Weekly Message September 19, 2025

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

Last week, our nation was shaken once again by gun violence. Charlie Kirk was publicly assassinated with a bolt-action rifle, and at the same time, in Evergreen, Colorado, a sixteen-year-old opened fire at his school, critically injuring classmates before taking his own life.

Gun violence is not an abstract issue—it leaves us grieving, divided, and weary as a people. Yet alongside this physical violence grows another: the fracturing of friendships, families, and communities over political and cultural disagreements. Too often, disagreement no longer leads to dialogue but to rejection, hostility, and even hatred.

Metropolitan Ieronymos of Kalavryta recently reminded us: “The Church speaks when necessary and is silent when praying.” Silence is not indifference but intercession—entrusting to Christ those wounds beyond words. As Christians, we cannot abandon others for their views but must pray with them and for them, seeking peace in a divided world.

Disagreement never justifies hatred. Never revenge. Never violence. Our calling is to hold firm to our convictions while treating one another with dignity and compassion.

This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us to take up our cross and follow Christ. The Cross is not only suffering—it is the choice to love instead of hate, to bring peace instead of violence, to see even opponents as children of God.

Whatever our views, we must agree that human life and dignity are sacred. The way of the Cross is hard, but it is the way that heals. May we walk it together, offering our lives as witnesses to Christ’s peace in a world desperate for it.

With love and respect