A reader writes:

I wanted to offer a few reflections on the occasion of Mr. Tiller’s death.

First, I feel that Mr. Tiller’s shooter is guilty of perhaps a greater crime than Tiller ever was–by murdering Mr. Tiller, his killer has expressed a most grievous hatred for God by intentionally denying a soul made in His image the opportunity to repent of grave crimes against humanity and discover real happiness and the power of life.

However we feel about him, whatever his status is now in the afterlife, Mr. Tiller is a brother in Christ, baptized into the name above all names and thus bound to our union of faith forever. I ask that prayers be made for his soul, and indulgences be offered to him. If he did manage to scrape through and join the blessed lambs on Christ’s right hand side–and I believe God is more merciful in these matters than we can ever begin to comprehend–it is my proposal that we should work to ensure his time in purgatory is very brief.

He knows the truth now. If the truth has indeed set him free, he will be a most powerful ally to us through his intercessions.

Perhaps some of you reading these comments will at this point object that justice must be done, that it is proper for Mr. Tiller to meet with damnation, that he got what was coming. I refer you to Luke 13:1-5 and Ezekiel 33:11.

I know what Mr. Tiller deserves. We all know what he deserves. But let’s be frank: no one among our mortal race wants what they truly deserve; no one deserves what they truly deserve. Such is the law of love. Let us hope that he gets not what he deserves, but instead the only thing right and befitting a creature of such high dignity as man: eternal life and unending joy.

Holy St. Mary, Mother of God, come to the aid of Mr. Tiller, your lost child, and bear him on angel’s wings to the celestial realms above this sorrowful existence. May he and those whose lives he took find reconciliation and friendship in the lush glades of the world to come, where the sun always shines and the sea is no more. Amen.

O My Jesus, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of thy mercy.