It all happened so suddenly. Father Ragheed Ganni hadn't got far from his church one Sunday when his car was ambushed. They shouted: "I told you to close the church. Why didn't you do it? Why are you still here?" Father Ragheed simply replied: "How can I close the house of God?" A few seconds later, the 35-year-old priest and the three sub-deacons with him were shot dead.
At first reading, I was very struck by how close Fr Ragheed's reply is to that offered by the martyrs of fourth century Africa, after they had been arrested for celebrating Sunday Mass in one of their houses. The persecution of Diocletian made it illegal for Christians to gather for Mass. This account is from Pope John Paul II's letter Dies Domini:
This was the case of the martyrs of Abitinia, in Proconsular Africa, who replied to their accusers: "Without fear of any kind we have celebrated the Lord's Supper, because it cannot be missed; that is our law"; "We cannot live without the Lord's Supper". As she confessed her faith, one of the martyrs said: "Yes, I went to the assembly and I celebrated the Lord's Supper with my brothers and sisters, because I am a Christian".
And we can be so casual about our participation at Sunday Mass ....
2 comments:
This is a transcription of a comment received, very slightly edited.
That is very true; We have real freedom, still. And, since that priest's murder, along with his 3 deacons (no doubt travelling together for safety in numbers) not a day has gone by when I do not think of/pray for them -probably unnecessarily as they are most likely to all be in heaven praying for all of us. Didn`t that priest leave England to return to Iraq, his coumtry of origin, as he felt called to be with Iraqi Catholics in their time of need ? That is just heroism beyond understanding. Someone ought to make a big-screen film of that story.
Joseph. Jihad is a doctrine of Islam. It is disingenous to ignore the religious struggle of the people who did this. They did it in good faith, believing it was a holy and good thing to do, and pleasing to God. They would much prefer it to be be called Jihad than Murder, as murder is not pleasing to Allah.
Sorry. I'll go away now.
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