Assassination of my parishioner’s beloved brother

• “How can we tell mom?” he asked, moments after the fact. “The sicarios [the hitmen for one side or the other of the cartels] have murdered her son, my brother.”
• “Tomorrow is my ‘day off’,” I said. “The Mass intention list is clear. I will offer Mass for him early Tuesday morning.”
• “Thank you, Father.”

“Father.” Yes. For me this is personal. The brother of a son of this parish family was murdered. How could I not take this very personally?

This was in the same place where another parishioner’s father was murdered just the other year, four shots to the back of the head.