On First Communions and Funerals
Senators Dan Lauwers and Mike Shirkey
Dear Senators:
I will keep this one brief.
Here is a photo of nine-year-old Jackie Cazares on the day she received the sacrament of First Communion. She celebrated this milestone in her faith life just two weeks before she prematurely entered the Kingdom of Heaven promised to Catholic believers. On May 24, Jackie was gunned down in her classroom by an 18-year-old gunman wielding assault weapons.
The photo is poignant in its familiarity. I recall my own First Communion day, my excitement at donning a beautiful white dress and veil, the picture-taking beneath just budding crabapple trees near my family’s parish church. The church service was somber. I sat in pews with my classmates: the girls stealing glances at each other’s dresses and white shoes and ankle socks trimmed with lace, the boys sitting stiffly in their uncomfortable suits, for once not acting out. All of us hoping we’d remember what to do when it came time to receive communion, knowing the nuns who had instructed us would be watching closely. I imagine the experience was similar for Jackie.
It is hard to imagine Jackie’s family enduring the juxtaposition of that joyful occasion with the unimaginable pain of her death, a First Communion mass followed by a funeral mass, and the toll of unending grief, continuing life without her.
I hate to think their pain is compounded by watching lawmakers shrug and refuse to take action, hoping the news cycle will move on and folks can stop thinking about the horror of the Uvalde massacre.
For them, and for Jackie, I have not moved on. For them, I continue to urge you to reconsider your stances on gun safety laws. Let sanity replace inaction. Respond to the violence with resolve and action. Schools are opening again for the fall. Give us all hope that things can be different.
For Jackie.