SHENANDOAH - Generating Christmas spirit in a nursing home cafeteria Tuesday afternoon, Violet Burke, 90, of Mahanoy City, sang "Silent Night" with a crowd of 40 gathered there.
"She used to belong to the choir at the former St. Casimir Church in Mahanoy City," said her daughter, Karen Patrick.
The haunting carol concluded the service at Shenandoah Manor Nursing Home, where prayers were offered for the victims of the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"Can you imagine how difficult Christmas is for these families? And the preparation of Christmas?" Monsignor Myron Grabowsky, pastor of St. Michael Ukrainian-Greek Catholic Church, Shenandoah, the celebrant, said during his sermon.
Grabowsky has celebrated Divine Liturgy at the nursing home every Christmas since 2010. He said the nursing home staff requested that this year's service be held in memory of the shooting victims.
"I asked the staff if they'd be interested because we were quite distraught over what happened. So most of my nursing staff thought it was a wonderful idea," said Martina Nestor, an LPN at Shenandoah Manor.
The service was held at the nursing home's "Dining Hall." Residents present included Burke, Frances Buckley, Shenandoah, and Victoria Neidlinger, Pottsville.
Buckley was holding a stuffed animal, a plush polar bear no bigger than a kitten, as she sat in a wheelchair at the service.
Grabowsky shared his thoughts on the tragedy in a sermon, after reading a story from the Gospel according to St. Matthew about Herod the king's effort to destroy baby Jesus.
"Herod was a sneaky fox who put out an edict about this so called 'King of the Jews' who was supposed to be a threat to his own reign. So what does he do? He wanted male children 2 years and younger to be slaughtered, hoping in the process to eliminate a king," Grabowsky said.
It's difficult to understand the motive of the gunman who killed 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary, since the gunman took his own life, Grabowsky said.
"What possesses a person to go and to perform the evil acts that were done? And they were evil. There was a madness and an anger. I don't know what this individual wanted or why this occurred because he no longer exists. He took his own life so he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his actions. There is no way of understanding why this occurred," Grabowsky said.
People with faith may question "Why would God let something like this happen?" Grabowsky said.
"If God is with us, how could this occur? Well, God cannot change the will of a person. If a person's will is set in a malicious way, an evil way, it's going to perform that action even if God were standing in front of him for the simple fact that that's what occurs when a person is filled with evil," Grabowsky said.
But Grabowsky encouraged everyone to give thanks to the heroes who step in.
"We have to give thanks to the principal of the school and how she allowed herself to be a victim. And yet, there was no fear. She was out in the interest of protecting those children," Grabowsky said.
After the gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, broke through the school door and started firing, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and principal Dawn Hochsprung ran toward him. Hochsprung died while lunging at the gunman, according to the Associated Press.
"We too have contempt for many things. But we have to be able to control that with the presence of the Lord and his love and his light, the light he has brought into the world to dispel the darkness. We have to be honest and we have to wake up and realize there is a great darkness that permeates the world today. But there is one hope for all the world, the light of Christ," Grabowsky said.
Nestor praised Grabowsky for holding these services annually at the nursing home.
"I think they're very spiritual and moving, wonderful. He's just a very wonderful man, monsignor is," Nestor said.