Ex ore infantium… perfecisti laudem.
Some scholars of Late Antiquity are skeptical about or even scoff at the ancient tales about Christian children who refused to renounce Christ even in the face of terrible pain and fear.
Even in our modern period, we have seen the same thing repeated among the martyrs of China: children remain faithful.
Now, members of the Religion of Peace are busy killing Christian children. What else is new.
Here is a story from the Orthodox Christian Network:
Before Being Killed, Children Told ISIS: ‘No, We Love Jesus’
Andrew White, an Anglican priest known as the “Vicar of Baghdad,” has seen violence and persecution against Christians unprecedented in recent decades.
In the video embedded below, he recounts the story of Iraqi Christian children who were told by ISIS militants to convert to Islam or be killed. Their response? “No, We Love Yeshua (Jesus).”[…]
Sts. Nunilo and Alodia, pray for us.
St. Lawrence of Brindisi, pray for us.
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We are blessed to have a large Chaldean Community here north of Detroit. We attend a Bible study in a wonderful parish. Chaldeans are some of the nicest people you could ever meet. They have never looked down on us for being “Latins” in their parish.
I pray that we can get more of the displaced families here but it’s a tragedy that so many were martyred by ISIS. We need to bombard them with prayers because the world has forgotten them.
Would that the holy father had the same strength of will to stand against the evil and error of Islam.
Most Muslims are good and faithful people, who are dedicated to their religious beliefs, practices, and sacrifices. ISIS and other Islam terrorists are the minority, that are–yes–evil. They have been captured by evil in the same way as Christians who murder doctors who perform abortions–religion gone awry. But to apply “evil” to all who practice Islam is simply wrong.
This is a powerful story of the pure hearts of children. No wonder Jesus loved them so.
Unimaginable.
Shades of the Maccabees, or more recently, the likes of José Sánchez del Río.
Hope these little martyrs are praying hard for the Pope and all the rest of us.
I’ll admit to my share of ignorance about Islam but it’s my understanding that these ISIS types are NOT heretics so far as the Mohammedans are concerned. So saying that the majority of Muslims are peaceful people is rather like saying the majority of Catholics are supportive of the use of birth control.
Ex ore infantium indeed, propter inimicos tuos….
Given that in the first one hundred years after the death of an antichrist named Mahomet Christianity (Catholicism) was wiped out across much of the Middle East and North Africa using the same methodology as ISIS, primarily beheadings, is it not fair to say, that what we are seeing is the real Islam?
Of course not all Muslims are bad. Of course not all Muslims are terrorists are in favour of this evil or evil in themselves. But, if they are not, it is not because of their religion, it is in spite of it!
May God bless Canon White and the suffering people of Iraq, Syria and throughout the world.
Wow – what a testimony to the power of faith . . . and what an example for the rest of us to live to.
What disco said is my understanding as well. Our priest explained to us that Islam is the Religion of the Sword and if you were to refer to them as a Religion of Peace 50 years ago, they would laugh at you. Those who see it as a Religion of Peace are not considered faithful Muslims, but more along the lines of Cafeteria Catholics.
I am waiting on the Lord. How long should innocent children be martyred before God says “enough of this evil”. We, the grownups, are only reaping what we have sown, but why must little children pay our debts? Surely God will answer this and the other horrible outrages that are happening every day. Come Lord Jesus! What could possibly hold back God’s hand!
ISIS is doing what the Koran says to do. Of course there are nice muslims, friendly, helpful, kind muslims. There are many people who will not be able to bring themselves to jump over that PC bridge and admit islam is a great threat both short term and long term.
I prayed for the defeat of the islamic state today at Mass. I’ll also pray for the souls of those poor kids.
Most Muslims are good and faithful people, who are dedicated to their religious beliefs, practices, and sacrifices. ISIS and other Islam terrorists are the minority, that are–yes–evil.
Okay, I seem to be the last man in Christendom who has actually taken the time to study islam…
Short answer: You are wrong, and ISIS is right.
Long answer: isis is 100% correct. What they are doing is 100% islam. They are doing nothing that their wretched prophet (Dogs piss on the ground to show how they feel about him burning in hell!) didn’t do in the past, and what his many successors have done ever since he opened his eyes onto an eternity of Perdition.
They have backed up EVERYTHING that they have done with quotes from the qur’an, the hadith, and the sirat rasul allah — If you only know one out of those three, they you are sorely uninformed about islam. —
ISIS isn’t stupid, they know exactly what they are doing.
Most muslims in the world aren’t faithful (Deo Gratias!). Most muslims in the world can’t even read Arabic. There are about 290 million Arabic speakers on Earth, there’s over 1 Billion muslims worldwide. More than 70% of muslims can’t read the qur’an.
On the other hand, ISIS knows their faith. And the only way to explain their behavior is by reading the same material that they’re reading and using.
The West has NO IDEA what they are up against. Like it or not, we are in the latest phase of a VERY OLD war. This war dates back to the Byzantine Empire…
Soon, what we’re seeing in Iraq today, we will be seeing in towns across Europe and America tomorrow. Imagine your local school being overrun by hajjis, and hearing about American schoolgirls being raped after all the men and boys in the school were executed on CNN. That is what’s coming.
We aren’t going to win against islam on the battlefield. Tactically, can win every battle we fight against them, but that won’t win the war.
Strategically, the only way to beat islam is intellectually. We need “ex-muslims”, not “dead muslims”.
“islam’s founder was a genocidal, narcissistic, mass-murdering pedophile madman, it is an evil death-cult, and the followers of islam are wasting their lives!”
We need to pound that message over and over again in every language, on every frequency, on every TV channel, we need to air-drop pamphlets from Morocco to Arabia to Indonesia carrying that message, until it sinks in.
And once again we have the Pope on an airplane, on his flight back, talking to journalists and telling them that the “Koran is the book of peace,” that Christians “have fundamentalists too” (he neglected to mention that even snake-handling Baptists don’t cut anybody’s head off), and that he is “outraged” that anyone should connect Islam with terrorism.
What the heck is the matter with the man? I feel as if I have been dropped back into 1972 and am unwillingly attending a McGovern rally. Doesn’t the Pope notice anything that has happened in the last 40 years?
Thank you YoungLatinMassGuy
You are right both in your assessment of ISIS and the Qu’oran. I’m afraid that unless we are strong enough to acknowledge the evil in front of us and ASK for God’s help to fight that evil, we will continue to allow evil to run rampant. But it takes courage…. the courage to acknowledge that the platitudes we use to comfort ourselves are just that, platitudes. They do not reflect reality.
I am disgusted and angry that we continue to allow Christians to die like this…. especially children.
I am in awe at their faith. and I too will pray for their souls.
Maybe I should send our Holy Father my copy of “Not Peace, But A Sword: The Great Chasm He pulls no punches about the dangers of Islam, their hatred of the West, especially the U.S. You can hear podcasts of his appearances with Patrick Coffin on Catholic Answers for free. I understand why he would not want us to paint all muslim tand why he doesn’t want us to paint all muslims with the same brush, but their religion is clearly one of violence, and he should stop saying otherwise.
Sorry, part of my response was deleted. Should say “Not Peace, But A Sword: The Great Chasm between Christianity and Islam, by Robert Spencer. He pulls no punches…
Traductora says:
30 November 2014 at 3:48 pm
“And once again we have the Pope on an airplane, on his flight back, talking to journalists and telling them that the “Koran is the book of peace,” that Christians “have fundamentalists too” (he neglected to mention that even snake-handling Baptists don’t cut anybody’s head off), and that he is “outraged” that anyone should connect Islam with terrorism.”
Will not ask you to show love for the Pope, but please report correctly:
“They (Muslims) say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace’.
They say, not the Pope.
The Argentine pope, who has been trying to foster cooperation with moderate Islam in order to work for peace and protect Christians in the Middle East, said it was wrong for anyone to react to terrorism by being “enraged” against Islam.
“You just can’t say that, just as you can’t say that all Christians are fundamentalists. We have our share of them (fundamentalists). All religions have these little groups,” he said.
“They (Muslims) say: ‘No, we are not this, the Koran is a book of peace, it is a prophetic book of peace’.”
Francis said he had made the suggestion of a global condemnation of terrorism by Islamic leaders in talks on Friday with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
“I told the president that it would be beautiful if all Islamic leaders, whether they are political, religious or academic leaders, would speak out clearly and condemn this because this would help the majority of Muslim people,” he said
I have a friend who is an expert in Islam who assures me that a good Muslim is a violent one, and that those who are peaceful and accepting of Western ways are “heretics”. The West must stop kidding itself about the desire for the Caliphate.
I taught comparative religions several times at the college level, including Islam. I have read the Koran twice in translation. It is full of the calls to violence. And, do we not, in our liturgical calendar, yearly celebrate Our Lady’s victories over Islam?
Many years ago, I also taught my students that theirs was the Age of the Martyrs….and we are seeing this. Those who do not see it are purposefully blind.
We need a crusade and we need it now! Radical Islam will spread like a cancer. Right now, it is spreading its tendrils into Europe- especially France and England while it is simply allowed. The time is now. Every day that passes, it will be harder and cost more lives to fix this problem. Have we learned nothing from history?
So, given what most of you who’ve commented believe… how does “love your enemies” figure into this, for you? Because, we are a nation known for meeting violence with violence. And Jesus was a pacifist. I’m not defending Islam– though I strongly disagree that most Muslims are violent and evil people; ISIS is an extremist sect. Please. Though, that’s exactly the propaganda we’re fed–in our country and our Church. So– regardless– even if what you claim were true, how will you respond as a Christian, in the climate of hate that is growing around ?
I won’t say even about ISIS that they are evil people. It’s quite a relief not to care about the depths of men’s hearts; that can be left to God.
What is clear is that they are doing evil deeds, and that they are enemies.
May God give that we, including my sinful self, and the ISIS terrorist meet in Heaven one day.
In the meantime, may God defeat them here on this earth, and defeat them quickly.
(I do think, dear AnnTherese, that these two sentences are a proper way of loving enemies.)
—
As for the ISIS claim to represent authentic Islam, I’m suspending my judgment due to lack of knowledge. These are detailed questions that ought to be studied in detail. I do not, though, suspend judgment on the modern prejudice 1) that any religious denomination per se is a force for good in the world, 2) that striving to take one’s religion seriously per se is a force for bad in the world: these are obviously bogus. And so one of these critical analyses of Islam could not be starting from this prejudice.
It would, however, have to take into account that ISIS is reported to kill both Christians willing to accept wordly submission, which by the traditional classification of Christians as “scripture-havers” would be actually unislamic, and Christians willing to, God forgive them, convert to Islam upon pressure, which would certainly be unislamic. Also, the history of the actual Khalifates (as opposed to this made-up one), and of the Ottoman Empire would need to be included.
That said, even if it could be said with justification that they are unislamic (and it is certainly not a given that they are), that does not make them less dangerous.
AnnTherese, you ask a very good question about the balance between justice and mercy. St. Augustine gave the answer to this in one of his many sermons. Here is the pertinent section:
” It is better that you should be violent in words and forgive in the heart, than be soft in words and bear a grudge.
Now there are those who complain when we wish to chastise them in this fashion. They say, “I have sinned, but forgive me.” Well, I have forgiven, and he sins again and again. Now then by the fourth time we beat him. And he will say, “What?! Have I tired you out to seventy-seven times?” Now if we fail to chastise in such cases, this lack of discipline will allow wickedness rage with impunity. What then is to be done? Let us reprove with words, and if need be with scourges; but let us in addition forgive the sin, and cast away the remembrance of it from the heart. For therefore did the Lord add, “from your hearts,” that though discipline is exercised out of love, gentleness does not depart from the heart.
For what is so kind and gentle as the surgeon with his knife? The patient who is to be cut screams, yet cut he is. This is not cruelty. The surgeon is cruel against the wounded part so that the patient may live; for if the wound is only lightly dealt with, the patient will die. Therefore we should love our brethren however they may have sinned against us; that we should not let our love toward them depart out of our hearts, and when it is needed, we discipline them; fearing that being lax in discipline, wickedness increase, and God will hold us responsible, for it is said, “Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.” (1 Tim 5:20) If the sin is private, rebuke privately. If the sin is public and open, rebuke it publicly that the sinner may be reformed; and “that others also may fear.””
Sermon 33
“And Jesus was a pacifist.”
It is a bit more complicated than that. For instance, Jesus said [Matt 10: 34 – 39]:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”
There is a very important thing to remember: Jesus was both human and divine. We are not. No one could lay a hand on Jesus to do Him harm until His hour had come. He could turn and walk right through a crowd that was going to push Him over a cliff. He knew when to hide, as well. We have more limited resources. Still, there is a time to fight. As Ecclesiastes puts it [chapter 3: 1 – 8]:
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.”
The idea of turning the other cheek, if taken to an extreme, would have resulted in most, if not all Christians being killed by the Second century. Indeed, some Christians were soldiers, such as St. Martin, early in his Christian period. What does it mean to love one’s enemy or to turn the other cheek? Love is a very misunderstood thing. There are about seven (?) different categories of love in Scripture. C. S. Lewis lists four of them in his book, The Four Loves, and love of country is one of them. How can one defend one’s country if one is an absolute pacifist? Indeed, true pacifism is often misunderstood in modern times to be some kind of Zen nihilism, where one is a type of happy apathetic person who turns the other cheek because it doesn’t matter that one is being struck.
On the contrary, true pacifism is related to meekness, which is related to the virtue of temperance or restraint. The true pacifist is, first of all, at peace with himself. The true pacifist has a purity of conscience that allows him to judge the best response in a given situation. Peace is the tranquility that flows from God’s right order. For the individual, pacifism is a type of manly restraint on the impulse that would seek to counter a blow with a blow, as a murderous impulse. It is far from whimpy. It is, first of all, concerned with winning the war within itself, before plotting a strategy. That strategy is, then, a type of self-defense that may range anywhere from the unintended, but unavoidable killing of another (under the doctrine of double effect) down to sacrificing one’s life in witness to the Faith (c.f. CCC 2263 – 2267).
For the individual charged with protecting another, however, pacifism is a type of restraint that uses just enough force to accomplish its objectives and not more. It does, however, have an obligation to the other as a protector, so, at times, it must fight. It sounds strange to speak of a fighting pacifist, but there is no contradiction in a real sense. The best way to establish peace is to restore right order and whether that in oneself or in the world at large, that may involve a forceful turning away from evil. Indeed, the notion of turning the other cheek can be sinful if carried to extremes, because it can, in certain cases, be seen as a consenting to the evil done. If ones unbaptized child is being attacked by a man with a knife, to turn the other cheek at that moment would be to, implicitly, cooperate in filicide.
What does it mean to love ones enemies? Love means to will the good of another. Letting your enemy simply kill you is not really willing his good, is it? In fact, it can be assuring his damnation. There is a hierarchy of Goods and one must judge ones love based on that hierarchy. In the modern world, feelings are at the top of the hierarchy and truth somewhere closer to the bottom. It is wrong, for instance, to turn the other cheek when one is being ridiculed for holding that, say, homosexual sex is a sin (as recently happened at Marquette University), if one does not, at the same time, attempt to restore the correct order of Truth by giving a reasoned response. Clearly, this is peace-seeking, since it wills the Truth be known, but it is hardly worldly pacifism as the hippies knew it.
So, one must situate Jesus’s pacifism within an understanding of a robust and uncompromising meekness, which is not at all what most people think it is. Jesus was meek. He was not, strictly speaking, an absolute pacifist. He was an absolute lover, knowing the best Good to will at every moment. That is what He asks of us. Whether that means it is a time to kill or a time to heal is a matter of the gift of prudence which we all must beg of the Lord.
The Chicken
AnnTherese says:
So, given what most of you who’ve commented believe… how does “love your enemies” figure into this, for you? Because, we are a nation known for meeting violence with violence.
He said “love your enemies’, not “pretend your enemies are your friends”.
If Jesus was a pacifist, He would not have told the soldiers to be content with their wages and not abuse their power; He would have told them to stop being soldiers. The One who died for our original and actual sins was surely aware of human nature and the need to protect the innocent from the wicked.
The best thing we can do for our enemies is to pray for their conversion.
Yes, chantgirl, praying for our enemies is one way of loving them. Thank you.
The quicker you stop ISIS (yes, through violence), the quicker you stop them from committing heinous sins of murder. That’s love and mercy.