This Sunday’s readings are about untimely deaths turned around by divine intervention. In the first reading, Elijah intervenes with the Lord to restore a child to life, while in the gospel Jesus is moved by the death of an only son who had been caring for his widowed mother.

“The disease of addiction is merciless. It is up to us to open our minds and hearts to those who are still sick and suffering. Kelsey does not want us to cry for her. She wants us to fight for her.” 

The number of unintentional overdose deaths from prescription pain relievers has soared in the United States, more than quadrupling since 1999.