Mourning for Parkland: 'Pray like Jesus'

By Cristina Cabrera Jarro -

DORAL| Miguel Angel Ruiz never imagined that he would see a time when he would drop off his two sons at school, embrace them, then wonder, “Will I see them again?”

“There used to be three guaranteed safe places in the world for children: with their family, the church and school,” Ruiz said. “Now, people are afraid to leave their children with priests and at schools; we have the threat of weapons, and families are being torn left and right.

“What safe place is left for our children?”

His questions ring out since the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where Nikolas Cruz was accused of killing 17 people, injuring more than a dozen and forever changing the lives of thousands more.

Ruiz, who directs catechesis at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Doral, acknowledged the many who cry out for justice and gun control reform. But he also told his students that this was the best time to take a Christ-like example and truly learn to forgive.

“What would Jesus do in this moment?” he asked three groups of students from the religious education program in grades six through nine, along with their parents — a total of 100 listeners — at a prayer and reflection service during the weekend of Feb. 24.

He answered his own question with the biblical story about Jesus and a widow whose son died. "He approached her, prayed and resurrected her son. I know Jesus won’t resurrect these 17 before our eyes, but like in the Bible, he sympathized and was compassionate with the widow.

“Jesus’ attitude is to pray and ask for forgiveness,” Ruiz continued. “Look at him at the cross: 'Lord, forgive, for they know not what they do.' ”

Ruiz said that many of his students had trouble accepting the concept. They asked him —sometimes tearfully — how they could forgive someone who committed such an atrocity, he said.

His answer: “Nikolas needs to be judged according to the law, and he will pay for what he did. But as a child of God, we need to pray that he finds his way back to God.”

A ceremony at the gathering reflected that lesson: Eighteen candles were lighted, including one for the shooter himself.

Students wrote prayers on green cards — a color symbolizing hope — and placed them at the foot of the Blessed Sacrament in the parish chapel. Parents were asked to reflect on their relations with their children, and were urged to find a more loving approach to reprimanding them.

Ruiz reminded his listeners that the way to change the world is not with firearms, but by becoming more saintlike.

“If we can be like the saints, then we can truly change the world,” he said. “And this is the attitude of what it means to be a Christian.”