From the Hermitage
Dear Friends,
Yesterday I received an email from a friend who received a frightening email from a Franciscan friar who works in the troubled lands of the Near East. In the email were pictures of what I would estimate to be about 1000 or more individuals who have been decapitated recently by the men in the now infamous ISIS group that is determined to wipe out the Christian community in several countries of the Near East. What I saw was sickening: young men, old men whose heads were removed from their bodies. Others were forced to kneel with their eyes blindfolded, prepare to be assassinated by young and old ISIS men with rifles pointed at the back of the heads of these prisoners.
To be honest my gut reaction was far from what I wish I could have thought. What I thought was no different than what I had just viewed. Can you imagine the heads of men displayed on fence spikes?
We need to pray, perhaps more intensely than before. We have a part of the world and the people in it who have returned to barbarian days. Governments seemingly cannot control or eliminate such inhumanity.
As I thought about St. Monica this morning and how much she prayed for her young son to return to the faith I could only think of the mothers of those men, the wives of those men, the children of those men. How painful their lives must be now. Torture and assassination because they are Christians! Can we just let it happen? Never before has the modern Christian world had such cruelty put upon the lives of believers.
We need to pray!
Oremus pro invicm!
Fr. Milt
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Catholic Bishops Conference. Can you help us gain a chance at winning this very worthwhile resource? Just visit the site printed at the end of this notice. The opportunity closes on August 30th. Pope Francis Bible Readings Book
