Father Deivendiran, who was supposed to deliver Zion’s Easter sermon, says he was likely spared simply because he was running late. “As I entered, I was shaken by the sight,” he says. “Walls had collapsed completely, [and] there were bodies all over the floor.”
In Rome, Pope Francis ended his Easter address by lamenting the violence. “I entrust to the Lord all those who have tragically perished,” he said, “and I pray for the injured and all those who suffer as a result of this tragic event.”
Fear Consumes Sri Lankan Capital
Following the bombings, Colombo has become a ghost town. More than 1,000 security personnel are guarding the streets, accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs. Many people are scared to leave their homes, shops are closed, and a nighttime curfew is in place. At a nearly empty train station Monday, a man said, “Yesterday’s violence is unthinkable. I have never seen such senseless violence.”
For the second day, Sri Lanka’s government has banned social media, citing “false news reports” that are spreading online. Sri Lankan President Maithrela Sirisena has given the country’s military sweeping police powers, including a wider latitude to hold and arrest suspects.
Tuesday will be a national day of mourning, but grieving is already underway. “Our entire neighborhood is a funeral house,” says Nissansala Cruz, who lives in a township with a large Catholic population. “Who would do this? We were to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, who died for our sins. Now hundreds have died on Easter Sunday. Jesus can forgive these perpetrators, but how can we?”
Cruz, 25, says an illness kept her from attending Easter worship at St. Anthony’s Church, where her brother was injured. “We have lost so many people in a single moment,” she says. “And now we live in perpetual fear that we can never pray at our church.”
Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, has requested prayers for the victims, the church and the country. According to a tweet from blogger Justin Taylor, Fernando asks for prayers that the church will show love amid the tragedy, that justice will be done, that physically and emotionally injured people will recover, that God will comfort victims’ families, and that Sri Lanka will be spared further unrest.
