Attacks on Christians in the Middle East

In late November, radical Muslims exploded a bomb inside of a Catholic church in Iraq, killing the priest and 57 parishioners during the celebratin of a Mass. Over the Christmas holidays, a similar group exploded a bomb in a Catholic Church in Egypt, killing twenty-some people and wounding countless others praying the Mass. A few days later a bomb exploded in a house of a Catholic family celebrating Christmas together in Iraq.

My dearest friend lives in Doha, Qatar, another country in the Middle East. Upon his return from visiting his family in Lebanon over the Christmas holidays, he received news that his parish church had been threatened to be destroyed by Al Qaida. Now the police are protecting the church at all hours because the prince of Qatar is favorable toward the Lebanese, most of which make up the Christian population in Qatar. My friend wept when he told me of this. He wept not for himself, but, for the children, and the innocent people killed by these senseless bombings by people who claim to be killing for their god.

No god would desire killing of innocent people. Only the father of lies would convince people to do this. It is Satan himself who is behind all these attacks on innocent victims who are merely praying to Jesus. It is the Catholic Christians who are always the victims of these bloody attacks.

Please pray often and sincerely for an end to these vicious attacks. Pray that God will make those people accountable for their taking of human life. And remember to pray to the martyrs who are now saints in heaven, who have given their lives for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ, Saviour and King.

The Babe in the Manger

So tiny, so fragile, sleeping peacefully on a bed of hay;
Mary rests nearby, tired from giving birth.
Her husband keeps watch, far into the night;
Overwhelmed with the task ahead - to protect this child;
The Son of God, entrusted into his care.
Joseph sighs, and gazes lovingly at the babe in the manger;
He whispers a quiet prayer, not wishing to wake mother or son.
"Father above, you have given to me such a great responsibility.
How will I ever be able to love, teach and protect your son?
I am only a simple man, not worthy to be given this tremendous duty."

He looks out at the night sky, a tear rolling down his cheek;
An odd sensation of anxiousness overcomes him.
He desires to do God's will, in all things of his life;
No matter the difficulty or the cost to himself;
This situation is no different.
He lifts the babe into his arms, kisses His cheek;
And inhales the beautiful freshness of the newborn child.
"Lord God of Israel, of Abraham, Moses and all the Prophets before me,
Be with me always I pray, and bless this common, god-fearing servant
So that I may glorify you with my earthly care of your son."

A New Friend

After visiting Lebanon this last time in the summer of 2010, I put a short video on Youtube, telling the life of Blessed Abouna Yaqouub Haddad, a Franciscan Capucian monk who was recently beatified by Pope Benedict XVI. My purpose was to educate Americans on one of the holy men of Lebanon, soon to be canonized. I myself was not aware of the great saints of Lebanon until I visited there in the year 2007. Now I am happily familiar with the lives of Saints Charbel, Hardini, Rafqa and Maroun.

Anyway, a Maroite man posted a comment on my video and complimented my voice. He said that he liked the sound of my American English on the video. He informed me that he has a Youtube channel devoted to the Maronite Church where he has posted many movies about the Maronite Church, and that he intends to post several more in the near future. He asked if I would lend my voice to these videos, and if so, to contact him. Since I love the Maronite Church and Lebanon, I quickly agreed. Thus far we have worked together on two videos.

More importantly, however, is the friendship that has resulted from this endeavor. God has once again arranged for me to have another spiritual friend; one I did not pursue, but one who has become a close, yet geographically distant friend. He and I have shared many evening phone conversations that have lasted an hour or more. Our personalities just seem to have clicked.

What started as mere informational conversations about the early centuries of Maronite history have developed into deep conversations about religion, Lebanon, family, friendships broken, and even the teachings of the Church. I have listened to him speak, and learned what a great faith he has. Each time we talk I know that I needed his words because I needed a dose of humility. Certainly he teaches me, by his “blind and unyielding faith,” that I must imitate his way of saying, “yes” to God on a daily basis. He is a fine example of what it means to follow God without turning to look back. I thank you, God, for putting this new friend into my life. I may never meet him in person. But, having his voice on the other end of the telephone may be just what I needed. He is a blessing in my life.

God Calls Me Again

I recently learned of a young man in India named Mohammed. Mohammed has been sick much of his life, but now he is in a hospital living out his final days. He has a wife and three young children. They are extremely poor. His younger brother, Tarek, moved to another country in the Middle East to earn money to send home to his brother's family to support them. Tarek loves his brother very much and works only to provide for his brother's wife and children, and to help with his medical costs.

Several days ago I sent a small amount of money to help this man's family with some of their bills. I was told that Tarek cried like a baby and said that he couldn't believe that someone would help like this that didn't even know his family. He sent me his love and promised to pray to Allah for my family and me. I received great joy knowing that this small act of love had brought this man to tears. It was a small way to evangelize by action because he knows I am a Christian. He is Muslim. I love him tremendously because Jesus loves him.

I have felt very much drawn to go to be with Mohammed in Bangladesh, to sit with him and place my hand upon his feverish head and pray for his healing. I am questioning my God, how can this be? What would my husband say if I were to all of a sudden ask to leave and go to India with our non-existent money in the bank, to help a man I do not know because I feel a calling to this? Yet, the thought has returned over and over again, at least five times in the past few days, "Go to him and be with him in Bangladesh. Sit with him. Lay your hand upon his head and pray for his healing." If it is God truly calling me to this, then He will have to work this whole thing out and make it clearly possible, and make Joe supportive of this idea. In the meantime, I will wait to see what He opens up for me. Where will He direct me? How will He answer this dilemma? What is He doing with me now? Am I to travel to Bangladesh now? Joe said no to Lebanon, and I made four trips there. Perhaps one to Bangladesh? Or will Mother Theresa handle this one for me? I am just a nobody in Muskegon, MI, who is listening to the Holy Spirit and anxious to follow His direction in my life. He will show me the way. This is my simple prayer for today. Holy Spirit, lovely paraclete and friend, clear the way for me to follow Jesus in the will of the Father. Amen.

Note: A few days after I wrote this post, I learned that Mohammed died peacefully.

The Jesus Prayer

"Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
This is perhaps one of the simplest prayers to say. It can be said many, many times a day, anywhere, anytime. When I ponder each word, I find it has great meaning.
First, we are addressing Jesus, the central figure of the Christian religion. To all Christians, we are speaking to our Savior; the one who gave His life for our salvation; the one who by His incarnation, became human - the god-man. He is the second person of the Trinity. Christ was to be the fulfillment of the prophesies of the Old Testament. He was everything the Jews were waiting for - the awaited Savior, the Messiah, the One to Come. He was the one whom all greatly anticipated. He is the one to whom we are addressing this short, but, powerful prayer. We speak to Him as Son. He is Son of the Heavenly Father. He reminded us that if we know Him, then we know the Father because He and the Father are one. There is no closer relationship than the bond between the Father and the Son, yet we are a part of this holy relationship because we are children of the Father by adoption. We can call Him "Abba." And Jesus is thus our brother. It is a familial, covenantal bond.

Truly He is a Living God because He is, was and ever shall be, according to promises given to us by Jesus Himself. He left us able to receive Him daily in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist, as well as through the Word we receive through the Scriptures. In addition, His Spirit is with us for all times, ready to be at our beck and call to aid us in our journeys. All we need do is ask and He will pour His graces and blessings upon us. For He is our advocate, our paraclete. Jesus promised that great things would happen through the power of the Spirit. He is here with us always, our friend, our mentor.

Next I ask for Jesus' mercy. Mercy is compassion, love, kindness, forgiveness, clemency, tenderness. All of these things are simply adjectives that describe Jesus. In my humility, I realize that no matter the extent of my sinfulness, Jesus will always be there to reach out in loving kindness and tenderness and welcome me, like the prodigal son, home again, into His loving embrace. There is nothing He wants more than to forgive and to love. From the time of the stubborn Israelites in the book of Exodus, until today, man's story is one of turning away from God. This is my story as well. Yet God's response is always and forever a story of unconditional love and forgiveness.

I am the sinner. I do not deserve to lift my eyes and place them on the face of my Savior. A sinner is one who turns his back on God; one who chooses other than God. Yet, when I admit my true place and seek His mercy with true sorrow and contrition, I know in my heart that my loving God will hear my prayer and will again forgive me and love me because He always has. I thank You, Jesus, for the sweet and beautiful Savior that You are. How is it that I am worthy of Your mercy and love? It is only because You will this for me.

What Makes a Saint?

Today is All Saints' Day. I think of all the saints I know of and try to determine the common characteristics that they share. Certainly, most importantly, they share a love of Jesus in the Eucharist, and many of them have a great devotion to Mother Mary. Some have had private revelations, others have had visions that were later sanctioned by the Church. It seems that all the saints with whom I am familiar, have the virtue of great humility. None of them ever flaunted themselves or the holiness that they had. In fact, all of them preferred to remain unknown or in the background. They did not brag about miracles that occurred around them or chapels they built, or of conversions that occurred as a result of their preaching. That would have been too much like the pharisees in the time of Jesus. And as Jesus said, the pharisees' rewards were already received on earth.

The saints were truly holy individuals who spent their time giving all the glory to God, and God alone. Their focus was on the Almighty One, not themselves. They desired to sacrifice their entire beings for the sake of holiness. I think of St. Rafqa, who lived silently in great pain, in order to share in the suffering of Jesus on the cross. I think of Mother Theresa and Abouna Yaacoub, who tirelessly served the poor, handicapped and downtrodden themselves, never failing to reflect the great love Jesus asked us all to show toward our neighbor.

Always these holy men and women found time for prayer and reflection. It was an imortant part of their daily lives. For without this time in communion with God, they would forfeit the strength and graces they needed to accomplish His daily will for them. Every day they devoted to what God desired them to do; never to their own will. This is what set them apart from the everyday people of the world. And every day they submitted to God's will, even if it meant suffering and pain for them. Each thing they did they did with the true love of the Savior. They only served with love. This was Jesus' way, and thus, their way. This is what makes a saint.

Must We Obey Authority?

When I was a child in elementary school, I remember the sisters teaching us about the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment, Honor Your Father and Your Mother, had an interesting little glitch, because the sisters always added on a little afterthought to that commandment. They told us that we must always honor our parents and authority figures "unless what they are telling you to do or not to do goes against God's authority or what you know to be what God's will would be." I do not think I ever had to go against my parents' authority in anything they told me to do. My parents were good Catholic people and taught my brother and sisters and me to follow God's commandments, and to do what was right. Never did they tell us to do something that would have compromised our moral judgment.

As an adult,however, I have struggled greatly with the knowledge that a priest I know has on more than one occasion used his authority as a priest, to threaten people in his parish to obey his will, rather than God's will, because of his own insecurities. The people are afraid because he is the priest, and they are merely the parishioners. He has authority over them and can punish them in certain ways. In the meantime, others in the parish suffer because of this. My heart aches for this parish. They are caught in a situation over which they have no control because they are following the fourth commandment, yet the sisters who taught them, never told them about the little afterthought that the sisters taught me.

We must always be aware, and ready to challenge authority, no matter who that authority is, to stand up for what Jesus would have done in every situation, for He said, "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me." No one has the authority to hold us back from loving and helping someone that is less fortunate than we are. It is our duty as Christians. And if we are punished or persecuted for standing up to authority, then the Beatitudes promise great consolation to us.