SUFFERING-PUNISHMENT? SACRIFICE?

Yes, Jose, not just Filipinos but MANY others

This is Holy Week.  This is the time when we will relive the passion and death of the most famous martyr of all, Jesus Christ, Only Son of the Almighty God, Creator of all.  We will relive this experience of His because both He and His Heavenly Father commanded us to do so.
His Father first, just before He was about to lead His Chosen People out of Egyt where they had been held as slaves for three plus centuries. (Exodus 12)  Then His Son, just before He was about to lead us away from the slavery of sin where we had been held for inumerable centuries.  Both gave us first the ritual and then the everlasting command, "You will do this in perpetuity/You will do this in memory of Me."

It is to be noted that neither time was an invitation to relentless comfort and easy living.  Both times we were pointed in the direction of the harsh realities of life, adversity of many kinds through which we must pass on the way toward the eternal reward. It is also to be noted that from about page 3 or 4 of  God's message to us(Genesis 3), we travel though one hardship (sacrifice) after the other.  We only have to absorb the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Naomi, Deborah, Gideon, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the thousands of others who have followed them in obedience to the call from Jesus to "pick up your cross daily and follow me." (Luke 9; 23-24)

So often I hear or read words of blame aimed at God. "Why do I or anyone else have to suffer so much?  If God loves me that much, why does He make me suffer?  The answer to that is not too difficult to find.  We suffer because we are no better than He.  He, in and through His Son suffered.  He, in and through His loving, sinless creature, Mary, suffered.  If beings at that level of perfection suffered, should I expect to be any different?  No, of course not.  They suffered out of a sense of sacrifice, of pure offering as a life lesson to us all.  If we deserve it, so be it.  Make it a sacrifice no matter what.  If we don't "deserve" it, then we join Jesus and collaborate in His Passion for the eternal good of the Communion of Saints.  We must go through life side by side with the God who requires that we collaborate with Him out of obedience to His Will.  He knows and we know that our calling as His collaborators guides us through some tip-toeing through tulips and some hacking through the briars.  Like the great saints who have gone before us, let's do it and stay happy that what we do is for a divinely ordained reason.

So, when you look at what is left of me as I lay there in a pine box, don't waste your time crying because you'll know that I, like everyone else got to be there the hard way, just like everyone else.

21ST CENTURY MARTYR #4

Annalena Tonelli, 1943 - 2003  
Lay Volunteer
This is a person who lived the evangelical counsel that Jesus gave to the rich young man who approached him and asked what he had to do to get to heaven.  Jesus told him to obey the commandments.  When the young man said that he had done that all his life, Jesus told him, you still have something to do, "Go, sell all you have, give the proceeds to the poor.  You will have treasure in  heaven.  Then come and follow me." (Matthew, 19; 21)
Annalena was a lawyer.  Yes, a bona fide lawyer in her native Italy.  After a few years of dedicating herself to the needy in Italy, she decided to give her life to the poor in Africa.  Her first work was in Kenya with Somalian refugees, where she was very active in trying to convince the population there to stop mutilating women through the practice of infibulation.  She was so active and so zealous for the kingdom of God that she was ambushed twice and survived.  After the second time a judge told her that though she had done nothing illegal, it was impossible for anyone to assure her that a third attempt on her life could be prevented.  She therefore moved to Somalia where she could work directly with the Somali people.  During all this time, Annalena furthered her studies in various western European countries to make herself more expert in God's work for His people.  Not long before her assassination she was awarded the Nansen Refugee Award, which is given annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to recognize outstanding service to the cause of refugees.
She, like many martyrs through history exercised the charism of prophecy given to us all in Baptism to perfection.  She answered the call of Jesus to seek perfection by selling all, giving all to the poor, even her very life blood, walking in the footsteps of hers and our Loving Savior, Jesus.

THESE DAYS THERE ARE NOT SO MANY MARTYRS #2

Clement Shahbaz Bhatti (9 September 1968 – 2 March 2011), popularly known as Shahbaz Bhatti, was a Pakistani politician and elected member of the National Assembly from 2008.  He was the first Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs  from November 2008 until his assassination on 2 March 2011 in Islamabad.  Bhatti, a Roman Catholic, was an outspoken critic of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the only Christian in the Cabinet.  Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for his killing and called him a blasphemer of Mohammad.
You can read the touching story of this courageous Catholic by clicking here.
The 21st century has its martyrs too.  Through their witness, we will continue to be a holy Church. It makes it easier for me to be convinced that no one should cry at my funeral.