hearts of those who study and practice medicine.
May the Lord transform the hearts of those who practice and uphold the Law.
May the Lord transform.

May God reign victorious. May walls crumble. May 320 be claimed for Christ, the Author of Life. May each of our hearts be claimed for Christ. May the Water of Life cleanse us from our sin and wash away all of our iniquities. AMEN+ Alleluia!

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy~ envelop each child in your loving care and welcome each victim into the sacred abode of your everlasting peace. Let your perpetual light shine upon each one of them and bring us all at last into the peace of your Kingdom, where you reign forever and ever and unto ages of ages. Master of the Universe, who created the stars, who clothed the lilies of the field: THY WILL BE DONE!