In wake of Pennsylvania shooting, Charlotte bishop urges people to respect others, seek common good
CHARLOTTE — Bishop Michael Martin, OFM Conv., has issued the following statement after news earlier today about the attack on former President Donald Trump during a political rally in Butler, Pa., that killed one attendee and injured two others:
Please join me in praying for the people who were killed and injured today in Pennsylvania, and for former President Trump’s recovery. This is a call of conscience to all people of goodwill. Let us take this moment to reflect on how we must act in our own lives to help bring an end to all violence. Let us not simply condemn today’s attack but root out the anger in our own hearts that can affect our words and our actions.
Scripture reminds us we are all made in the image and likeness of God. That means something, especially in our great democracy. It means we must treat other people – all people – with the sacredness that is due to all of God's children. We must respectfully listen to each other, care about others’ welfare, and seek the common good – even and especially when we disagree on how that may be best achieved.
Please take a moment with me to reflect on St. Francis of Assisi’s Peace Prayer seeking God’s wisdom for how we can personally respond and demonstrate that we truly are one nation under God:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I 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.
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Pray for us!
+Michael T. Martin, OFM Conv.
Bishop of Charlotte