The question floods the heart and overwhelms.  Tears are the only answer, until there are no tears left.  Just numbness and a deep, dull ache in the soul.  Why did this happen?

One 39-year-old computer technician said, "It's a catastrophe and it is God who has put this upon us."  In the US, Pastor Pat Robertson agreed: it was God’s judgment for its practice of voodoo and worship of Satan.

In Haiti, one woman declared, "It's a miracle," raising her arms to the sky after a neighbor was found alive.  Another neighbor answered, "Nonsense, there is no God and no miracle.  How could he do this to us?"

The first Sunday after the earthquake, in the ruins of the cathedral in Port au Prince and amid the stench of the bodies under the rubble, a priest held mass.  It was reported in the US on CNN.  The priest asked the question, “Why should we worship God today?”  then answered: “Because we are here.”

But, “Why should we worship God today?”  Many Haitian survivors gathered Sunday despite their own losses and the intensity of horror and grief, they worshipped God.

In this photo, hundreds gathered in an empty lot near the Radio Lumiere studios, just down the street from a damaged church building.

I received an email today that contained a prayer.  I imagine it is making the rounds as some emails seem to do.  I don’t know who the author is.  But the words strike a chord.

Photos by Paul Shingledecker