In a tragic moment like this, people often turn to the Church to help them make sense of what has happened. But, truth be told, we don’t have an answer for them. We don’t know what to think either. But while we may not know what to think, we do know what to do.

When The Rev. Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) was asked by a parent how she could talk with her children about the sorts of violent tragedies that happened over the past weekend, he replied that his mother had always told him to focus not on the victims but on the helpers who tried to make things better afterwards.

Jesus, in seeing the crowd who were like sheep without a shepherd, begins to teach them what they need to know to discover the Kingdom of God that is breaking in upon them. And he will tell his disciples that it is their job to give the crowd something to eat.

Perhaps as we see people in pain and shock following the shootings in Colorado, we might hear Jesus’ words to his disciples and apply them to ourselves and to this particular moment.