Monday, March 28, 2016

Tremble hell!

The week before Holy Week, I came across the report of the eyewitness account of Sr. M. Sally, the one Missionary of Charity who escaped the brutal attack in Aden, Yemen, by goons from the so-called Islamic State, on March 4.

Around the same time, we learned of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil SDB, an Indian Salesian priest who had been abducted in the same attack. Rumors of his supposed crucifixion on Good Friday are circulating, but with no confirmation so far, and little reliable information. On Tuesday of Holy Week came the horrific bombings in Brussels. On Easter Sunday, terrorists bombed a park in Lahore, Pakistan, killing at least 69, mainly children (!), injuring hundreds. 


It seems appropriate to publish here, what I wrote on Facebook after reading Sister M. Sally's account of the martyrdom of heroic nuns in Aden. 

Tremble, Hell! Tremble, enemy of the human race! Your vile machinations may end the life of the body, but you will never win. You rage for all eternity, because you FORSAKE Him who created you! You have lost! Your kingdom has been DESTROYED. Your rule is over! Your reign is embittered, abolished, mocked, purged, bound in chains, for Jesus Christ the Lord has won the victory!*
You may crush the heads of the Lord's servants, but it is your head which is crushed (Gen 3:15)! It is your kingdom which is crushed! You have lost!

Your minions who scurry about killing and sowing fear, thinking they are following God's prophet -- they are following only you who is the deceiver, the father of lies and murderer from the beginning! And they who think paradise awaits them for their savagery, will only find ruin, will only find your fearsome and dark embrace.

You followers of Daesh, repent while you still have time! Turn to Him who is Mercy, whose Face is Mercy! Turn to Him, whom your own writings call Isa Masih and acknowledge Him as your Rabb, your Lord, your God, and beg forgiveness! Acknowledge Jesus, Isa, ibn-allah, the Son of God, for there is no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved! (Acts 4:12) Even you, with your sins like scarlet, can find forgiveness! Even you, mired in the horrific filth of your diabolical violence, we, the People of the Cross, qawm-al-salibi, we pray for you, and we beg the Lord to reveal Himself to you. Submit to Him, and find, lo, not slavery, but freedom, not a terrible master but the face of the loving Father! Repent, turn away, seek baptism, rise to new life!

If the Victorious Lord permitted this horrific cruelty to those called to follow Him in virginal chastity, evangelical poverty and holy obedience, those who live to love the poorest of the poor, it is because in His Providence, He will bring an even greater good out of it, so that, through the courage of those who stand firm, and wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14), many more may turn from their torpor and sins, and find life and forgiveness!

Oh foolish people, who seek to destroy the Bride, whom He died for ... how many have raged against Her down the ages! The blood of the martyrs brings life, because it is His life, His sacrifice, His victory, in them!

O holy martyrs of Yemen, pray for us, the Church militant! May your glorious martyrdom bear abundant fruit!




Please continue to pray for peace in the world, for the defeat of this hideous evil ideology that is Islamism, which underpins global terrorism today, for the conversion of terrorists, the release of Fr. Tom, and the continued spread of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

I also want to add, as a disclaimer of sorts, what I had also put on my FB page as a comment: "
Ok. I got really impassioned! It is easy to write this on social media. Pray that I -- that any of us -- if we were to face these horrible murderers -- or any such test of faith -- will persevere, and in His mercy and by His grace, be able to give the final witness." 

*
The litany of verbs in this line is taken from St. John Chrysostom's epic Paschal Homily

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