MattSite\mk042196

[A Homily of Fr. Matthew Kelty, O.C.S.O. for a Special Prayer Service for Deliverance of our Captive Brothers of our Monastery in Algeria: April 21, 1996: Lk 12:35-40] *

Let Love Triumph Over Hate

Christian, Luke, Celestine, Christopher, Bruno, Paul, Michael -- you of the deserts of Sahara and of the Atlas mountains:

Fear not little flock, for it is your Father's
good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Sell your possessions,
Give alms,
Get purses that do not grow old,
Treasures that do not fail,
Where no thief approaches,
No moth destroys.

[To Christ]: Well said, dear Lord. Well said. Yet, we do fear. It is not that we doubt Your promise.
We do not.

And we've parted with what we had.

But thieves have come and stolen not what we had, but our very selves. No mere moths attack us. But men of unkind ways and vicious weaponry.

We waited the Master all right. We did not know the hour. But we were ready and waiting. There was no delay.

[To Monks]: So, what do we pray for this evening?

I suppose each prays after his own heart, her own heart.
--I'd say that God's Will be done --whatever. That first.
--That whatever happen, that the Lord be with our brothers and not leave them.
--That they be spared torture and violence: it is not that Algerians are cruel, or Moslems. We all are, once the forces of evil ar triggered and released.
--That they be released. That they bring them home.

[To Algeria]: It is not that your country looks so shameful before the world. Though it does. It is rather that before God you offend. And it is in the nature of evil to bear within a terrible recompense. From that there is no escape. Soon or late there is a reckoning. We would spare you an encounter that is far more terrifying than anything you do here and now. We pray you be spared. That God's grace and mercy hold back your hand. Bring them home. Soon. Bring them home.

[To All]: For God's designs will triumph in the end. To them we submit not only humbly, but gladly. When His own Son was not spared, we hesitate to make demands for our brothers.

[To Christ]: Just be with them. Let them rise in the power of your grace to a triumph of love over hate.

[To Algeria]: It's not that they are French, you know. Or Europeans, or Whites, or Christians. They are humans, and their humanity was shared by the Son of God. As was yours. And mine. And that of all.

Saint Augustine, you are from Algeria. You heard your name called. Do add your strong voice to ours and to that of all the saints. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

* (Exactly one month after this prayer service, on May 21, 1996, our Algerian Cistercian brothers of the monastery of Our Lady of Atlas were all brutally slain by the Islamic fundamentalist GIA, and are now considered martyrs of the Order. For more information on these monks and their ordeal, see the Order's Atlas Page.)