THE SALESIAN MARTYRS OF MANIPUR: 15 MAY 2001

Remembering what happened this day 15 years ago:

(From the Provincial Circular regarding the killing of Frs. Fr. Raphael Paliakara and two others Fr. Andreas Kindo and a young cleric, Bro. Shinu Varghese which took place on 15 May 2001 at Ngarian, Manipur.)

“Two armed men in combat fatigues appeared at the gate of the Salesian Novitiate house at Ngarian at about 6.45 pm on 15 Tuesday, May 2001. The two armed men went near the kitchen by the side gate through the volleyball court. At gunpoint a domestic worker was told to call out the Fathers. The worker went in and informed Fr. Andreas Kindo. He went and informed Fr. Raphael who was giving a conference to the second year novices at that time. Fr. Raphael stopped the conference saying that he would return in tow minutes. He went out to meet the gunmen, together with Fr. Andreas.”

“Fr. Raphael came back shortly to tell the novices that the day’s conference was closed and asked them to go to the study hall, and to remain there without leaving the place. The novices saw him going to the chapel, where he remained a minute or two, and then came out into the volleyball court to talk to them again. After a lengthy discussion Fr. Raphael went into his office, apparently to collect money from there. As reported by the worker when he returned, the gunmen said that the sum was not sufficient. Fr. Andreas went into the house again. The novices saw him counting money as he rejoined the group in the volleyball court.”

“For the next 45 minutes, the four of them were engaged in a discussion. In the mean time the worker went to the front side of the building and saw white Maruti van parked at the road a with a man inside and another gunman dressed in casuals on guard at the gate.”

Fr. Andreas Kindo

“When the worker returned to the scene, he overheard one of the gunmen asking Fr. Raphael to bring out all the novices and separate them into locals and non-locals. The Master told them: ‘They are young boys. Why call them out. What you want from them, you tell me, and I will inform them.’ As all this going on, Bro. Shinu was watching the whole incident through the window of the dining hall, adjacent to the volleyball court. He also went to the study hall several times asking the novices to remain inside the study hall.”

“After a while, the gunman asked the worker to call the brother. The brother came out and followed the conversation for about ten minutes. It was now 7.50 pm. The novices were in the chapel for their personal prayer. They heard a shot from the road. Immediately after that, the gunmen at point blank range opened fire with their AK-47 at Fr. Raphael. As he fell to the ground, Fr. Andreas who bent forward to help Fr. Raphael was also sprayed with bullets. At this Bro. Shinu moved forward crying. The gunmen shot him, too, several times. Three martyrs in one pool of blood. ‘If two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.’ The young men waited till their mission was accomplished, to their full satisfaction. Then they took the money that was given them and walked away. And it was night!”

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“The twelve second year Novices and the fifteen new ones who had just arrived at Ngarian on 8 May 2001, were left totally alone in a state of paralyzing fear. ‘They will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ No, not they. They stood by their master, Socius and their Assistant. Now it was quick action – two novices, one old and one new, together with two workers, ran across the paddy field to the nearby Yairipok Parish, and informed Fr. George Malayil, the Parish Priest what had happened in their hearing, and what they had seen. The rest carried their Master, Socius and Assistant into the house…bullet wounds all over the body, blood oozing out, drenching their minds more than the campus… and they waited – frightened, crying, praying. For them, all doors seemed shut. ‘If they have done it to a green tree, what about the dry wood?’ The young novices who were eight days away from their first commitment to daily martyrdom, and those who just walked in looking forward to a year of prayer, seemed to hear those words of Jesus. If only what they witnessed was not true. If only what they saw could be changed.”

“The confreres from Chingmeirong came in, to take the place of the three Martyrs, to shepherd the fledglings. The bodies were shifted to the nearby Yairipok Police station for the formalities, and then to the RIMS for the post mortem. No bullet was found. Shots fired at point blank range had pierced through their meek bodies."

“Why did the assailants do such an irrevocable act? Was it for money? Or was it, that they thought it is better that these men die for the nation – that the system may fail, the Church and the Province will be shaken to their roots?”

The blood of the martyrs, we believe and hope, is the seeds of the Church and the Kingdom of God...Thank you for your witness - Pray that we are able to stand up for Christ and the Kingdom...

Wise Men Still Seek Him by Lynn Cooper

CHRISTMAS IS NOTICING GOD IN THE ORDINARY

This beautiful story about the significance of Christmas comes via Ron Rolheiser OMI in his piece "The Incarnation Means God is in the Ordinary"

Nikos Kazantzakis, the author of Zorba the Greek, once told this parable...

A man came up to Jesus and complained to him about the hiddenness of God. “Rabbi,” he said, “I am an old man. During my whole life, I have always kept the commandments. Every year of my adult life, I went to Jerusalem and offered the prescribed sacrifices.  “Every night of my life, I have not retired to my bed without first saying my prayers. But . . . I look at stars and sometimes the mountains—and wait, wait for God to come so that I might see him. I have waited for years and years, but in vain. Why, Why? Mine is a great grievance, Rabbi? Why doesn’t God show himself?"

Jesus, in response, smiled gently and said: “Once upon a time there was a marble throne at the eastern gate of a great city. On this throne sat 3,000 kings. All of them called upon God to appear so that they might see him, but all of them went to their graves with their wishes unfulfilled. “Then, when these kings had died, a pauper, barefooted and hungry, came and sat upon that throne. ‘God,’ he whispered, ‘the eyes of a human being cannot look directly at the sun, for they would be blinded. How then, Omnipotent, can they look directly at you?  “Have pity, Lord, temper your strength, turn down your splendor so that I, who am poor and afflicted, may see you! “Then - listen, old man - God became a piece of bread, a cup of cool water, a warm tunic, a hut and, in the front of the hut, a woman giving suck to an infant. 

“Thank you, Lord," he whispered. "You humbled yourself for my sake. You became bread, water, a warm tunic and my wife and son in order that I might see you. And I did see you. I bow down and worship your beloved many-faced face!’”

LOOK BEYOND - GOD IS IN CONTROL

I have been inspired by this and thought you my friends might also like to read this.

This is a rather long quote taken from a recent sermon of our Holy Father Pope Francis: It was quoted by Blessed Oscar Arnulfo Romero, but pronounced for the first time by Cardinal John Dearden:

“Every now and then it helps us to take a step back and to see things from a distance. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is also beyond our visions. In our lives, we manage to achieve only a small part of the marvellous plan that is God’s work. Nothing that we do is complete, which is to say that the Kingdom is greater than ourselves. No statement says everything that can be said. No prayer completely expresses the faith. No Creed brings perfection. No pastoral visit solves every problem. No programme fully accomplishes the mission of the Church. No goal or purpose ever reaches completion. 

This is what it is about: We plant seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that others will watch over them. We lay the foundations of something that will develop. We add the yeast which will multiply our possibilities. We cannot do everything, yet it is liberating to begin. This gives us the strength to do something and to do it well. It may remain incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way. 

It is an opportunity for the grace of God to enter and to do the rest. It may be that we will never see its completion, but that is the difference between the master and the labourer. We are labourers, not master builders, servants, not the Messiah. We are prophets of a future that does not belong to us”.

ON ST. PATRICK'S DAY

An Irish Prayer for you:

May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

GOOD POPE JOHN AS REMEMBERED BY HIS SECRETARY

In a couple of months we will witness the canonization of two great popes - John Paul II and John XXIII...For those who have not heard much of the latter here is an incident that gives us an inkling into what made this wonderful and warm pope tick...

Do you recall any incidents from the years you were with Angelo Roncalli, from 1953 to 1962, which revealed his character and spirituality?

Yes. After Pope John was made Cardinal Patriarch of Venice, he wished to visit all the priests of the diocese. One priest, perhaps out of a natural tendency, perhaps because he has let himself go a bit, lived away by himself, in a rest home. He no longer celebrated Mass or said his breviary. There were occasional incidents where he may have drunk one or two glasses of wine too many.

After the cardinal had arrived in Venice, he said one day, "I must go and visit this Don Giovanni", as he was called. "No, don't go," the vicar general said. "He is very bitter. Who knows what he may say. He will criticise the curia. He may speak out even against you."

But the cardinal said, "No, I have to visit him". And the cardinal went to this rest home. First of all, he went to the chapel.

There were some residents of the home there, and some nuns, and he went to the altar and began to speak to them. As he was speaking, this man came into the chapel, with his tunic all torn and askew.

Perceiving that this was the man, the cardinal turned to the others and said, "Excuse me, but now I must leave you, because here is my friend Padre Giovanni, who is waiting for me". He gave his benediction and then went into a nearby room to talk with Don Giovanni.

The old priest began to rage against the hierarchy, against the former Patriarch, against the vicar general, against the priests, and he spoke of the injustice he had suffered at their hands. The cardinal let him go on, one minute, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes. Then he put his hand on the old priest's back and he said, "Don Giovanni, we are both old men. And we must both appear soon before the tribunal of God. What use is it to dwell on these things? What use? Listen to what I am going to tell you: start to say your breviary again, start to celebrate Holy Mass." And he replied: "They don't want me to say Mass, they've stopped me . . ." The cardinal said: "I am your superior now, and I give you permission to say Mass. And bit by bit we'll clear things up." Then the cardinal called me. I was outside. (He told me all this later.) He said: "This Giovanni — he's lost his breviary. I want you to find one for him, new, nice-looking, and send it to him. And then, tomorrow, I want you to send a tailor here to measure him for a new cassock."

Then he took a small bag out of his pocket and gave it the priest. "Padre Giovanni", he said, "this is for you. It will help cover some of your expenses." It was about 50,000 lire, the equivalent of about 400,000 lire ($350) today.

Then the cardinal left, quite content.

That evening, the old priest was playing cards with his friends in the rest home. "This new cardinal is quite a good fellow," he told them. He turned to one of the men. "Take this money", he said, "and go and buy a couple of bottles of wine with it so we can drink to his honour." And they did.

The next day, the entire curia was laughing behind the cardinal's back. They said: "Did you hear? The cardinal thought that it would be enough to go visit Padre Giovanni, slap him on the back, pay him a compliment, for him to change his life. And what happened? Last night they were all drunk and singing like bums in the street!"

The vicar general said to me: "See, I was right. I knew he shouldn't have gone. Look at the result."

I was upset about the whole thing, so I went in to the cardinal. "Your Eminence", I said, "you were certainly right to visit Padre Giovanni, but you know what happened after you left? The first thing he did with the money you gave him was to buy two bottles of wine and get drunk and sing.

The cardinal looked at me. "Do you really think", he asked, "that I believed one visit would be enough to change that man's life? It wasn't to change his life that I went to see him, but to begin to take away the bitterness. If you can take away the bitterness, then, maybe, later, the life will change. But if you don't take away the bitterness, nothing else you do is of any worth."

"But the others won't understand", I argued. "They'll say you are weak, that you should discipline that priest."

He took up a glass in his hand. "Whose glass is this?"
"It belongs to the house."
"And who is the master of this house?" "You are."
"All right. So whose glass is this?" "Yours."
"And if I let it drop on the floor, the broken fragments, whose are those?" "Yours."
"And I must bend over and gather them up." He paused. "That priest is mine." There was a moment of silence. "This term 'mine', what does it mean? I must love. I may condemn a person, but I must love him. If I do not love him, my condemnation is a sign that I am not a Christian."

ADVENT PRAYER from Henri J.M. Nouwen

Lord Jesus,

Master of both the light and the darkness, send your Holy Spirit upon our preparations for Christmas.

We who have so much to do seek quiet spaces to hear your voice each day.

We who are anxious over many things look forward to your coming among us.

We who are blessed in so many ways long for the complete joy of your kingdom.

We whose hearts are heavy seek the joy of your presence.

We are your people, walking in darkness, yet seeking the light.

To you we say, "Come Lord Jesus!"

Amen.