Weekly Scripture Reflections
April 25, 2007-Easter 3
The Tragedy at Virginia Tech: A Reflection
This reflection
originally appeared at the Catholics on Call Web site.
I grew up in Virginia and most of my family still lives in that beautiful state. As an avid sports fan, I have spent many hours watching Virginia Tech teams playing football and basketball over the years. One of my nephews, Christopher, is a junior at Virginia Tech and an engineering major. Some of the students killed on Monday were his friends, and some of the professors who lost their lives had been his teachers. In conversations with Christopher’s family this week, I caught a glimpse into the shock and grief being experienced by everyone in the Virginia Tech family. This tragedy hit close to home.
Whether you are from Virginia or not, in many ways this tragedy hit close to home for all of us. Universities and other schools are supposed to be safe places – sanctuaries – where young people can learn with a free and open spirit. All of us have been students in schools of different kinds, and we know how vulnerable young people can be if appropriate security is missing. We realize, too, that we live in a society that is scarred by violence. That violence is manifest in the television shows we watch, the music we listen to, the video games we play, and in the fact that handguns are easy to purchase and available in abundance.
Many have offered reflections and posed questions about the terrible events of last Monday. One thought that has been on my mind is simply that of the fragility of human life. Our lives and the lives of those we love are very fragile. We are vulnerable to so many forces that can take life away from us, whether they be hurricanes like Katrina, bacteria and viruses that cannot even be seen without a microscope, or violence perpetrated by others who are sick. The human psyche is also quite fragile, as is evident in the life of the young man whose mental disturbance went unattended to and whose personal torment ended in horrific violence.
We are very fragile creatures, so dependent on our Creator and on one another. Those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ are called to share the grief of the Virginia Tech community, wherever we may live or whatever school we may attend. Moreover, Christians are called to re-commit themselves to reverence for the gift of human life and action to protect this gift. Such wanton destruction of life is a summons to us to ask ourselves about our own commitment to the sanctity of human life at every stage, from conception until natural death. Do we reverence the gift of human life by the way we speak to others? Through the television we watch and the music we listen to? By the way we deal with our anger toward others? In the ways we relate to the poor, the elderly and persons with disabilities? Through our concern for those who may be isolated and on the margins, as was that Virginia Tech senior who perpetrated the killings?
We pray that our good God may grant eternal life and peace to all who lost their lives on Monday and that God may bring healing to the injured. And we remember grieving families, students, faculty and others in the Virginia Tech community. For the rest of us, may this terrible tragedy serve as a reminder of the fragility of human life and of the call of every Christian, and every person of good will, to reverence the life of every person.