Will we not Face Judgement for this?
"For I was being persecuted, and you ignored me." Will this not be said to us on judgement day?
In Nigeria, 200 of our brothers and sisters were killed on their way to Mass at Christmas, yet in most places they didn't even receive a mention in the Prayers of the Faithful.
If 200 people were killed at a soccer match, there would be a highly publicised minute's silence at every soccer match all over the world.
North Korea has been in the news, but did we even say a prayer for the
50,000 of our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned there for their faith?
Or is there even a thought for all our brothers and sisters in Christ who have been killed or driven from their homes in Iraq and Egypt?
Or for the seven people in Pakistan who were executed last year on trumped up charges of blasphemy, or the further 1,800 girls who were kidnapped and raped there - and then given a choice of either joining Islam or facing death for having sex outside marriage.
We are living in an era in which our political leaders and our secular media have absolutely no interest in our suffering brothers and sisters.
They depend totally on us to keep their cause in the public eye and to find ways of supporting them.
Incidentally within the Catholic community, the one organisation that specialises in helping them is Aid To Church In Need.
Unconverted Believers
"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is their hypocrisy" Luke 12:1
A great annual clean-up takes place in the Orthodox Church in Bethlehem before their celebration of Christmas each January 6th. The problem is that there isn't a clear dividing line between the part of the Church owned by the Greek Orthodox and that owned by the Armenian Apostolic Church. Sadly
disputes are regular. This year, in the middle of the annual church cleaning, someone crossed a boundary. It ended up in a brawl as bad as one might see after a football match. The police had to be called in to separate them - at the very spot where Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was born.
As monks and priests, these are all men with a deep belief in God and a rich prayer life (I hope). But have they ever truly opened their ears to the teaching of Jesus on love, tolerance and forgiveness? Are they not rather unconverted believers, believing in God, saying prayers, but with unconverted hearts - and not even realising that they haven't got the message. This is the type of religion that Jesus warned about when He said,"Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees which is their hypocrisy" Luke 12:1.Jesus reserved his harshest criticism for those who practised religion, but sinned against love. Whitewashed sepulchres, He called them! And that is what we are too if we do not listen to His teaching and be transformed from the heart by Love.
Standing Up
"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven" (Matthew 10:32).
Many years ago, the residents of Whiteville in Tennessee erected a large cross over their water tower. Now the 'Freedom From Religion Foundation' has forced its removal, as it was on public property. In response, most of the residents of Whiteville have each erected a cross on their own private property, so now Whiteville could more properly be called Crossville.
We are living in an era in which the true followers of Jesus will find a way to stand up and be counted, witnessing to their love for Jesus in their words, in their dress, and by having religious symbols in prominent positions in their homes, both to nourish their own faith, and to give witness to others. If people could visit your home and not realise that you are a Christian, then, in fact, you are not a Christian! If you truly love Jesus, then it will be to be seen.
Now That Is Courage!
"Trials have come so that your faith may be proved genuine" 1 Peter 1:7
When Kieran Behan was 10, he had a benign tumour removed from his leg. During the operation, the nerves in his leg were badly damaged, and he was told he would never walk again. Yet after three years in a wheelchair, he managed to walk. Then when he took up gymnastics, he had an accident causing severe brain injury. Back in the wheelchair, he even had to relearn how to see things. Yet now, Kieran, who was born in London of Irish parents, has qualified to represent Ireland in the London Olympics - despite the fact that he had to pay all his own expenses. Life is about learning to face challenges, learning to overcome obstacles, learning to walk hand-in-hand with God in difficult situations, becoming strong in our inner selves in the process. If you are asking God to remove every obstacle from your path, then your prayer will not be answered in the way you wish - though sometimes it is God's will to remove a 'mountain'. But very often God desires to give us the strength to climb the 'mountains' that face us instead of removing them from our paths.
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