grace in the rubble

i have been trying to figure out for the last few days how i can write about grace related to the horrific devastation in haiti.  the vast majority of my students during my two years of teaching here in boston were haitian american.  they have many family members still in haiti, and many of them go back once a year or more to see them.  they have been deeply shaken by the effects of the earthquake, the most recent in a long history of tough breaks that the country has been dealt- and possibly the worst.  of all countries - why haiti?  that's what i keep asking myself.  it would be horrible anywhere, but haiti is constantly struggling- to feed its people, to keep the peace- and now- now the entire city of port-au-prince is homeless.  the latest numbers are saying 100,000 people are dead.  many are still trapped and have not been found.  looting has begun in the streets.  aid is arriving, but there is no easy and systematic way to distribute it.  all of the hospitals are in ruins, along with the cathedral and all government buildings.  ignorant bigots like pat robertson have the audacity to claim that the people of haiti somehow had this coming because they "made a pact with the devil."  ARE YOU KIDDING ME????  these are the most beautiful, faithful, spiritual people i have ever known.

amidst all of the rubble, the death, the despair, people are singing, working together, praising God, and helping those that are worse off than they are.  these two pictures really struck me, because they show people seeing God amidst the rubble- on the cross, and in the form of Jesus' body in the Eucharist.  how powerful that this bread of life may be the only bread these people will eat today.  that is grace.  God is there, in the hearts of the people of haiti, and the hearts of all who are able to go help, and all who are doing what they can from their homes around the world.  tragedy is always sad- and this tragedy is quite frankly, disturbing, upsetting, and disheartening at the deepest levels.  but even there- perhaps more noticeably there than in everyday life, God's grace is at work.