Bishop Gomez's homily at Memorial Mass
for victims of shooting in Rifle

July 12 , 2001
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

We are here tonight to pray for the eternal rest of the four victims of the tragedy in Rifle, for the recovery of the ones that were injured and for Christian resignation of the families, friends and the whole community of Rifle and Colorado.

The four who died in the tragedy, Melquiades and Juan Carlos Medrano, Juan Hernandez and Angelica Toscano were good people who God wanted to take with Him. They had families and friends, dreams and desires for a good and honest life. They loved and were loved by their families.

It is difficult for us to understand the Mystery of death. We don’t like it. We don’t like to talk about it, but it is a reality that comes for all of us.

But death is not the end, is just the beginning of our real life. As the preface of the Mass for the death reminds us: Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended.

God is not someone who is trying to get us. He is a wonderful Father who takes care of us. He is, as I said Sunday at the prayer service in Rifle, He is like a gardener who plants a seed and takes care of the little plant until it blossoms and when the flower is perfect, beautiful, He takes it with him.

That’s what happened to the ones who died in Rifle. In a sense we are praying for the eternal repose of their souls and we are also celebrating their lives. Death should help us to live our own lives better.

Now we can see the good things in the lives of the ones who died ...

 44 year-old Juan Hernandez had 5 boys and one girl. Juan was a much loved and respected police officer in his hometown of Guerro, Chihuahua Mexico. A memorial service to honor his memory is being planned in his hometown of Guerro.

21 year-old Juan Carlos Medrano Velasquez left behind a wife and daughter. Juan Carlos’ brother, 23 year-old Melquiades Medrano Velasquez was supporting his mother in Mexico.

19 year-old Angelica Toscano had two children -- two girls ages 4 and 2. They will be raised by Angelica’s parents who plan to migrate to the United States.

An event like this tragedy puts us at a fork in the road. It reminds us that even in our worst moments of suffering, we are never powerless. Each of us right now, tonight, has the power to choose – and to create – the future we will inhabit.

We can choose to return hatred with hatred. We have another choice, because two roads lie before us. We can choose to let go of our anger. We can choose to forgive. We can chose to believe that even in this moment of loss, God is present, that He has a plan for our lives, and that our suffering has meaning.

In the Old Testament, God told Israel to "choose life, that you and your descendants may live." And Jesus said in the New Testament, "I am the way, the truth and the life," and "I am the resurrection and the life." Every life comes to a fork in the road where God meets us and invites us to choose a future. Tonight is an opportunity to choose life and hope and faith -- despite all our sorrow.

Scripture says "love is strong as death." But I would go even farther: Love is stronger than death. And if we leave here tonight as agents of understanding, reconciliation and forgiveness, then we honor the dead with a witness of love, and our love, like God’s love incarnate in Jesus Christ, will help give new life to the world.

 Let us also keep in our prayers the wounded:

Rodolfo Beltran, whose family was expected to arrive last night from Mexico. They recently had celebrated the baptism of his niece. Ephraim Miramontes and Madel Ortega.

We are grateful to:

Father Hehn, pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rifle, Colorado
Irene Vialpando Goergen – Hispanic Coordinator for St. Mary’s
Gorgina Cornejo – volunteer for Church who helped translate and originally came from Mexico. Gorgina knew the victims and the wounded.

I’d also like to thank in a special way Mexican Consulate Leticia Calzada for arranging this memorial mass and for everything her office has done to help the families of the victims and the wounded.