A Call to Prayer
As we enter into Holy Week, Aid to the Church in Need invites you to join in prayer with the Persecuted Body of Christ. As Christian persecution reaches a new crisis point, prayer is the most appropriate answer.
By ACN Staff
A desecrate statue of the Sacred Heart in Mar Addai Chaldean Catholic church, Karemlash, Iraq. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
As we enter Holy Week, we turn our hearts and minds to Passion and Crucifixion of Our Blessed Lord. Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, the act of ultimate love, is the instrument through which our sins are forgiven. Despite this ultimate act of love, Our Lord is still hated and persecuted in the world today. His Church, the Mystic Body of Christ, suffers around the world, as Christians are targeted and persecuted to an extent not seen since the time before Constantine. These attacks of the faithful are a direct attack on Christ.
Aftermath of attack on the Cathedral of Managua, Nicaragua. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need)
When Our Lord appeared before St. Paul (then Saul) on the road to Damascus, He said to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). Our Lord did not say Saul was persecuting Christ’s Church or followers, but rather that Saul, by targeted the first Christians, was persecuting Christ Himself. This of course brings to mind Matthew 25:40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me”.
Those who are persecuted for their faith in Christ are held closely in God’s heart. The persecution of the People of God has taken and is taking place in many forms. During the time of Moses, the Jewish people were held as slaves in Egypt. The Greek Seleucids tried to force the Maccabees to offer sacrifices to false pagan gods instead of honouring and worshipping the One True God. The early Christians were imprisoned, exiled, enslaved, and executing by the Roman authorities for their refusal to offer sacrifices to the imperial cult. A cult which tried to put the Roman Emperor and the Roman State in the place of God.
Sadly, very little has changed over the millennia. Like the Jews in Egypt, Christians in Iraq were enslaved by ISIS and Christian girls in Pakistan are still being abducted and placed in forced marriages. Just as the Maccabees were coerced into worshipping false gods, so too are Christians in North Korea forced to worship the ruling Kim family as idols. As the Romans tried to replace true religion of the Christians with the state, so too we in the West see the attempts by governments to impose their will on the Church and have us navigate the world on their terms and rules instead of through faith and obedience to God. God, Our Heavenly Father, wants to be full relationship with us, His children. The persecution of the Church is an attack on God. It is an attack on God’s plan and creation, and above all is an attack on God’s love for His children.
ACN’s Night of Witness Paris, 2018. (Credit: Aid to the Church in Need/Fr. Salefran).
St. Veronica wiped Christ’s face as He carried His cross to Calvary. St. Simon of Cyrene helped Christ carry his Cross. Aid to the Church in Need is like Veronica and Simon in our work on behalf of the Persecuted Church, with us aiding the Mystic Body of Christ in His suffering and wiping His face. We carry out this work in the faith, hope and love that was gifted to us in the Resurrection after Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross.
Of all the things that we do help the Persecuted Church, nothing is as important as prayer. Prayer should not be regarded as the last hopeless resort. This is sadly often the case in our increasingly secularised world, even amongst many of the Faithful. Prayer is the most powerful tool we have and is essential to the life of the Church. Please during this Holy Week pray for the Persecuted Church. Just one short prayer a day. A Glory Be or a Hail Mary maybe. After Holy Week is over you might be able to continue to say one prayer a day for the Persecuted Body of Christ. And remember to pray for the persecutors of Christ too, for they may became another Paul.