Pope Francis speaks of St. Stephen as an example of true Christian witness

Pope Francis: Every Christian Is Called to Live a Life Coherent With Their Faith

Remembers Modern Day Martyrs on Feast of St. Stephen During Angelus Address

    

Vatican City, December 26, 2014 (Zenit.org) Deborah Castellano Lubov   

On the Feast of St. Stephen, Pope Francis explained that Christians can prolong the joy of the Holy Night of Jesus Christ’s birth through the Gospel.

 

During his Angelus to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square today, the Holy Father spoke of the witness of the Church’s first martyr, St. Stephen, and how Christians are to welcome Jesus in their lives this holiday season.
“To truly welcome Jesus in our existence, and to prolong the joy of the Holy Night, the path is precisely the one indicated in this Gospel,” he said, adding that it involves bearing witness in humility, in silent service, and without fear of going against the current.
"Every Christian is called in every circumstance to be to live a life that is coherent with the faith he or she professes,” the Pope said.
The Pope explained that at times Christians may be called, as Saint Stephen was, to shed their own blood. Stephen, he explained, was chosen by the Apostles, together with six others, for the diaconate of charity in the community of Jerusalem, and became the first martyr of the Church.
"With his martyrdom, Stephen honored the coming into the world of the King of kings, offering to Him the gift of his own life," the Pope said, adding that in doing so, "he shows us how to live the fullness of the mystery of Christmas."
While admitting that following the Gospel is a demanding path, Francis reminded those gathered that they are called to do as St. Stephen did.
Recalling the Lord’s words on those who are hated for their faith in Christ, the Pope said that these words “do not disrupt” the celebration of Christmas, “but strip it of that false saccharine-sweetness that does not belong to it.”
When following the Gospel with fidelity and courage, the faithful receive the gift promised by the Lord to men and women of good will: the favor of God and His peace. This peace, he added, "is able to soothe the conscience of those who, through the trials of life, know to welcome the Word of God and observe it with perseverance to the end."
Turning to those who are discriminated against because of their witness to Christ, he said: “If you carry this cross with love, you have entered into the mystery of Christmas, you are in the heart of Jesus and of the Church.”
The Holy Father also prayed that through the sacrifices of today's martyrs, there would be a strenghtening of “the commitment to recognize and concretely to ensure religious liberty — an inalienable right of every human person — in every part of the world.”
The 78-year-old Pope wished all gathered a peaceful Christmas and prayed that Saint Stephen sustain them and all people on their daily paths of life.
After the traditional Angelus prayer, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for all the Christmas letters he received and apologized for not being able to respond to each one. He also gave a special salute to those with the names Stefano or Stephania who celebrated the feast of their namesake.

Courtesy of the Deacon's Bench: Prayers for the Feast Day of St. Stephen

A prayer to St. Stephen

December 26, 2013 by Deacon Greg Kandra

Today marks the feast of this proto-martyr, patron of deacons. Curious to find a prayer invoking this powerful saint, I discovered this great resource online.
St. Stephen, pray for us and for all deacons!

+++

The Litany of St. Stephen

(For private recitation only)

Lord, have mercy on us
Christ, have mercy on us
Lord, have mercy on us,
Christ, hear us,
Christ, graciously hear us.
God, the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God, the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.

St. Stephen, first martyr,
pray for us. *

St. Stephen, who suffered for preaching the name of Jesus Christ,*
St. Stephen, who so closely imitated Jesus Christ in that great virtue of charity for your enemies,*
St. Stephen, who, when stoned by your enemies, cast forth sparks, not of anger, but of love, to set on fire their hearts, harder than the stones which they threw,*
St. Stephen, having recommended your own soul to God, cried for your enemies, Pardon them, O Lord, and punish them not for their sins,*
St. Stephen, most zealous for the glory of God,*
St. Stephen, most patient and constant,*
St. Stephen, pattern of chastity and purity,*
St. Stephen, whose heavenly fortitude caused admiration in all,*
St. Stephen, by whom so many miracles were wrought,*
St. Stephen, who, in the love of God, was not inferior to the Apostles themselves,*
St. Stephen, who converted many to the faith of Christ,*
St. Stephen, by whom the Church has received and does continually receive such singular benefits,*
St. Stephen, of whom it is said, that the Holy Ghost, Who inhabited your soul, shone and darted forth his rays into your body,*
St. Stephen, whose face shone like that of an angel,*
St. Stephen, an angel in chastity,*
St. Stephen, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,*
St. Stephen, dear to the heart of Jesus,*

Let us pray:

O glorious saint, faithful imitator of Jesus Christ martyr in will and in reality, so full of charity, zeal, love, and purity, deign to intercede for us poor exiles; you who are so high in the favor of God, we do entreat you to procure for us a little spark of that divine love which animated your heart, that we too one day may have the happiness of seeing our God face to face.

Oh! obtain for us that virtue for which you were so eminent, and which in our holy vocation is particularly required–Charity. Amen.

***

Prayer to St. Stephen as your Patron Saint

Saint Stephen, whom I have chosen as my special patron, pray for me that I, too, may one day glorify the Blessed Trinity in heaven. Obtain for me your lively faith, that I may consider all persons, things, and events in the light of almighty God. Pray, that I may be generous in making sacrifices of temporal things to promote my eternal interests, as you so wisely did.
Set me on fire with a love for Jesus, that I may thirst for His sacraments and burn with zeal for the spread of His kingdom. By your powerful intercession, help me in the performance of my duties to God, myself and all the world.
Win for me the virtue of purity and a great confidence in the Blessed Virgin. Protect me this day, and every day of my life. Keep me from mortal sin. Obtain for me the grace of a happy death. Amen.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/12/a-prayer-to-st-stephen/#ixzz3N0oISq4E

For all my Brother Deacons

Happy patronal feast day as Deacons across the world celebrate St. Stephen; deacon and proto-martyr.

May we all be inspired by his witness to Jesus Christ; a faithful servant and witness even to the point of death.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQVUMG6LZGM


And, yes, Merry Christmas!

One of the first Deacons of the Church(Acts Chapter 6) and the first Christian martyr

St. Stephen

 

Facts

Feastday: December 26
Patron of Stonemasons

---

Stephen's name means "crown," and he was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr's crown. Stephen was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.
God worked many miracles through St. Stephen and he spoke with such wisdom and grace that many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen's preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. St. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Holy Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.
The saint spoke about Jesus, showing that He is the Savior, God had promised to send. He scolded his enemies for not having believed in Jesus. At that, they rose up in great anger and shouted at him. But Stephen looked up to Heaven and said that he saw the heavens opening and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
His hearers plugged their ears and refused to listen to another word. They dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. The saint prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.
After such an expression of love, the holy martyr went to his heavenly reward. His feast day is December 26th.

Looking forward to 2015 for Pope Francis, busy, challenging and historic

For Pope Francis, 2015 will be a big year Pontiff scheduled to visit Asia and the U.S., release new encyclical and host a second family synod

 Austen Ivereigh   OSV

       On his way back from South Korea in August, Pope Francis told journalists that he didn’t imagine his pontificate would be long. “Two or three years,” he said, smiling, “and then to the Father’s house!” Whether or not he is right, 2015 will prove decisive for the success of his ambitious reforms. It is easy to imagine commentators this time next year lining up to give their verdict. Did the reorganization of the Roman Curia plan go smoothly, or is the Vatican sulking and rebellious? Did the ecology encyclical convert hearts and minds, positioning the Church at the heart of contemporary debates, or did it alienate experts by its bad science? Did the apostolic trips — Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Latin America and, above all, the United States — confirm Pope Francis’ rock-star status, or expose the limits of his charm? Above all, did next October’s ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family prove him right — that the Holy Spirit, at work in the process, will unite the Church around new, exciting pastoral possibilities, or did divisions deepen and the process end in squabbles and paralysis? Visit to Asia The year will begin with a major apostolic visit to Sri Lanka and the Philippines, building on his priority of opening up Asia, the cradle of a major part of Christianity’s future. It is hard not to imagine both as successes. In Sri Lanka, where small Christian, Muslim and Hindu minorities face an often intolerant Buddhist majority, the visit will provoke tension, but it will also show Pope Francis’ extraordinary capacity for bridge-building across divides. In the Philippines, one of the world’s largest Catholic countries, his visit will showcase the youth and vibrancy of Asian Catholicism, sending important messages above all to China. It will also be a moment for the pope’s vision of the Church as a battlefield hospital. In his moving encounters with typhoon survivors, the world will glimpse the Church’s vast capacity for aid and charity. Consistory, reform Just as it was last February, the weeks before Lent will be among Rome’s busiest. Pope Francis’ council of nine cardinals will lay out their plans for the restructuring of the Curia, which will then be put to the whole college of cardinals, known as a consistory, which the pope will also use to create perhaps a dozen new red hats. Having gotten the cardinals to buy into the broad outline of the Vatican shakeup — two new congregations, for laity and for charity, will house many of existing pontifical councils, while overlapping functions will be reduced by streamlining and amalgamating others — a new juridical document will be drawn up to map the changes. 2015 Papal Schedule Here is a selection of key events Pope Francis is scheduled to take part in during the coming year: Jan. 12-19: Apostolic visits to Sri Lanka and the Philippines Feb. 14: Consistory for the creation of new cardinals Sept. 25-27: Visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families Oct. 4-25: Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family Also key to the broader Vatican shakeup will be finance and communications. The first is already well advanced under the new secretariat, while the second is awaiting the report from Lord Christopher Patten’s commission. Behind the changes are not just efficiency and transparency but the vision of a Vatican that serves, rather than stifles, the local Church; and that which enables the pope more effectively to fulfill his mission. That means a new curial culture of service, rather than entitlement, and of vocation, rather than privilege. Encyclical, another trip The second major teaching document from Pope Francis, on ecology, currently is scheduled for March. It likely will wade into a huge range of sensitive topics — among them: climate change, population, development, as well as patterns of growth and consumption — that will plunge Catholics into contemporary debates. The ecology encyclical is above all an opportunity to locate the Church’s voice in the poor South, which disproportionately bears the brunt of the rich world’s policies. Expect a deeply challenging document that will be one of Pope Francis’ major teaching legacies. The pope also has spoken of going next year to Latin America, while ruling out a visit to his own country of Argentina until 2016. Given that he has already been to Brazil, the smart money is on Central America, where he is likely to beatify and maybe also canonize Oscar Romero, the martyred archbishop of San Salvador, whose cause Pope Francis unblocked shortly after his election. It would be a highly symbolic moment for Latin America, but above all for the vision for caring for the poor outlined by the Conference of Latin American Bishops in 1968. Given Pope Francis’ opposition, while a young Jesuit, to certain Marxist-influenced strands of liberation theology, but his embrace of the option for the poor, this will be a significant moment for the Latin-American Church. Synod, U.S.-bound The major test for Pope Francis this year remains the Synod of Bishops and its ambitious project of formulating new pastoral strategies to bolster marriage while allowing large numbers of Catholics to be reconciled with the Church. The pope has insisted that Cardinal Walter Kasper’s role has been to challenge the Church to open its thinking rather than to propose a particular solution, and that his own role is not to take sides but to guide a process of discernment similar to the early Church councils. Yet there remains suspicion on the part of some cardinals that Pope Francis is taking sides and creating unnecessary confusion. The pope’s goals are clear: to enable the Church to open its doors to those with failed marriages while giving couples the understanding and strength to embark on a permanent marriage in a public culture that has largely abandoned the concept. If the synod produces an effective plan for those objectives, he will have succeeded. His visit to Philadelphia at the conclusion of the World Meeting of Families will be key to fulfilling that goal. He will come to the United States enjoying massive popularity outside the Church but some suspicion inside it as many American Catholics, including bishops, worry that Pope Francis views both them and the United States, generally, through a left-wing, Latin American lens. But in his addresses to Congress and the United Nations calling for a renewal of politics as service, he has a heaven-sent opportunity to place the Church at the heart of public debate. Even without the expected visit to the U.S.-Mexican border, the visit will be a firecracker. He then returns to Rome for the synod, when delegates of the world’s bishops’ conferences discuss and vote on concrete proposals that will shape the next generation’s witness to the family. If the U.S. visit, the synod and the curial reforms all end well, Pope Francis will spend the rest of his papacy — however short or long — reaping the harvest. - See more at:

https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/16632/For-Pope-Francis-2015-will-be-a-big-year.aspx#sthash.b4lTzsfB.dpuf

A sincere prayer that you had a Merry Christmas and plan to keep on celebrating Christmas in the weeks ahead

Merry Christmas again from the abitadeacon!  I hope your day today was one filled with happiness, joy, food, family & friends and peace.  I understand that some of you may have had to work today.  Others may have had a difficult day due to any number of circumstances.  If that be the case know that I and Holy Mother Church held you close in prayer this Christmas Day! 

Here comes my big annual reminder for one and all, especially people of good-will, Christians who celebrate the birth of our Lord and most especially Catholics, who should know that Christmas, as a season, just began yesterday at evening vigils and extends all the way to January 12th, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord!  No, even though the world tells you otherwise, even though the Christmas music ends on the many radio stations that started playing Christmas music in November, and even though some will throw the tree to the curb tonight and take down the decorations, Christmas is NOT OVER!

Celebrate Christmas all season long.  Keep the lights and decorations up, sing Christmas carols, pray at the crèche even in the domestic church, our homes, and follow the liturgical calendar of the Church every day this holy season!

The abitadeacon had a marvelous holiday; a wonderful Christmas Eve liturgy with over 500 people filling the pews and our overflow seating, wonderful Christmas carols sung by the choir and a liturgy worthy of worshipping the new-born King!  After Mass, my little family met my wife's sister and her family for an exquisite Christmas Eve dinner at one of the best restaurants on the Northshore of New Orleans!  My favorite Christmas Eve tradition was fulfilled: the viewing of Midnight Mass, first from the Vatican with Pope Francis and then from St. Louis King of France Cathedral Basilica from New Orleans with Archbishop Aymond!

This morning dawned early for me for some quiet solitude followed by an exciting Skype session with #1 grandson Calvin who showed off his new bike, Spiderman toys, a big shining fire engine and a big toy airplane.  He really is in to Christmas this year!  Off I went to assist the 10 a.m. Mass where another 250 folks attended.  Again, another beautiful liturgy was celebrated in honor of this Christmas Day!  Arriving home Wendy and I prepped for the arrival of my family, 8 in all as we gathered for dinner, catching up and exchanging of gifts.  It was a perfect Christmas afternoon and early evening.  And now I am quietly reflecting on the day, looking forward to the rest of Christmas and thanking God for Christmas blessings and more importantly, the gift of Jesus, who came to us as a man, born as a helpless babe, to grow up to be the man who opened heaven for all by dying on the cross and then rose from the dead. 

Again, my prayer is this was a wonderful, beautiful Christmas for each of you.  Please keep celebrating over the weeks ahead.  There is a lot of Christmas left to celebrate!

The Pope hears the cry of the poor

On Christmas, pope urges people to hear the cry of suffering children

Posted on December 25, 2014   

Pope Francis prepares to deliver his Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The crying of the Baby Jesus is not the only cry people should hear on Christmas; many children around the world are crying because of war, maltreatment and abuse, Pope Francis said.
“Baby Jesus,” he said Dec. 25, pausing for effect. “My thoughts today go to all children who are abused and mistreated: those killed before they are born; those deprived of the generous love of their parents who are buried under the selfishness of a culture that does not love life; those children displaced by war and persecution, abused and exploited under our eyes and the silence that makes us accomplices.”
Before giving his solemn Christmas blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world), Pope Francis addressed an estimated 80,000 people in St. Peter’s Square, urging them to pray for peace in Ukraine, in the Middle East, Nigeria, Libya, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Congo.
With thousands of children looking at the Vatican’s Nativity scene and receiving the pope’s blessing with their parents Christmas morning, Pope Francis’ strongest words were about less fortunate children.
“May Jesus save the vast numbers of children who are victims of violence, made objects of trade and trafficking or forced to become soldiers,” he said. He added special prayers for the families of the dozens of children killed Dec. 16 by a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
“There are so many tears this Christmas, together with the tears of the infant Jesus,” he said. Children are dying “under bombardment, even there where the son of God was born. Today their silence cries out under the sword of so many Herods,” those who kill children just as Herod did in Jesus’ time.
The pope prayed that Christ’s “divine power, by its meekness,” would “take away the hardness of heart of so many men and women immersed in worldliness and indifference. May his redeeming strength transform arms into ploughshares, destruction into creativity, hatred into love and tenderness.”
In the dark of the night Dec. 24, in a St. Peter’s Basilica filled to capacity, 10 children led Pope Francis toward the altar of the church. Together they stood waiting while a lector read the solemn “Christmas Proclamation” recounting the timing of the birth of Christ in human history.
As the children from the Philippines, South Korea, Belgium, Italy, Lebanon and Syria looked on, Pope Francis removed the cloth that had been covering a statue of the Baby Jesus. He bent over and kissed it gently.
In this homily, the pope said Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, “announces the rising of a great light which breaks through the night. This light is born in Bethlehem and is welcomed by the loving arms of Mary, by the love of Joseph, by the wonder of the shepherds.”
The birth of the son of God in a lowly manger is the sign of “the humility of God taken to the extreme; it is the love with which, that night, he assumed our frailty, our suffering, our anxieties, our desires and our limitations.”

Children gather near a figurine of the baby Jesus at the conclusion of Pope Francis’ celebration of Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 24. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Ever since sin entered the world, humanity was yearning for light and for peace, the pope said. The birth of Jesus revealed that “the message that everyone was expecting, that everyone was searching for in the depths of their souls, was none other than the tenderness of God: God who looks upon us with eyes full of love, who accepts our poverty, God who is in love with our smallness.”
“On this holy night, while we contemplate the infant Jesus just born and placed in the manger, we are invited to reflect,” he said. “How do we welcome the tenderness of God? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by him, or do I prevent him from drawing close?”
Put more simply, he said, the key question is: “Do I allow God to love me?”
In the face of difficulties and problems, the pope said, “the Christian response cannot be different from God’s response to our smallness. Life must be met with goodness, with meekness.”
“When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to better encounter us,” the pope said, “we cannot help but open our hearts to him, and beseech him: ‘Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the face of every need, of meekness in every conflict.’”
As the “Gloria” was intoned at the Mass, the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica pealed; those inside the church heard a slightly muffled version, but the thousands of people watching on video screens in St. Peter’s Square got the full effect. Later, during Communion, priests came out of the church to distribute the Eucharist to those unable to get inside.
Another musical note came in the midst of the Gregorian chant of the Creed. After the line, “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,” an orchestra, conducted by Manfred Honeck of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, began playing. Chen Reiss, an Israeli soprano, sang Mozart’s “Et Incarnatus Est,” which the Vatican said was a special request of Pope Francis.
The pope and the congregation knelt as Reiss sang that Jesus, “by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”
Shortly before the Mass, taking advantage of the satellite link of a crew from the Italian bishops’ TV2000, Pope Francis made a telephone call to Christian refugees gathered for Mass in a camp in Ankawa, Iraq.
“You are like Jesus on Christmas night,” he told them. “There was no room for him either, and he had to flee to Egypt later to save himself.”
“You are like Jesus in this situation and that makes me pray even more for you,” he said. “Dear brothers and sisters, I am close to you, very close this evening. With all my heart, I am near you, and I ask Jesus to caress you with his tenderness and I ask his mother to give you much love.”

A Christmas Day homily from years past

In 2009 I was just celebrating my 1st anniversary as a Deacon and Christmas Mass, for the morning Mass, presented a rare opportunity for the Deacon to preach on such an important day as Christmas.  Delivered in 2009, I share this homily again; Merry Christmas:


This past year was one of several new beginnings for me. It was my first year as the new Deacon and all the joy and excitement that this ministry presents. And in this past year I also experienced the new beginning of a new job at the bank; not just a new job, but one of the first to help launch a new position.

How many of us have experienced "new beginnings"? Remember when you began school as a young child? Perhaps your memory is more of the beginning of school for your own children. Beginning a new job; now that's always an adventure; one mixed with excitement and perhaps a little apprehension. When you said "I do" that was a new beginning as husband and wife.

As people of faith, we have arrived at what St. John calls "in the beginning". How interesting that the evangelist chose a phrase we could relate to. In the beginning is something we can understand. But St. John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, knew, as we know now, there really wasn't a beginning after all. God is eternal; there is no beginning!

We tend to focus on the beautiful story of the announcement to Mary by the angel of the conception of Jesus in her immaculate womb. And we tend to focus on the beautiful readings of the Nativity, the birth of Jesus and his coming to the world as a baby amidst the animals and chaos of a lowly stable, first worshipped by the poor shepherds of the nearby fields.

But St. John tells us clearly in this specially selected Gospel for Christmas Mass during the day, from all eternity, Jesus' participation in the entire divine plan included Him always with God the Father as the Word; the Word that is with God. He was in the "beginning with God" is how John wrote it; again using the word beginning because, well, because we may try to understand.

This is a profound and lofty reflection for us on this beautiful Christmas day. This indeed is the day we celebrate the new life that is Jesus, God made man, the day we ponder His birth. But John is helping us see that it is also the perfect day to ponder His divine "always-ness"; if I may invent a new word! The babe we welcome into our hearts again this Christmas is, was and always will be God the Son, the Word of God, God made man who dwells among us.

And St. John clearly helps us see that the Christ is the light. Jesus is the light that casts away the darkness. This is not the darkness of night time or that accompanies a thunderstorm, Jesus the light casts away the darkness that results from sin and division and turning away from Him. And to be this light for all of us, to be the light that guides all humanity, Jesus, the very Word of God, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. And St. John then tells us; we saw His glory.

On this Christmas morning, as 2009 slips into it's last few days, do we see His glory? What does Jesus dwelling among us mean to us today? What room have we made in our own hearts, for the Son of God and Son of Mary? Can we spend some time during what is left of our Christmas Day celebration and ponder these two questions? Can we keep Jesus paramount in our thoughts and words as we delve into the turkey, rip open the presents and travel to and from grandma's house today? And just one last thought...

Celebrate the entirety of Christmas. Christmas Day is another "in the beginning". We now start our Christmas celebration. The Christmas Day Octave is the church's way of celebrating this divine plan of salvation today, all the way through next Friday. Many of us are off work in the week ahead. Make a commitment to attend Mass during the Octave, or stop by the church and make a holy hour in front of the Tabernacle. And as we visit with friends and family this week, do see with profound kindness and keep in our heart and mind, those who may be very lonely this Christmas.

Yes, perhaps today is another new beginning in your life. Maybe the coming New Year will be filled with other new beginnings. May we reflect on the beautiful beinning of today's Gospel story which really is not a beginning at all. He always has been, is and will be. And to that we all can say; Merry Christmas.

Even in Baghdad Iraq Christians celebrate Midnight Mass despite great danger

Baghdad’s Christians Gather Defiantly for Christmas Eve Mass

 

by Breitbart News24 Dec 2014149

(Reuters) – Baghdad’s embattled Christian community worshipped defiantly Wednesday night at Christmas Eve mass.
The pews filled at Baghdad’s Sacred Heart church, as people remembered the darkest year in memory.
Blast walls shielded the church and seven policeman flanked the outside of the house of worship, in an indication of the government’s fear of an attack on the religious groups by jihadists who consider them non-believers.
The congregation sang in unison: “Praise Jesus, our Lord. Oh praise him” as incense burnt in the darkened church.
The worshippers paid tribute to the thousands of Christians displaced this summer in northern Iraq when Islamic State seized the city of Mosul in June and in August pushed on toward Iraqi Kurdistan, over-running Christian towns on the Nineveh plain.
“The recent conditions have left us with a bit of sadness for our brethren, be they Christian or non-Christian, those who were displaced and harmed,” Father Thair Abdul Masih told Reuters.
“Christianity is the religion of peace and we pray for these people to return to their homes. We pray for all evil to vanish,” he said.
Some had personal stories of those displaced this summer in northern Iraq, who have scattered to Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey and Lebanon.
“They live in misery… yet we still exchange blessings and congratulations of Christmas and the New Year,” said Fadi Rafaat, 27, an assistant to the priest. “We celebrate the happiness of Christmas, but deep inside we carry the sadness of Iraq.”
The holiday season weighed heavily on some. Earlier in the day, a mother and daughter on a busy street in the neighborhood of Karrada, argued about whether they should stay in Iraq or give up on the country.
The mother insisted she would die in Iraq unafraid, but her daughter longed to escape. Last year her son was robbed at gunpoint working in a jewelry shop.
“I wish to leave this country as soon as possible because we, Christians, have been hunted down by extremists and reduced into a very small minority,” the woman said, who declined to give her name. “Life is not very kind to us these days.”
Iraq’s Christians once numbered about 1.5 million. There are now believed to be less than 500,000 out of a population estimated at 32 million, according to the US State Department’s 2013 International Religious Freedom Report.