Atlas Martyrs Commemoration
On Tuesday, 13 May 2014, 19:00, William Wardle <williamwardle2bp@btinternet.com> wrote:
Dear Father Donald,
I am so glad that the envelope arrived safely, and that you like the presentation. Please tell Fr. Nivard that the layout of the card was only successful because he demonstrated how to handle the page numbering of folded documents, making a little template first as he showed me with his complex compilations!
The Seven Red Roses have been ordered for delivery on Monday 19th, giving them a day in the warmth to open before the memorial day. A further copy of the card is to accompany the roses. Indeed, Erica's asked if I was sending a card 'as usual' when I telephoned!
I attach the A4 pages that lay out the contents of the card in case you might wish to use any part in your presentation on your Blog. It is (sadly) in old Word's '.doc' format [not '.docx' which was a granted in a 'starter' suite, but which I have no longer]. I hope you will be able to open it. The photograph of the Martyrs that delighted me most, after much searching, was the small one of the Community around the table, just as portrayed in the film. It 'felt' so real when I saw the film, I was very pleased to find the actual moment.
I have been remembering the Fatima story of Our Lady's appearances to Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta which you shared with me, and I have been reading http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20000626_message-fatima_en.html It is of the unfolding of the Message, and as I read it I feel curiously over-sensitized, as one does alone in a church when one hears or senses an unknown presence... A deep mystery surrounds the meaning of the apparition granted to the little shepherds.
Thank you for your email. I will be uniting with you in the Atlas Martyrs commemoration on 21st. Their community spirit and their spirit of sacrifice will always remain with us.
With my love in Our Lord,
William
IN
LOVING COMMEMORATION OF THE MARTYRS OF OUR LADY OF ATLAS
ATLAS MADONNA From OCSO Website
Witnesses of faith, the
Gospel of Hope
I
want to point out to everyone, so that it will never be forgotten, that great
sign of hope represented by the many witnesses to the Christian faith who
lived in the last century. They found suitable ways to proclaim the
Gospel amid situations of hostility and persecution, often even making the
supreme sacrifice by shedding their blood.
These
witnesses, and particularly those who suffered martyrdom, are an eloquent and
magnificent sign which we are called to contemplate and to imitate. They show
us the vitality of the Church; they stand before us as a light for the Church
and for humanity because they caused the light of Christ to shine in the darkness.
(cf. 1 Pt 3,15).
Furthermore,
martyrs celebrate the 'Gospel of hope' because the offering of their lives is
the greatest manifestation of the "living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, which constitutes true spiritual worship" (cf. Rom 12:1), and the
source, soul and summit of every Christian celebration. Finally, martyrs serve
the 'Gospel of hope', because they express in their martyrdom a love and
service of humanity to a high degree insofar as they demonstrate that obedience
to the law of the Gospel begets a moral and social life which honours and
promotes the dignity and freedom of every person.
Blessed John-Paul 11, Rome
the Vigil ofthe Solemnity
of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in the year 2003
THE ATLAS MARTYRS
DOM CHRISTIAN DE CHERGE
BR. LUC DOCIDER
FR. CHRISTOPHE LEBRETON
BR. MICHEL FLEURY
"Spirit Holy Creator, deign to bind me as
soon as possible - not my will but yours be done - to the Paschal Mystery of
Jesus Christ, our Lord, with the means that you would want, sure that You,
Lord, will live itin me .. ."
FR. BRUNO LEMARCHAND
"You
lead me, Lord, in silence and in prayer, in work and in joyous service of my
brothers, in the example of your hidden life at Nazareth land of Islam Nazareth
FR. CELESTIN RINGEARD
"0
Jesus, I accept with all my heart that your death is renewed
and accomplished in me; I know that with you we ascend from the
dizzy descent into the abyss, proclaiming to the demon his defeat"
BR. PAUL FA VRE-MIVILLE
"What
will remain in a few months of the Church of Algeria
----------.--~~~~------
I.
Testament of Dom
Christian
When
an "A-Dieu" takes on a face.
If it should happen one day-and it could be today- that I
become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners
living in Algeria
I ask them to accept that the Sole Master of all life was not a stranger to
this brutal
departure. I ask them to pray for me- for how could I be found worthy of such an offering? I ask them to be able to link this death with
the many other deaths which
were just as violent, but forgotten through indifference and anonymity. My life has
no more value than any
other. Nor any less value.
In any case it has not the innocence of childhood. I have
lived long enough to know that I am an accomplice in the evil which seems, alas,
to prevail in the world, even in that which would strike me blindly. I should like, when
the time comes, to have the moment of lucidity which would allow me to beg
forgiveness of God and of my fellow human beings, and at the same time to
forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down.
I
could not desire such a death. It seems to me important to state this.
I do not see, in fact, how I could rejoice if the people
I love were to be accused indiscriminately of my murder. To owe it to an
Algerian, whoever he may be, would be too high a price to pay for what will,
perhaps, be called, the "grace of martyrdom," especially if he says
he is acting in fidelity to what he believes to be Islam.
I am aware of the scorn which can be heaped on Algerians
indiscriminately. I am also aware of the caricatures of Islam which a certain
islamism encourages. It is too easy to salve one's conscience by identifying
this religious way with the fundamentalist ideologies of the extremists. For me, Algeria and
Islam are something different they are a body and a souL I have proclaimed this
often enough, I believe, in
the sure knowledge
of what I have
received from it, finding
there so often that true strand of the Gospel, learnt at my mother's knee, my very first
Church, already
in Algeria itself, in
the respect of believing Muslims.
My death, clearly, will appear to justify those who hastily judged me naive, or idealistic: "Let him tell us now what he thinks of it!" But these people must realise that
my avid curiosity will then be satisfied. This is
what I shall be
able to do, if God wills- immerse my gaze in that of the Father, and contemplate with him his children of Islam just
as he sees them, all shining with the glory of Christ, the fruit of His Passion, and filled
with the Gift of the Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish
communion and
to refashion the likeness, playfully delighting in the differences.
For this life lost, totally mine and totally theirs, I
thank God who seems to have willed it entirely for the sake of that joy in
everything and in spite of everything. In this thank you, which sums up my whole
life to this moment, I certainly include you, friends of yesterday and today,
and you, my friends of this place, along with my mother and father, my sisters and
brothers and their families, the hundredfold granted as was promised!
And also you, the friend of my final moment, who would
not be aware of what you were doing. Yes, I also say this Thank You and this
A-Dieu to you, in whom I see the face of God. And may we find each other, happy
good thieves, in Paradise , if it pleases God, the Father of us both.
Amen. (In sha 'Allah).
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