Florida trip summary

We ended this trip on a down night as our beloved Fighting Irish lost to those convicts from Miami.

It did not dampen my spirits at all. This trip was cathartic and therapeutic and reenergizing. Many prayers were said, and a few tears were shed as I tried desperately to apply bigger-picture thinking to the riddle of how such beauty and ugliness can share the same space.

This is a search larger than singular events, and it transcends the normal limits of our attention span. Having experienced events that have utterly wrecked my life, I am trying to understand how a Loving God is able to work His will to power in both bringing good out of the shipwreck and in sustaining the survivors while they try their best to go on, beaten, battered and grief stricken.

Florida is a state as beautiful as I dreamed and it was all around me. Surf and sun and palm trees everywhere.

I was transfixed and felt like I was in another country. That makes the mission so much more confusing to the senses. Surrounded by all this beauty and wonder, I stood on a sidewalk, in front of a school that was a scene viewed across America 7 years ago. It was a scene of chaos. It was a scene of running students, frantic parents and stretchers, fire trucks, ambulances and police.

image from Fox News

I watched in horror, as all of you did and 7 years later, I'm still trying to come to grips with this senseless evil. Yesterday, I placed 14 red roses at the grave of victim Gina Rose Montalto.

Gina, pray for us.

Now, it's back to work tomorrow and the journey of faith continues. You will see much in the coming days.