A current news source says “11 Christians have been killed every hour for the past 10 years. Christians are martyred now mostly in Africa and Asia: Congo, Sudan, Nigeria, India, Iraq, and Syria.”
How do we live with these continued atrocities? How do we continue to smile and proclaim the Good News without grimacing? It takes a great deal of Faith and humility, and a spirit of service to others.
At his Easter Sunday Mass Pope Francis delivered his message and blessing to the World, stressing that humility is needed in order to enter into the Mystery of Jesus’ Resurrection, and he prayed for Christians being persecuted for their belief in Christ.
“The world proposes that we put ourselves forward at all costs, that we compete, that we prevail,” he said. “But Christians, by the grace of Christ, dead and risen, are the seeds of another humanity, in which we seek to live in service to one another, not to be arrogant, but rather respectful and ready to help.”
He added: “This is not weakness, but true strength! Those who bear within them God’s power, his love and his justice, do not need to employ violence; they speak and act with the power of truth, beauty and love.”
Noting the many regions across the globe riven by suffering and violence, especially Africa and the Middle East, the Holy Father implored the Risen Lord for “the grace not to succumb to the pride which fuels violence and war, but to have the humble courage of pardon and peace.”
“We ask Jesus, the Victor over death, to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence,” he said.
Though sometimes seen as the cause of conflict, religion contains the seed of peace and hope. In his column “Principles for Interfaith Dialogue and Interfaith Attitudes” theologian Ron Rolheiser enunciates ten principles about what is best in world religions:
1. All that is good, true, and beautiful comes from one and the same author, God.
2. God wills the salvation of all people, equally, without discrimination… each religion is to reject nothing that is true and holy in other religions.
3. No one religion or denomination has the full and whole truth.
4. All faiths and all religions are journeying towards the fullness of truth.
5. Diversity within religions is a richness, willed by God [Though God wills our eventual unity, He blesses our diversity].
6. God is “scattered” in world religions… [which] all help to make God known.
7. Each person must account for his or her faith on the basis of his or her own conscience.
8. Intentionally all the great world religions interpenetrate each other (and, for a Christian, that means that they interpenetrate the mystery of Christ). …God’s spirit blows freely.
9. A simple external, historical connection to any religion is less important than achieving a personal relationship, ideally of intimacy, with God.
10. Within our lives and within our relationship to other religions, respect, graciousness, and charity must trump all other considerations. …what lies deepest inside of every sincere faith are these fundamentals: respect, graciousness, and charity.
If we humbly seek to serve others, and pray and work for peace, we can live lives filled with love and hope.
