Shock

Late today but still showing up

Today is the second day after April 20, 2026. Some of you are already aware that April 20 is a day of concern for law enforcement and of grief for many hurt. It is also a day of celebration for very troubled and captured beings. It is the birthday of Adolph Hitler. It is the day of the Columbine shooting. And now it is the date of the Teotihuacan shooting.

This last December I had the great privilege and honour to stand on the platform part way up the pyramid of the moon at the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan. It was a precious time with a lovely group of people. It was the first time that spot was open to the public since I first visited Teo in 2022. I stood there with new friends and with my amazing wife, listened to don Miguel Ruiz Junior, and took in the astonishingly beautiful view of the ancient city. There was a peaceful power and a grandeur that moved me deeply. I carry that image, and that memory with me and I always will.

Then the news alert came on my phone on Monday. A Canadian woman was killed, and four others wounded on the pyramid of the moon. Two others also were hospitalized from falling.

Shock.

Sadness.

Waves of grief.

Back to shock.

Horror.

Back to sadness.

That such a horrific act was inflicted on such a holy and beautiful place, it hurts. Teo has become a place of deep significance. It is a reservoir of wisdom, of beauty, of compassion.

And it will continue to be.

I will return, God willing. I will, I hope, stand again on that platform where Canadian blood and the blood of others was shed. I will kneel and I will probably shed tears for the lost life and the pain of those who were wounded and the lives that will be forever changed by what they experienced there. And for the lost, misguided violent young man who did such horrific deeds, and who ended his life there on the pyramid by his own confused and self destructive hand.

It may feel different looking out across that plaza, but the view will be almost the same. There may be a guardedness, and a higher state of arousal and altertness, watching for a danger that has already broken in on the peaceful beauty. But life is never far from ending. Death is not new to the ancient city of Teotihuacan. It is all built around La Avenada de los Muertes, the avenue of the dead. There were bodies buried in ceremonial graves at the corners of the first pyramid, that of Quetzelcoatl, at the Southern end of the avenada.

The Aztec empire, those who called themselves the Mexica, and who reigned at the current site of Mexico City, just 50 kilometers away practiced regular human sacrifices. They sacrificed their victims at the Tempolo Mayor in the now buried city of Tenochtitlán where Cortez and his conquistadors began the end of that empire. Death is no stranger to the valley of Mexico.

But it still comes as a shock.

I study the work and teachings of don Miguel Ruiz, and the Toltec tradition. These traditions and teachings trace back to Miguel’s ancestors in Teotihuacan. A prophecy warned that a violent and powerful nation was coming from the North and that their wisdom would be abused by these invaders from the desert. So the teachers, the Naguals, melted away into the population after burying their treasures. The looked to a time when the world would be ready once more to learn self mastery and to spread love and understanding with mercy and kindness, a time when the wisdom would be held with care and responsibility.

Has such a time come? I hope so. But the world is not a safe place for everyone. And even in the most hallowed places violence and fear overcome peace and love. In 1980 the prophetic Bishop Oscar Romero was murdered by death squads in San Salvador El Salvador in his church as he presided at communion. He was machine gunned to death at the altar. It was a violent and viciously evil response to the call of the gospel to benefit all people, especially “the least of these.” On Monday a violent act was perpetrated on a holy site too.

We have work to do. Love must win. Hate and violence must be overcome. If we do not do the work, we risk being overthrown by our own worst impulses and our own most deceived and deluded individuals. We must do the work. The stakes are too high. Humans have the power to destroy each other at scales never seen before. Nuclear weapons, climate change, artificial intelligence, autocratic military aggression, all these and more are existential threats.

So keep working. Keep loving. Keep learning. Keep seeking to grow and to nurture the growth of all those around you. We are all in this together. Life goes on and we are called to live in hope and kindness. We are also challenged to respond to other forces. We have police, national guard, even armies, all to restrain those dark and destructive forces. All those powers must be overseen with wisdom and care lest they become what we are fighting against.

And we will. Do not give up hope. Do not stop loving. Do not stop giving.

And do not stop grieving. It all matters.