The Middle East, from Syria and Iraq to Lebanon and Egypt, is once again a land flowing with the blood of Christian martyrs. The Christ-haters are not only the scimitar-wielding psychopaths of the “caliphate.” They are those who willingly and deliberately fail to come to the aid of entire communities threatened with ethnic cleansing, even genocide. Perhaps if we lose, Belloc wrote, 80 years ago, “our Faith will rise.” The blood of the martyrs is the seed of holiness. It has always been so. And the ultimate victory is assured. Still, let the strong words of Amel Nona, the archbishop of Mosul, shine their own clear light for secular Westerners: Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer. I lost my diocese. Please try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. . . . Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.The motivation for the Crusades was the fruit of a society that, despite its share of corruptions, enjoyed great spiritual wealth. It is no shame for a Christian to be called a “crusader.” It is a badge of honor.— Father Benedict Kiely is pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Stowe, Vt., and director of continuing education for clergy in the Diocese of Burlington.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 21:15:43 +0000
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