Seventeen years ago, on March 27, 1996, seven Cistercian monks from the monastery of Tibhirine in Algeria were kidnapped by unknown assailants. On May 21 their headless bodies were found. A film of these events, Of Gods and Men won the 2010 Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film portrays the feelings and the emotions of the monks who are caught up gradually in the Algerian Civil War; their fears about staying when confronted with the possibility of being murdered and their desire to live are told simply and movingly. Finally they decide to stay and seven of them are kidnapped and killed. The film shows them talking together, praying together, eating together, sharing their lives as they try to decide what to do. They are so human and ordinary.
Last month, a Muslim mob of 7,000 men attacked Joseph Colony, a residential area of low to middle class Christians, in East Lahore, Pakistan, looted and burned 160 households, 18 shops and two churches. Special chemicals were used to intensify the flames so that even the metal crossbeams melted; this was a premeditated act. The cause for the attack was another alleged charge of blasphemy by a Christian man.
The police had advised the Christian people to leave - which they did - before the mob arrived so there were no casualties; the police made no attempt to stop the mob, in fact, in advising the people to leave, they knew the violence was coming.
Here is a minority community under siege, not unlike the monks in Algeria. How do you celebrate Easter with the threat of death hanging over your head? My answer is that I don't know. I hope I would remain faithful to the Lord though full of fear as many Catholic people have been through the centuries.
I attended a protest in front of the Egyptian consulate in Melbourne early in 2011, after an attack on a Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve 2010, which left 21 people dead and many injured. The protest was against the Egyptian government for doing nothing to protect its Christian communities. The following week when the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrated Christmas, thousands of Muslims stood as human shields outside Coptic Churches. This is the type of support the Christians in Joseph Colony in Lahore need.
It is true that Christians and Muslims attended demonstrations in Multan, Karachi and Lahore after the Colony was torched, protesting against this fundamentalist violence. When those Christians embraced the Cross on Good Friday, the truth of their situation was laid bare. Like their Master they know suffering and pain and fear. It has been remarked that the torching was not about religion but securing the real estate of the Joseph Colony for financial gain; but their Christian faith was being used against them.
How do these Christians respond? They demonstrate and seek justice. They hope that the media will highlight their plight and force the government to protect them, they endure difficult times. Their lives are more about sharing the suffering of Jesus Christ than His Resurrection but they cling to both; they imitate their Lord and Master in this life and their fidelity to Him gives them the hope and promise of glory in the next.
Fr Gary Walker
director@columban.org.au
Read more from The Far East, April 2013
or
 |
LISTEN TO: From the Director - Death and resurrection (Duration: 4.54mins, MP3, 2.2MB) |