There is little that can be said that will adequately comfort the families of the three killed and 176 wounded in the bombings at the Boston Marathon.

But we do know this: As the editorial cartoon on this page states, evil may disrupt the race, but it can never win it. At the end of the day, justice will prevail. Good will triumph over evil. And we will not live in fear.

The individual or individuals responsible for the bombings should know this: They have accomplished nothing but to strengthen the resolve of Americans and of those who seek peace around the globe. They have accomplished nothing but to reveal violence for what it is: Not a means for progress, but only a tool for pain. They have accomplished nothing but to bolster global acceptance that real change is accomplished by discourse, not death; by the ballot box, not bombs.

The individual or individuals responsible for the bombings have accomplished nothing but to speed the day when, as Sen. Robert F. Kennedy said after learning of Martin Luther King Jr.’s violent death, we shall “dedicate ourselves … to tame the savageness of man and to make gentle the life of this world.”

For information on how  you can help victims of the bombings, and how you can cope in the face of tragedy, visit the American Red Cross website, www.redcross.org.

Pray for Boston.

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness, but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice towards those who still suffer within our country …” – Robert F. Kennedy, April 4, 1968