Today the world has witnessed yet another terrorist attack on innocent people. This time it was a van crashing through hundreds of people along the beautiful Las Ramblas Boulevard in Barcelona, Spain. Breaking news reported at least thirteen fatalities and more than eighty injured.
As we remember the dead, we pray for those who grieve their tragic deaths. As we remember the injured, we pray for those who will sit at their bedsides and the medical teams who will tend them. As we remember all those traumatized by this atrocity, we pray for all who minister to them.
So long as we pray for them, let us be bold in praying for those who with such malicious intent inflict such horrific suffering on others. Let us pray that they be turned from their malice, their hearts be moved and their plans thwarted.
With people of all faith traditions who condemn the terrorism that stalks our world, we gather in our churches, mosques, synagogues and temples, in our homes and in our public squares, turning with one voice and one heart to God.
May our world be turned from violence to compassion, from malice to mercy, from fear to freedom.
Amen.
The Most Rev. Fred Hiltz
Archbishop and Primate
The Anglican Church of Canada