Today is another sacred day: The Visitation, where Mary, “great with child” visited her elderly relative, Elizabeth, also miraculously pregnant.

Together they noted their hope and expectation that their children would change the world.

This hope and expectation is felt by every parent, I think.

I hope.

But on this convergence of holy days and extraordinary days, where a beautiful visitation is met with the reality that many parents fear for their babies when they go off to school, we must call to mind this hope and expectation again.

I hope that my boys will know and fight for the truth that Black Lives Matter. I hope that they will never fall victim to unmitigated gun culture, and will never get used to the sight of hand guns and machine guns carried in public and will stay away when they see them.

I hope that my children, and the children of those I love, will honor the lives of those who have died because of our addiction to violence.

I hope that my children, and indeed my own self, who give our lives to public service will never abuse that service.

And I hope that we will one day mourn our dead the way some mourn the loss of our supposed “rights” and economic structures.

That has yet to happen. That has yet to happen.

Beloved: we are all just visiting this life. Let us do all the good we can, while we can.