By Mary DeTurris Poust
It's hard to believe 15 years have gone by since Timothy McVeigh took the lives of 168 people when he blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. As with most horrifying tragedies, we most likely remember exactly where we were at the moment we heard the news and all these years later feel fresh grief when we see the playback of news coverage or the memorial to the victims where the building once stood.
Today, we remember and pray for the victims, including more than a dozen children, and we pray for the survivors and the families of victims. And while we're at it, maybe it's a good time to pray for a conversion of heart in all those people who have hatred in their hearts and evil intentions in their thoughts.
If you have not already read it, this milestone anniversary is a good time to pick up Their Faith Has Touched Us: The Legacies of Three Young Oklahoma City Bombing Victims by Catholic author Maria de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda. In the book, Scaperlanda, tells the stories of victims Julie Welch, Valerie Koelsch, and Mark Bolte, who "were not people of great deeds, but people who were great in living out their faithfulness in the ordinary events and encounters of life."
UPDATED:
Scaperlanda has written a reflection, "We Will Never Forget: 15 Years After the Oklahoma City Bombing," about her experience covering the aftermath of the bombing for Catholic News Service. Read it on U.S. Catholic's blog by clicking HERE.
