The Unclad Soul

Let us give action to our finest impulses, people of this great free land… Let us be superior to our fears, to the easy prejudices, to the ugly urge to hate, to the poison of arrogance, to the quick judgment, to the coward’s tactic of bullying, to the stubbornness of always being right, and to all things that demean, and discredit, that hurt and ruin, that drag all of us away from our giant selves so capable of love… Let us lift our voices in praise of life, in celebration of the human spirit that wants, that craves, that needs goodness… Let us fall on our knees in awe of children, of the wise, of the brave, of the undaunted… Let us clap our hands and stand in honor of soldiers and teachers, of librarians and therapists, of gardeners and wait staff, of flight attendants and firemen, of street vendors and retail clerks, of nursing aids and grill cooks, of bartenders and stay at home moms… Let us speak up for the u...

This comment is the best I've seen so far regarding the Boston tragedy. It comes from retired Anglican Bishop the Rev. Steven Charleston. It was posted on my friend Dale McNeil's page. "Why? Why the pointless cruelty, O God? Why the premeditated evil that comes to bring death, pain and sorrow to innocent lives and leaves us stunned to imagine a heart so cold it could conceive such an act? We cannot understand it, God, we cannot make sense of the senseless. And how should we respond even if we did understand? Tooth for tooth, eye for eye, would it end the madness or return the lost to live again? Come, Spirit of God, come stand with us in this darkness. Hold the fallen in your arms. Heal the injured. Comfort the broken-hearted. And if you cannot tell us why we do this to ourselves, show us how to love more deeply, that such pain will never be the final word, but rather mercy that needs no explanation."