Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
The EditorsMarch 08, 2018
A young woman mourns in front of a memorial as hundreds of students and parents arrive for campus orientation Feb. 25 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Attendance at the orientation was voluntary but it was being held in anticipation of the school officially reopening Feb. 28. (CNS photo/Angel Valentin, Reuters)

The Christian tradition gives us powerful symbols with which to enter into the Lenten season of penance and reflection on sin and death. This year, an ancient symbol saw its significance magnified all the more on a tragic Ash Wednesday. The news media on Feb. 14 carried numerous images of distraught parents outside a school in Parkland, Fla., many with ashes still on their foreheads, as they waited to hear if their children were alive or dead after yet another mass shooting.

The images could have come straight from Scripture: parents marked by signs of penitence and sorrow, lamenting the suffering of their children, anxious for good news and fearing the worst. As we move through the final weeks of Lent and await the coming of Easter, their suffering is a poignant reminder to the rest of us of our need for hope and for resurrection into new life. And the courageous witness of the student-survivors in their fight for gun safety is a reminder of the need for action in this life.

More: Lent / Guns
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
Edward Graff
7 years 4 months ago

God bless these kids. May their voices be heard.

The latest from america

In his message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Leo XIV encouraged parishes to put more effort into caring for the elderly.
Amid concern over immigration enforcement raids in the area, the bishop of San Bernardino, California, on July 8 issued a dispensation from the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for the faithful if they fear for their well-being.
Father Joshua Whitfield of Dallas, Texas spoke to OSV News after the devastating flash flooding in Texas on July 4.
Although I had set out to answer the question, “Who is Pope Leo XIV?” the question I had succeeded in answering was “Who is Robert Prevost?”
Colleen DulleJuly 10, 2025