Last week a lone gunman opened fire through the windows of the Church of the Annunciation, Minneapolis, killing two children and injuring 18 others. It was a premeditated attack on worshipers, mainly children, who were gathering to celebrate Mass. The congregation had just finished singing Psalm 139 when bullets began to rain into the church. Adults and older children heroically used their bodies as shields to protect the younger ones. Eventually the shooting stopped and the gunman turned the gun on himself.

Reaction to the killings was mixed. Governor Tim Walz asked those at home to keep everyone in their thoughts and prayers. Other political leaders chose this moment to question the value of prayer. Congressman Maxwell Frost responded angrily by saying, ““We’ve had it with the thoughts and prayers for years, for decades.” California governor Gavin Newsom posted on X, “These children were literally praying as they got shot at.” This was another way of saying, “what good is prayer against someone with a gun?”

It is a fair question, although not the one to ask in the immediate aftermath of the killing and wounding of children. It shows an insensitivity to those who pray, and an ignorance of the power of prayer. A week has passed, and we can now reflect on what has happened. In particular, if someone is killed while they are praying, what does this say about God and about prayer?

History provides numerous examples of Christians being slaughtered at prayer. In Russia in the fifteenth century, Tatar horsemen would descend on villages and slaughter worshippers at prayer. More recently, on Easter Day in 2019, Islamist terrorists bombed churches in Sri Lanka, killing 270. Ever since the first martyr St. Stephen was stoned to death before an approving crowd (which included the later apostle Paul), Christians have been killed while praying. In this respect, the children in Minneapolis were no different.

God weeps for each one who dies. So why doesn’t God intervene and protect them? That is not the world God has created. God grants his finest (and perhaps most terrible) creation - humankind - free will. If people turn to evil - as indeed, the young shooter had - then it is as much a problem for the rest of us as it is for God. What are we doing to prevent such people from doing this?

The premeditated murder of young children is an act of the greatest evil. While many distinguished theologians hold to the theory that “evil is nothing else but absence of goodness,” I hold a slightly different view, seeing evil as an active and destructive force in the world, which must be identified and resisted constantly. The route to evil is through occultism, the practice of magic and the worship of Satan. Its most famous 20th century practitioner, Aleister Crowley, took for himself the self-centered philosophy, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

The man who fired into the church had rejected Jesus Christ and had aligned himself with Satan, whose image is sketched in the man’s journals. The shooter intentionally left these journals behind to provide an insight into his life. They reveal a self-obsessed person who projected his self hatred onto the children attending church. 

At the age of 17 he had certified that he was female, but later wrote, “I don't want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don't feel like a man.” He also thought he had cancer and had been “suicidal for years.” He had recently broken up with a girlfriend. Before he committed the atrocity, he wrote, “I know this is wrong, but I can't seem to stop myself.”

Every time something like this happens, we seek remedies to prevent it happening again. Some say that we should ban guns - indeed, I once did myself - but, as we have seen in Southport, England, people bent on evil can kill with knives as well as guns. If there is a root cause, it is the encroachment of Satan into a person’s life. 

How does prayer make a difference in the face of such monstrous evil? Prayer is by nature an outwardly directed action. Even a self-centered prayer involves more than one person - we pray to God in heaven. If done frequently, prayer develops godly virtues which guard against the forces of evil. We see God in Jesus Christ, and in him we see God’s generous spirit, manifested in love and forgiveness. In prayer we are opening up ourselves to that spirit and learning how to be human - that is, created in the image of God.

When people spurn the gospel and turn instead to Satan, it is because they are seduced by the devil’s promises. In particular, as he did with Jesus, the devil promises power and control over others - this is the opposite of Christianity. Those who lack empathy for others, like the Minneapolis shooter, are especially susceptible to the devil’s wiles. In return, the devil digs his nails into the souls of those he conquers, making them agents of death and destruction even as they become aware of it. This is the definition of corruption.

Christianity, on the other hand, offers only love, in all of its vulnerability and fragility. The essence of love is not to seek power for itself, but to seek unity and healing through serving others. What holds all of this together is prayer, which is an inner resource available to everyone of good faith. Prayer is not magic - it doesn’t make you invisible, or weave a protective cloak around you to protect you from gunfire. And yet, those who ducked behind pews to avoid the bullets were praying intensely, as one related: 

“We prayed the Hail Mary together and we were crying and I asked God for absolution from all my sins. I asked Him to protect my family because I was certain that I was going to die.”

She did not die, but was able to help the injured, praying for them as they were being helped into an ambulance. For those directly affected, the prayers continued throughout the day. Prayer mattered to those Christians: it was their language, their strength in the face of evil. God never left them and prayer affirmed God’s presence amidst the dead and suffering. 

For evil to be resisted, the human heart must be aware of its presence and act accordingly: that is, to pray to God. As C.S. Lewis put it, "I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God. It changes me.” Evil can never be entirely defeated by external means; it can only be defeated by prayer. (Mark 9:29). 

The painful consequences of the shooting in Minneapolis will endure for a lifetime. This is where the church, through the power of love, community and service, can help to rebuild lives. That great healer of souls, Jesus Christ, is working alongside them. In the meantime, we pray for them, and ask God “to rescue us from the evil one.” (Matthew 6:13)

Father David