Advent at Brown University

Tonight, tears flow through the Advent season— a shadow among candles, a cry among carols.

Again, mothers weep for their children, their grief echoing through sanctuaries and streets.

Something new must be born, for the old ways can no longer hold.

We need angels whose first words are -Do not be afraid.

We need wise ones who still follow stars through the darkness.

We need families, brave enough to cradle one another through the ache of despair.

So we mourn— with the families, the friends, the brokenhearted— and we pray, not only for the wounded, but for the world itself.

May peace— not as the world gives, but as heaven whispers— come again to earth.

May goodwill flow one heart to another, and be born anew.