[Diocese of Florida] As we reflect upon the tragedy of dozens murdered and still more wounded on Sunday in Orlando, we recall how it was that “Jesus wept” at the death of his friend Lazarus.

Today we weep at these horrific deaths which grieve our hearts even as they grieve the heart of our Saviour.

So it is that in the midst of things we cannot understand, we fall to our knees in prayer.

We pray for the repose of the souls of the departed.
We pray for the wounded and for their healing.
We pray for those who grieve.
We pray for those whose hearts are so hardened by hatred and anger that they would commit such an atrocity.  May they come to know God and the power of his love.
We pray for Orlando and for our nation.
We pray because we know that prayer has power, ultimately stronger than any of the dark forces sent against us or among us.

Please join me as we pray in the words of St. Francis:
Lord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Samuel Johnson Howard