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Quotations
Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. – Luke 10:16
“Indeed, the persecution is becoming more real and concrete. On this point there is no improvement from the government. They are employing increasingly dangerous and skilled methods, because they no longer stop at just threatening people, instead they are now leading them into temptation. They do not want to make martyrs, they want to encourage renegades. For the Church this is so much worse. They have the means to test people, good, weak or timid, and reduce them to obedience. Their tools are money, but also prestige, honor or positions in society.”
– Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-Kium SDB, May 22, 2012 in Hong Kong, China
“…Swimming against the tide means limiting one’s access to positions of prestige and power in society. It means that those who choose to live by the Catholic faith will not be welcomed as political candidates to national office, will not sit on editorial boards of major newspapers, will not be at home on most university faculties, will not have successful careers as actors and entertainers. Nor will their children, who will also be suspect. Since all public institutions, no matter who owns or operates them, will be agents of the government and conform their activities to the demands of the official religion, the practice of medicine and law will become more difficult for faithful Catholics. It already means in some States that those who run businesses must conform their activities to the official religion or be fined…”
– Cardinal Francis George OMI, writing on September 7, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois, USA
“[The saints] are great when they’re dead because we can say nice things about them, but when they’re being persecuted in our time, we don’t want to know.”
– Benjamin Harnwell, July 19, 2012 at the ‘Save the Christians’ rally in Rome, Italy, which drew only 300 persons
“Today we are celebrating the feast of the Transfiguration. We cannot ring the church bells, because people will immediately run here shouting, “Why are you ringing? They’ll bomb us for that!” although we don’t know where they got that idea. There is no electricity, no running water. We are serving using prosphora we baked earlier, and when they are all gone we will have to think about what to do next. But in our souls there is no depression, no anguish, only joy. What are we, crazy? No, we are simply Christians…We do not know what tomorrow will bring; we do not know what will happen to us now, along the road from church. But we believe that the Lord will set it all straight, that all will be well”
– Archbishop Mitrophan, in an August 19, 2014 homily in Gorlovka, Ukraine
“I had my trust in God. My faith was the only weapon that I had in these confrontations with Imams and Muslim scholars, because that’s what I believed…It’s my right to follow the religion of my choice. I’m not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many Meriams’ in Sudan and throughout the world. It’s not just me, I’m not the only one…Faith means life. If you don’t have faith, you’re not alive”
– Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag, in a September 15, 2014 interview on her imprisonment in Sudan and escape from her death sentence
“[My family is] paying a huge price for being poor … and for being Christian”
– Asher, uncle of 13-year old rape victim Anisha Moris on June 12, 2012
“The number of martyrs the Middle East is giving to the world is amazing. It is not well known but it will be in many years, and we will speak of them like we do of the acts of the martyrs of the early years of Christianity. The faith they have despite the persecution is moving, as well as their sensitivity towards others…Almost all the people I know in Iraq and in other countries of the Middle East know a family member killed out of hatred for the faith. Others have suffered direct persecution or discrimination. For us it is an honor to serve these people. Lord knows what He will ask of me in the future but as for me I would like to serve here my entire life”
– Fr Luis Montes, said in Bagdad on September 12, 2014
“There were always Christians in Qusayr – there were around 10,000 before the war…Anyone who believes in this cross suffers”
– Leila Khouri, stated on July 25, 2012 after her son-in-law, brother, and two nephews were shot dead
“It tells us in the New Testament that trials and tribulations are part of the Christian world”
– Nissar Hussain, convert from Islam in Bradford, United Kingdom, as of May 27, 2014 has suffered multiple attacks
“The consensus estimate is that about 150,000 Christians are today killed around the world every year, either out of hatred for the faith or for works of charity inspired by the faith. That translates into one victim every three and a half minutes. In effect, we are witnessing the rise of an entire new generation of Christian martyrs”
– John Allen, reporter, wrote from the Vatican on May 4, 2012
“I don’t think it takes any religious convictions or confessional interests at all to see that defense of persecuted Christians deserves to be the world’s number one human rights priority. You didn’t have to be Jewish in the ’70s to be worried about dissident Jews in the Soviet Union; you didn’t have to be black in the ’80s to be concerned about apartheid in South Africa; and you equally don’t have to be Christian today to recognize that Christians are the most persecuted religious body on the planet”
– John Allen, reporter, in an interview on October 2, 2013
“In too many countries, Christians are not allowed any sign of religious affiliation, except by camouflage or in hiding. Experts speak a total of over one hundred thousand Christians of various denominations killed in 2012…Those who suffer and die for Christ, do so for us, and they are our brothers regardless of the distance that divides us…If our parishes can keep alive, even nourish, a systematic memory of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted in the world, then even the local faith would be re-vitalized”
– Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, stated on January 28, 2013 in Rome
“In too many parts of the world, violence, especially against the Christians, not only continues but it also seems to be intensifying. God does not want this, and the international community continues to be half-hearted, pretending not to see”
– Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, stated in Rome on September 23, 2013
“I cannot stop thinking about what happened. I have many nightmares. My grandparents and my foster parents tell me not to think about it anymore and to pray. God was there when it happened. He knew and He saw it. What can I do? God saw. God knows. I leave it to Him…Each time I have a nightmare, I get up and pray. After that, I am able to sleep again. I ask God to prevent others to live through the same things I have lived through. I also pray to God to touch the hearts of the people who are able to help us stop this violence and bring back peace to our country. I ask Him to forgive my aggressors for what they did to me”
– Suzanne, aged 16, raped on August 20, 2013 by a Seleka fighter in Cite de la Paix, outside Bangui, Central African Republic
“Christianity is based on persecution. Christ said there would come a time when people will kill Christians and think they are doing God’s will. That is happening now.”
– Fr Sawiris Boshra, said after the October 20, 2013 Church of the Virgin Mary wedding attack in Warraq, Giza, Cairo, Egypt that killed 5 and wounded 17
“It’s like seminary. I prayed for others daily. My faith grew by leaps and bounds even as my body decayed…We pray for you! Because Western Christians often put so much faith in their prosperity and political freedoms that they don’t know what it’s like to have to depend completely on God.”
– Bae, reported on November 10, 2012 to have said of being a Christian in a North Korean prison
“We see it [a New Evangelization] as strengthening our relationship with Jesus who suffered and was crucified. This means reflecting on our wounds and not just bearing them, but taking these wounds with joy that we have participated in the suffering of Our Lord. We believe that true Christianity is a persecuted Christianity. That’s true all over the world”
– Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda, stated on June 11, 2012 in Erbil, Iraq
“Our sufferings today are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future”
– Archbishop Amel Shamon Nona, said on August 9, 2014 in Erbil, Iraq
“I feel safe. Not because of security here … because we have a greater security in heaven”
Hope Ehiawaguan, aged 16, on December 25, 2012 left flowers at the Abuja, Nigeria grave of her brother who was killed in a church attack on Christmas 2011
“We can not talk about religion, it’s a private thing, no? Do not speak of this publicly. Religious signs are removed. We must obey the orders of worldly powers. We can do many things, beautiful things, but not worship God. Prohibition of worship. This is the center of the end. And when we arrive at the fullness – the ‘kairos’ of this attitude, when this pagan time has come – then yes, it will be Him: ‘And they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory’. Christians who suffer persecution, prohibition of worship are a prophecy of what will happen to us all…We should not be afraid, He only asks us for faithfulness and patience. Faithful like Daniel, who was faithful to his God and worshiped God until the end. Patience, so that the hair of our head will not fall off. Thus the Lord has promised . This week we would do well to think of this general apostasy, which is called the prohibition of worship and ask: ‘Do I adore the Lord? Do I adore Jesus Christ, the Lord, or only a little, ‘half and half, I play the game of the prince of this world?’ Worshiping until the end, with the trust and faithfulness: this is the grace that we ask this week”
– Pope Francis aka Jorge Mario Bergoglio SJ, said during a November 28, 2013 Mass
“It is coming to you, it will be too late if you wait till it comes to you”
– Fr Stanislaus Jebamalai SJ, New Delhi, November 3, 2015
“Today I know that the world is really evil. And I know that even if I suffer as a refugee in India, God put me here for a purpose to learn. There is no justice. The world is against Christ and Christianity, so I don’t expect the world to give me something. I am here to give them something, and that is the love of Christ”
– Pastor Obaid S Christ, convert, said on September 13, 2013 in New Delhi, fled to India with his wife in 2007, has no legal status to stay as a refugee but faces near-certain death if he should return, the Afghan government has threatened to arrest him through Interpol for apostasy, says he knows of at least 22 Christians who have disappeared and are likely dead or imprisoned
“While we as Christians and as churches, live on this earth in an as yet imperfect communion, the martyrs in their celestial glory find themselves in full and perfect communion.”
Cardinal Kurt Koch, stated on September 12, 2011 in Munich, Germany
Blog – 2014 4th Quarter Meditations – Chiara Corbella Petrillo
Quotations