I’m sure everyone who has heard about death of the Walmart employee on Friday morning is sickened by what happened. I had originally decided not to blog about it because, while I had some thoughts forming, I felt I had nothing substantial to offer but my own sadness and revulsion at what happened.

This morning, Fr Gregory posted a thoughtful reflection on that event that I believe is worth reading. We simply can’t shake our heads at this tragedy as if we’re innocent and then go on with our consumerist lives as usual. Sure, we can tell ourselves that we would never have participated in such an atrocity. But we all participate in the same spirit of the age that caused Friday’s event. That’s why Fr Gregory’s call to both contemplation and action must be heard, especially during the Nativity season. For it is this very darkness and death that resides in all of us that Christ came to conquer.