I mourn the violent loss of life in our country today, our country of incredible bounty, filled with waving grain; pristine waterways; communities that reflect a diversity of human life. My eyes fill with tears as I imagine the families of those lost gathered in kitchens and living rooms, on phones and live video; their own tears will be magnified by disbelief.

Do you want to say to those families, if we were all armed then someone could have shot the shooter before he killed a dozen people? As you prepare to resist the seeming unending call for gun control, do you feel your jaw tighten, your stance widen, your fists clench? Do you believe in the right to bear automatic weapons with magazines that hold enough bullets to make movies look real?

Do you also feel the ache in your heart underneath this automatic reply, the same response you had after the children of Sandy Hook were murdered? I believe you do, for we are all inter-connected, one to the other. So long as you are you, you will be connected to me, the shooter, the victims, the rest of all humanity, and your heart is breaking. I believe in love; I believe that you would rather love and be loved than support hatred in the world.

You are waiting for someone else in your community to take that first step away from easy access to guns. But in truth, it must be you, you who have always said Americans have the right to carry any gun which can be conceived and built. We are waiting for you here, just the other side of the river, our hands outstretched and ready to keep you safe. Millions of us are here, but just not enough to stop these massacres.

You could be the One, you known, the one to tip the balance. We know you will need to be brave, that it will be hard. In following our hearts we risk heartache. You will lose some friends. But you will gain others. We are eager to meet you.

May God, may your Holy, be with you and me and us.