During Lent, the Church invites us to make a sincere attempt to evaluate our calling as Christians; to listen to the voice of the Gospel and follow its commandments; to accept the constant invitation to enter Christ's Kingdom. It is an open invitation to everyone willing to enter, everyone who believes in Christ and desires to repent of sin. Lent is the time when Christians turn from sin and make an "about face" directly to Christ. Lent leads to the glorious Resurrection of our Lord Jesus at His Passover at Easter.
Year after year we hear the call of the Church to fast, to pray and to do acts of mercy and charity.
Fasting, prayer, works of charity
Sometimes, as Catholics, Lent simply becomes a time of “giving up” something. “I gave up chocolate.” “I gave up TV.” or “I gave up Call of Duty; Black Ops, Cold War.” While “giving up” things is fine, do we replace these things with other, better practices? Is time away from the TV or gaming used for spiritual reading, spending time with family, prayer or serving others? Is avoiding TV or “surfing the web” just some “endurance” thing to prove we can do it. Does my use of Facebook really help my spiritual life? To give up or to “fast” from something in the life of the Church means to take on something to “fill” the void that is left. Taking on something that will nourish our spiritual life and bring us closer to God is one of the purposes of Lent. When you want that piece of chocolate remember to pray for someone or do a small act of charity for someone.
…just a few ideas
Pray more, eat less
Clean out your closet: give clothes to the poor
Do a good work expecting no reward
Examine your heart and work to put aside resentment and anger
Come and pray in the church during the week
Call and spend time with an older relative or friend
Go to confession
Speak a word of encouragement to a young person
Come to Stations of the Cross on Fridays
Talk to someone who seems alone or forgotten
Pray the Lenten Prayer of St. Ephrem during the day
Give to our parish’s Lenten charity (the suffering Church in the Middle East)
Stop cursing, speak a prayer or blessing instead
Read the Scriptures
Come to daily Mass
“The fast should be kept not by the mouth alone but also by the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands and all the members of the body: the eye must abstain from impure sights, the ear from malicious gossip, the hands from acts of injustice.”
-St. John Chrysostom
Parish Lenten Project
This year, the Spiritual Life Committee has again chosen to serve the suffering Churches in the Middle East and Africa. Few suffer for Christ the way these brother and sister Christians do.
Many Christians are unaware that Christians even exist in places like Iraq, Iran and Syria. Few know that there are Christians in Ethiopia, Egypt and other parts of Africa. In reality, Christianity has been in these countries since the first century.
The Church flourished in the Middle East, Iraq, Iran and upper Africa for centuries until the coming of Islam in the 6th century. Forcible conversions from the Christian faith to Islam began soon after. Violence, imprisonment and torture were often used to force Christians to deny Christ and become Muslim. Christians were considered second class citizens and often had to pay a tax to remain Christian. Still, the Christian Church of Persia was able to send missionaries to as far away as China where Christianity was established in the 13th century.
Massacres of Christians occurred regularly from then until now. Often whole villages of Christians were wiped out.
The Apostolic Christians of the Middle East and Africa belong to a number of groups including the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox and Catholic Churches, the Armenian Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Coptic Catholic and Orthodox Churches, the Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox and Catholic Churches, the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church.
In the early part of the 20th century, large scale attacks were launched against many of these Christians. Over 3 million Christians were killed out of hatred for the faith of Christ.
In 2010, reports emerged in Mosul of people being stopped in the streets, asked for their identity cards, and shot if they had a name indicating a Christian origin. On 31 October 2010, an attack on Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Baghdad, Iraq took place during Sunday evening Mass. The attack left at least 58 people dead, after more than 100 had been taken hostage. A Muslim group, the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack.
One witness said that when attackers came into the church, they closed the doors and started to shoot the altar, the crucifix, the images of the Mother of God and the saints and over the people attending the Liturgy. Shooting and explosions were heard coming from the church. Priests and people were being killed.
Among the victims of this senseless tragedy was a little boy named Adam. Adam witnessed the horror of dozens of deaths, including that of his own parents. He wandered among the corpses and the blood, following the terrorists around and admonishing them, ‘enough, enough, enough.’ According to witnesses, this continued for two hours until Adam was himself murdered.
The Muslim terrorists after the attack stated, "Let these idolaters, and at their forefront, the hallucinating tyrant of the Vatican and other Christian leaders, know that the killing sword will not be lifted from the necks of their followers.”
“We will keep our church open ‘til our last drop of blood is shed.” – Father Waseem Petrus said shortly before he was beheaded on the altar of the Cathedral.
In Syria, Christians have been forced into cages and set on fire. (July 3, 2017, Christian Post).
In Nigeria, 147 high school girls were kidnapped, some escaped, some were forced to convert to Islam and made to “marry” their captors. (Dec. 13, 2020, Reuters)
In Libya, 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt were beheaded as shown on a public video tape at the seaside near Tripoli by Muslims. Before they died, they shouted “Ya Rabbi Yassou!' – 'O my Lord Jesus!” (Feb. 21, 2014, Christianity Today) Shortly before that, 3 Christian girls and their families in Libya were killed for refusing to wear the hijab. (Coptic Diocese of California, Feb. 15 2020)
Abduction of children for conversion, rape of women, poisonings and other atrocities continue today.
With prayers, fasting and our gifts, we can help our brothers and sisters who are suffering for Christ.
Currently Christians enjoy freedom here in the U.S. (though we must be on guard against growing assaults on our religious liberties).
Let us remember the martyrs who, even today, die for Christ and suffer because of hatred of the Faith.
As we move through Lent there will be opportunities to offer prayer and material support to the Christians of Iraq, the Middle East and Africa who are part of the Church with us.
Christ Jesus reign forever!
