The first response of a Christian community to such tragedy must be one of tears and sorrow, of the Scrippresence and solidarity with the families of the slain. Quick and facile answers are not what they need right now; they need our love and compassion.

The second response of the Christian community is done through ritual—a word that often has bad connotations but is so important at crucial points in our lives and history. Ritual is the way a community responds to mystery of life (baptism), love (marriage), community (Eucharist), sickness (anointing) and death (funerals). Ritual gives structure and context to our mourning. It allows the community publicly to mourn, reflect and pray.

The most difficult response is trying to give meaning to such senseless waste of life. If God is all powerful and all loving, how can he allow such evil? It is clear that God is not all powerful in the face of human freedom. Our freedom limits his power. God did not want these children to die. While I find this an intellectually credible response, it gives little comfort at a time like this. And there is lots of tragedy in the world (hurricanes, tsunamis, cancer) that is not the result of human freedom.

In the Scriptures I find a God of compassion, but like Job I find no satisfactory answer to the problem of evil. I believe that our minds are too small to understand the mystery of evil. Rather than giving us an answer, God became one with us in our suffering in Jesus. Because he could not explain it, he joined us in our suffering. Not only did God lose a son, he suffered and died like us. Likewise, for centuries mourning mothers have turned to Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, because “she understands.”

But as Christians, we know that death is not the end. We believe in the Resurrection. God will not let death and evil have the last word. Just as he raised Jesus, so too he will raise us and give us victory over death. “Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters, and all who have left this world in your friendship. There we hope to share in your glory where every tear will be wiped away.”