In a mosque in Ste-Foy in the City of Québec full of devout Muslims gathered for Evening Prayer, their chanting was shattered by the crack of gunfire, leaving six people dead, scores of others injured, a neighbourhood traumatized, and a nation horrified.
My heart, indeed the hearts of all people of good will, goes out to all Muslims across Canada as they struggle with this terrible attack. We hold in our prayers those who have died, for their families and for their imams who care for them in their grief. We also pray for those who have been injured and for those tending them. We remember too the police, and all others whose daily work is to “serve and protect”.
At moments like this, people of faith must stand together in solidarity for those values common to our respective religious traditions: the adoration of God, the respect we owe one another as fellow human beings, and the care with which we tend the earth, our common home.
In the Readings for Sunday past we heard the call of the prophet Micah – “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God?” (6:6-8). We also heard Jesus teaching in the Beatitudes, that we are called to be merciful, to hunger and thirst for right relations with one another, to do what makes for peace among all.
These are the values that make us children of God, friends in faith, and citizens of the world. Please join me in praying for the people of Ste-Foy and especially for our Muslim friends in this very difficult time.
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