Violated

If you are an active follower of the news, you may have heard about a shooting that occurred during Mass in an Ogden parish.  Saint James the Just is in fact our home parish, fortunately our family was not there during the shooting, and we did not know the family involved.  We followed the story closely, prayed, and worried for our priest, our friends, and the Evans family, all of whom were indeed affected by the violent act. Otherwise,  I had felt pretty removed from the whole thing until we went to Mass this last Sunday.  As we walked into the sanctuary there were three full pews missing.  They had been sent out to be reupholstered.  It was disconcerting, to say the least.  It was then I realized our parish, our sanctuary had been violated.  It was then I realized how deeply those who witnessed the horror of the previous Sunday had their peace violated, and here they were once more, undaunted, and ready to celebrate the Mass in this sacred space.  Evil could hold no sway over our parish.

Our priest gave an awesome homily on Sunday.  You can read it in it's written form here on his blog, but delivered personally it held that much more power and conviction.  Jim Evans is home and recovering as well as can be expected.  His attacker is in jail, awaiting trial and man's judgement.  Our parish community is deeply wounded but not defeated.  Please keep the Evans family, Father Erik, and our parish family in your prayers.