Third, what was our response to the killer? Reactions have spanned the spectrum from anger and hatred to pity and prayer. In fact, our response to the killer is indicative of the spiritual health we can expect of our society and will determine whether or not we are feeding or deterring such future atrocities.

As difficult as it might be to hear, the Church’s only Christian response at this fragile moment can be this: Hate the sin, love and pray for the sinner! Christ Himself taught us in word and deed that we are distinguished as Christians only if we can love those who persecute us and pray for those who hate us. In the only prayer, which He actually instructed us to pray, the Lord admonishes us that to expect forgiveness requires that we forgive. In fact, He expended the last breaths of life praying for those who crucified Him with these words, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” By offering this difficult teaching, in fact the Lord gives us the remedy to liberate and expunge hatred from our hearts.

I never cease to be amazed at the spiritual strength of family members who, when addressing their loved one’s murderer at sentencing, can look that convict straight in the eye and with peace in their hearts offer prayer-felt forgiveness. Although the disturbed convict might not appreciate the depth of such words, by sincerely saying them, the family member is released from the spiritual cancer of hatred.

Fourth, for those who have followed, with any sensitivity, the ritual of grief played out at Virginia Tech over the last week, it is clear to observe that the shock of the first day gave way to the reality of horror when, at the memorial convocation, community gathered, votive candles were lit and the names of the victims were read. In fact, this is humanity’s natural and instinctive way of grieving. Indeed, this is how the Church traditionally and for centuries has prayerfully tried to make sense of that which is beyond human comprehension.

Fifth, in due time life will go on, but what will become of the campus and its students. In an almost eerie sense, the Virginia Tech massacre bears a striking reminiscence to 911 and its aftermath. NYC once the vibrant invincible giant was, in but an instant, reduced to a wounded tiger…and Ground Zero once a hotbed of commerce, dominated by the hustle & bustle of Wall Street finance, has now become an almost sacred spiritual burial site and, as result, an essential pilgrimage destination to visitors of Manhattan. Likewise, in our own lives, when we grieve the death of a loved one, absence is felt and that physical place once occupied by our loved one becomes devoid of life. With every passing we are given a stark reality check to the brokenness of this world and the fragility of human life. Most importantly, we are reminded not take life and relationships for granted. And this leads to perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned:

Sixth, if we are shocked, if we are outraged, if we find ourselves fear struck by the what happened at Virginia Tech, perhaps the genus of some these emotions is rooted in our own denial of mortality; In our own denial that some day each and every one of us will die. Such a hypothesis is supported by the evidence that so many of us spend so much time in life looking for distractions; that so many of us spend so much of our hard earned dollars, waste so much of our precious time, expend so much unnecessary effort pursuing things that just give the illusion of eternal youth, when we could and should be more concerned with the weightier matter of eternal life. If we are so obsessed with denying death we must ask ourselves, are we really living life?

Only when we can set aside the fear of physical death and cultivate a life in accordance with the saving teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, can we take hope in Christ’s promise and invitation to share in the Resurrected life. Then, and only then, will the words “Christ is Risen” make sense, and enable us to grow from the suffering we face in life.