Exhortation to Martyrdom
Islamic hatred.
Yesterday a young Chaldean priest, Fr. Ragheed Ganni, was gunned down with his deacons outside of Holy Spirit Church in Mosul, Iraq. He is a martyr, as are the deacons who died with him, as are the Christians suffering persecution in civil-war torn Iraq. Don Marco has a beautiful story on the priest.
I am so angry! Excuse me, but I cannot help wonder (I said wonder!) if his blood is not also on the hands of President Bush. When Saddam was in power, the Church was allowed to live in peace, better off than in many Islamic countries. Not every nation in the world is prepared for democracy - Iraq certainly is not.
Exhortation to martyrdom.
“ And lest any one should be frightened and troubled at the afflictions and persecutions which we suffer in this world, we must prove that it was before foretold that the world would hold us in hatred, and that it would arouse persecutions against us; that from this very thing, that these things come to pass, is manifest the truth of the divine promise, in recompenses and rewards which shall afterwards follow; that it is no new thing which happens to Christians, since from the beginning of the world the good have suffered, and have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.” - St. Cyprian
A quote from Fr. Ganni in 2005:
“There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God Behold, who takes away the sin of the world’, I feel His strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really He who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in His boundless love.”
“In normal times, everything is taken for granted and we forget the greatest gift that is made to us. Ironically, it is thanks to terrorist violence that we have truly learned that it is the Eucharist, the Christ who died and risen, that gives us life. And this allows us to resist and hope.” - Fr. Ragheed Ganni (Thanks to Gerald at Closed Cafeteria.)
June 4th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Kinda makes one wistful for the next Crusade.
June 4th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
I don’t read much of Gerald any more.
But being a European and multi-lingual, he often does have good items like these that the American media ignores. Therefore, I admit that his is a valuable blog.
June 5th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Oh, more violence would solve everything, Jeron; certainly it would show terrorism how to kill righteously.. it always does.
*sigh..
“..we have truly learned that it is the Eucharist, the Christ who died and has risen, that gives us life. And this allows us to resist and hope.”