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July 2002 |
Mini Homily:
Dying for our faith
By Oscar Ramos
"You must be ready to die for your faith in an attempt to establish the Kingdom of Allah on earth." This is one of the first sentences one encounters in the manual of the Al-Qaeda terrorists, which was found some weeks ago and made public a few days later.
Are you ready to die for your faith? What is your response to this question? If an affirmative answer doesn't come quickly and naturally, if you don't have complete assurance, then most likely the answer is NO! In the book of Rev. 2:10-c we find the same requirement for all those worthy to be called Christians. In this passage we are challenged to be faithful to our Lord unto death. But this passage can be understood in two different ways. There is a great difference in the way in which the terrorists understood that they were to offer their lives for their faith, and the way in which we must understand it. While they offer their lives, causing pain, terror, sadness and hopelessness, we Christians are called to give our lives as a constant offering of love for God and for the world. We are called to offer our lives for the alleviation of pain and dispersion of terror, bringing joy, hope, freedom, salvation and especially love. As a candle shines, fighting against the darkness, while being consumed by fire, even so our lives must shine as an offering to the Lord and to the world, even while dying in the struggle against evil and injustice on the earth.
This understanding of dying for our faith is higher in the same way heaven is higher than earth. This form of understanding our calling to die for our faith is the way in which God shows himself to the world, giving life in place of death, hope in place of hopelessness, and love and peace in place of hatred and terror. In a world in which hate and other destructive feelings are the source of energy for many people, love was, is and always will be the most powerful force in this universe and any other. Love and not hate must be our inspiration for giving to God and to the world the best of the best.
Love is our cause, our door of departure and arrival, our reason for our very existence. The image of the airplanes smashing against the Twin Towers in New York still hammers in our heads, as do the 70,000 bombs dropped on Afghanistan from the super-modern combat planes of the North American army. The terrorists died for their faith, believing that their lives offered for their cause was the better way.
They chose a quick death, an instantaneous death with immediate recompense -- heaven and 70 virgins, according to their beliefs. But I ask you again, dear ones in the faith of Christ Jesus: Are you ready to die for your faith in Jesus Christ? But not the death of the cowardly, not death at a single blow. Are you prepared to die the long death, which we call life? The daily death? The death of the giving of self to God, body and spirit? The death of the brave?
He died for his faith. He died for the faith that he had in you. He died, believing that one day you would respond to Him in the same way in which he responded to you. Jesus Christ died for his faith in you. It wasn't the nails that held him on the Cross, but his faith and his love for you and for me. Are you ready to die for your faith?
Last updated on 01/14/2004The Rev. Oscar Ramos is Hispanic Ministries Coordinator for the North Indiana Conference