Rachel weeping

I was standing in a throng of people gathered at the Christkindlmarket in Chicago's Daley plaza on Friday afternoon when I looked up at a gargantuan TV screen on the side of a neighboring building and realized something horrific had happened. O my God.

Every Tuesday the children and I stand in our icon corner for our morning prayers and remember by name those family members, friends, and strangers who have departed this life before us. At the beginning of this month, we added the name of the infant James, our friend's son whose life ended in his mother's womb. Last Monday, we added the name of Michael, my dear friend's father whose life was cut short after a three-year battle with cancer. Yesterday afternoon with much fear I finally allowed myself to read one article about Friday's murders and I wrote the names of Newtown, Connecticut's holy innocents on a blank sheet of paper and wept and mourned anew. Tomorrow my children and I will stand with the saints. I will stare at the icon of Christ harrowing hell and do the only thing I know to do, pray. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy.

Memory eternal

Charlotte

Daniel

Rachel

Olivia

Josephine

Ana

Dylan

Dawn

Madeline

Catherine

Chase

Jesse

James

Grace

Anne Marie

Emilie

Jack

Noah

Caroline

Jessica

Avielle

Lauren

Mary

Victoria

Benjamin

Allison

Nancy