On Sunday April 28th, Holy Trinity Armenian Church welcomed Jennifer Hubbard, mother of six-year-old Catherine who was killed in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Trinity Ladies Circle hosted this wonderful speaker for the whole parish and community with a reception ahead of Hubbard’s talk.
Though her talk brought many to tears, her talk wasn’t one that left the listeners sad. She didn’t go into details about what happened on that horrific day in December of 2012, she didn’t even want to know details from the police report herself. She knew none of that information could change the fact that she no longer had her daughter. Ms. Hubbard approached her talk similar to the way she navigated her journey through that difficult time of grieving… focused on God.
The thought of going through the loss of a child is unbearable to any parent. Ms. Hubbard knew many people may try to size up their suffering to hers or to others’ who they think have gone through worse. She encouraged everyone listening not to use degrees of suffering. She was clear that when we minimize our suffering because we think someone else has it worse, we also minimize God’s presence to help get us through the difficult times
Sometimes the hardest days to be strong in your faith are the days we need our faith the most. Ms. Hubbard turned her moments of suffering into opportunities to grow in her faith. She explained it in comparison to exercising our muscles; it’s painful and it’s tough, but you come out stronger on the other end if you persevere through it. She also asked the group to consider the most precious gems of this world, like diamonds or pearls, which are created only by tension and pressure. Everyone endures some kind of suffering, but how we handle it is what determines how we come out on the other end of it. Turning away from God doesn’t help us to come out better and stronger.
During her talk Ms. Hubbard told stories of Catherine learning to ride a bike and learning to ride horses. In both instances, Catherine was most successful when she kept her stare forward instead of looking backwards. When she looked backward to see if her mom was there, she became wobbly on the bike and her horse would turn to where she was looking. She needed to trust that her mom was behind her just as we need to trust that God is backing us as well as not worrying about what is in the past.
Ms. Hubbard wrapped up with a thought-provoking question. The question was one that Jesus had asked his disciples, “And you – do you also want to leave?” The response from the disciples was “where would we go? No one but you gives us the revelation of eternal life.” She then reminded us of the story with Catherine looking back on the bike and how we must not look backwards. Instead, our focus should be fixed ahead on God and on our hope of someday reaching our treasure in heaven. We too must come to the same conclusion that the disciples did and say why would we leave when God is always with us.
