Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Tragedy strikes. It’s inevitable and, unfortunately, constant.

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The warm, generous, loving and happy young woman who was the first among the 10 Toronto van attack victims to be revealed to the public was laid to rest May 2 in her family’s parish with 900 friends and supporters crowding St. Clare’s Roman Catholic Church.

An image of sadness, grief and defiance has been imprinted on the heart of Toronto over this past week as an informal memorial sprung up along Yonge Street and then at least 25,000 citizens walked the empty street and gathered at Mel Lastman Square for prayers, songs and words of hope on the evening of April 29.

More and more, people question the role that prayer can bring in the face of tragedy. We hear it after every massacre in the United States and elsewhere in the world when people say we don’t want prayer, we want action on whatever was the source of the tragedy.

TORONTO – Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins called for special prayers after a van jumped a curb and killed at least 10 people on a busy Toronto street.