President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrived at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Thursday for an interfaith service to remember the victims of the Boston Marathon explosions. The president gave a speech at the ceremony.
The event was open to the public on a first-come, first-seated basis, and even though doors opened at 8 a.m. people starting lining up before 5 a.m. It was live streamed on the White House website (see video below).
The service was to honor the three people killed and the more than 170 injured when two bombs exploded at the marathon’s finish line Monday. It included reflections by representatives of Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Greek Orthodox faiths and Boston’s cardinal.
The speakers praised the heroism of civilians who ran into the area of danger to help others.
Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel quoted a Hasidic passage: “The entire world is a narrow bridge... the important principle is to transcend somehow your fear.”
Rev. Roberto Miranda of Congregacion Leon de Juda in Roxbury and Nasser S. Weddady, chair of the New England Interfaith Council, also spoke.
He expressed sympathy and a feeling of togetherness with the people who suffered in the Newtown school shooting, and in the explosion of a fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas on Thursday.
“We have all been inspired by the anecdotes of heroism and just plain goodness that have emerged,” he said. “In our weakness, we have been made strong.”
Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, said, “Love is stronger than death.”
Obama: ‘Run with endurance the race that is set before us’
Obama began his speech: “Scripture tells us to run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
He described the beauty of the morning preceding the tragedy: “In the common, in the public garden, spring was in bloom ... It was a beautiful day to be in Boston.”
“In an instant, the day’s beauty was shattered.”
He discussed the open and welcoming nature of Boston, where students from all across America and the world arrive every year. “Over successive generations you’ve welcomed new arrivals to our shores,” he told locals.
“Boston opens its heart to the world,” Obama said. He said it may be the hometown of Bostonians, “but we claim it too.”
President’s Condolences for Those Killed
Obama spoke about each of the victims.
He spoke of Krystle Campbell, 29, whose mother said, recalled Obama, “this doesn’t make any sense.”
He sent his condolences to the Lu family in China, who lost their 23-year-old daughter, a graduate student at Boston University, “far from home.” Obama said, through the joint suffering in the two nations “We are reminded of the humanity we all share.”
“And our hearts are broken for 8-year-old Martin Richard,” Obama said. “His last hours were as perfect as an 8-year-old could hope for.” He was with family, eating treats and watching the marathon.
A photo of the boy on Facebook shows him in his classroom holding a sign that reads “No more hurting people.”
“No more hurting people,” the president said twice.
“You will run again, because that’s what the people of Boston are made of.”
“Your resolve is the greatest rebuke to whoever committed this heinous act,” said Obama. “In the face of cruelty, we will choose compassion.”
“We will finish the race,” Obama said with gusto, a rally call that elicited a reaction of approval from the audience.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
