We had an outdoor Mass for the last night of the Novena to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Right after the Gospel reading, the heavens opened. I haven't been that wet in awhile. Some 400 people piled into a small chapel.
The homily was about martyrs, how the secular state always thinks it has the right to impose itself, though I suppose the Roman one did it on behalf of its religion. And the Islamic State, likewise. Father pointed out that their remarkable resolve, forgiveness, and serenity is not a human virtue, but a supernatural one.
I know one thing: Little kids refusing to become Muslims in Iraq and replying, "We have always loved Jeshua" (Jesus) before dying at the hands of the Islamic State will make you wonder why you are such a pansy, and pray for the grace to do better.
We're headed right for it. Martyrdom, that is. There's no real cause for alarm. It's happened so many times before; there is no magic shield around the United States; we're not special; if we pursue vice instead of virtue, a plurality of evils is the end-point of our pluralism.
The homily was about martyrs, how the secular state always thinks it has the right to impose itself, though I suppose the Roman one did it on behalf of its religion. And the Islamic State, likewise. Father pointed out that their remarkable resolve, forgiveness, and serenity is not a human virtue, but a supernatural one.
I know one thing: Little kids refusing to become Muslims in Iraq and replying, "We have always loved Jeshua" (Jesus) before dying at the hands of the Islamic State will make you wonder why you are such a pansy, and pray for the grace to do better.
We're headed right for it. Martyrdom, that is. There's no real cause for alarm. It's happened so many times before; there is no magic shield around the United States; we're not special; if we pursue vice instead of virtue, a plurality of evils is the end-point of our pluralism.
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