Daily Thought For September 27, 2019

Overcoming Fear Through A Horrible Tragedy

When violence causes a tragedy such as in Newtown and Parkland, it’s natural for parents, children and communities to live in fear. Can you offer guidance on how to overcome the fear?

One of the first choices we had to make was to decide whether to put our son on the bus and send him back to school, or keep him home. We chose to put him on the bus and send him back to school. The moment we live in fear is the moment that we lost. So we put him on the bus. We did not say, “You’re going to be fine. Have a great day in school.” That would have been a lie. It was awful to put him on the bus. I know I had a crummy day. But we had to do it. The alternative was even more horrific life changes.

From the time and place of Catherine’s death, I began to understand we were placed on earth for a purpose, a reason. By keeping my son in a cocoon and our family in a cocoon because I was afraid of what the world might deal us, we would be doing God’s job.

One of the things we’re trying to instill in Freddy is that everybody has bad experiences, has a loss or trauma in their life. It doesn’t entitle you to crawl into a hole. There’s the work to be done and a community to belong to.

The last thing I want is to stand before God and have him show me all the missed opportunities because I was too afraid and too scared how I was going to deal with something if it came my way.


I think it’s very natural and very common for parents to want to pull their kids in tighter and tighter. Parents need to realize that on some level their children’s future is not theirs. God’s got it mapped out. If we want to see their very best, then we have to entrust them to God. I can’t be with my son every day. I want him to rely on God, and the only way he’s going to know that is to see me live that.

Excerpt from an interview with Jennifer Hubbard from The National Catholic Register (February 21, 2018) 

Jennifer Hubbard writes reflections for the Magnificat devotional magazine. Jennifer Hubbard’s life took a drastic turn the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. That Dec. 14, 2012, she and her husband, Matthew, had two children in the school — 6-year-old Catherine and 8-year-old Frederick. Catherine was one of 20 first-graders and six adults who lost their lives that tragic day. You can read the full interview by clicking here.