# Prayers for Parkland, Florida
*2020-05-02*

> In response to the tragic school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Bill Young offers reflections on grief and gun ownership, followed by traditional Catholic prayers for the tempted, the sick, and the departed.

## Reflections on a Tragedy

Today is the evening of Ash Wednesday, 2018, and we are doing a special episode due to the tragedy just about half an hour north of where we live in Parkland, Florida. At a high school today, seventeen students and teachers were killed by a nineteen-year-old gunman. The details coming out are sad, though there were acts of heroism.

While I am normally a supporter of Second Amendment rights, in this case, I believe we should perhaps require a person to be at least 21 years old to own a gun, unless there is an exception for active military or police. This young man was an emotionally distraught child; I heard on the news that he lost his mother just a few months ago. Knowing how disturbing it was when I lost my mother at seventeen, I can imagine his state. He apparently lacked a stable relationship with parents. We must try to stop this in the future so that young people are not given the opportunity to hold a firearm at the age of nineteen.

## Prayer in Time of Temptation

For anyone out there thinking about violence, there is a very appropriate prayer written by St. Albert the Great called 'Prayer in Time of Temptation.' St. Albert references Luke 22:40-46, where Christ warns His disciples against the seduction of evil.

Lord Jesus Christ, who led me into the desert of penance, protect me so that I do not succumb to the tempter. May my pride nor my dignity as a child of God keep me away from the rigors of penance. With Your word of truth, change the rigors of penance, which the tempter calls stones, so that they may become bread, and turn into stones the pleasures which the tempter calls bread. May the tempter not seek to take me to the pinnacle of the temple to make me believe I am superior to others, nor throw me to the ground with false humility. May the tempter not take me to the mountain of ambition where, blinded by greed, I would pay homage. Drive far from me all things in opposition so that I may adore and serve You alone, my Lord. May the tempter let go so that Your angels may surround me to guard me from evil and sustain me in doing good.

## Prayers for the Sick and Injured

We also pray for all those who were injured and for the aching hearts of the family members. 

Oh my God, this sick person comes before You to ask for what he or she desires most. May it be important in their heart to be healthy in soul. Lord, may Your holy will be done in him or her in everything. If You will that they be healed, may their health be restored. But if it is not Your will, may he or she continue to carry their cross. I pray also for those who intercede for them; purify our hearts and make us worthy of manifesting Your holy mercy. Protect them and relieve their pains. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

## Remembering the Departed

As we wear the ashes on our foreheads this Ash Wednesday, we are reminded that from ashes we came and to ashes we shall go. Lent is the time to make us ready for that return. We pray for the seventeen souls lost in Parkland and their families.

Saints of God, come to their aid. Angels of the Lord, receive their souls and present them to God the Most High Almighty. May the Christ who called you take you to Himself. May the angels lead you to Abraham's side. Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and may the light shine upon them forever and ever. 

Oh powerful, merciful God, we commend to You Your servants, those seventeen in Parkland. In Your mercy and love, blot out the sins they committed through human weakness in their short lives. Now that they have died to this world, let them live with You forever and ever. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Eternal rest grant unto them, Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.

## The Power of Prayer

I saw a news report where a rabbi was asked how to comfort a distraught grandmother who lost her granddaughter. The rabbi replied that there are no words that can comfort her, but prayer is the only thing that can help us in this time of need. 

We pray that these seventeen souls go to heaven. Some of them died protecting students; I heard of one teacher who was killed while trying to close his classroom door to protect his pupils. Let us pray that the next person who may have thoughts of killing innocent lives will find the prayer of St. Albert the Great and not be tempted by Satan. Our God is more powerful and more merciful than any other source in this world.

*In times of unspeakable tragedy, when words fail to comfort, prayer is the only thing that can truly help us and the souls of the departed.*