"If we leave the people when they suffer the cross, how credible is our word to them? The church's role is to accompany those who suffer the most, and to witness our hope in the resurrection."
- Maura Clarke
Today, we read the story of four other modern saints: Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel. Maura and Ita were Maryknoll sisters, Ita, an Ursuline sister, and Jean a laywoman. They took to heart Christ's words:
- Maura Clarke
Today, we read the story of four other modern saints: Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford, and Dorothy Kazel. Maura and Ita were Maryknoll sisters, Ita, an Ursuline sister, and Jean a laywoman. They took to heart Christ's words:
"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison, and you visited me, for whatever you did for one of the least of mine, you did for me."
In the midst of a war raging in El Salvador, the women made their home among the widowed and the orphaned. They were afraid, and thought of returning home to the safety of America. Jean wrote:
In the midst of a war raging in El Salvador, the women made their home among the widowed and the orphaned. They were afraid, and thought of returning home to the safety of America. Jean wrote:
Several times I have decided to leave-- I almost could except for the children, the poor bruised victims of adult lunacy. Who would care for them? Whose heart would be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of tears and loneliness? Not mine, dear friend, not mine.
And so, they chose the hard thing, and stayed. On December 2, 1980, Sisters Maura and Ita were picked up at the airport by Sister Dorothy and Jean. They were followed by soldiers, ordered out of the car, raped, beaten, shot, and left to die in a cow pasture.
Of course, the book didn't speak of the rape or the beating. The execution itself was enough to cause my children to stare at me in shock. "Why, mama? Why were they so afraid of their love that they had to kill them? What could they hurt by caring?" Good questions. And I had to ask myself, why does this martyrdom done only 20 years ago seem so much more real than the martyrs of old? Why does it prick my conscience so?
My husband preached a sermon not too long ago asserting that the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. And, of course, "perfect love casts out all fear." Indeed, "the history of the church is written in the blood of the martyrs," and in the stories of those who were willing to set aside their own comfort, their very selves, in order to serve others. May we, too, choose love over fear this Advent season, no matter what path it takes us down.
Of course, the book didn't speak of the rape or the beating. The execution itself was enough to cause my children to stare at me in shock. "Why, mama? Why were they so afraid of their love that they had to kill them? What could they hurt by caring?" Good questions. And I had to ask myself, why does this martyrdom done only 20 years ago seem so much more real than the martyrs of old? Why does it prick my conscience so?
My husband preached a sermon not too long ago asserting that the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. And, of course, "perfect love casts out all fear." Indeed, "the history of the church is written in the blood of the martyrs," and in the stories of those who were willing to set aside their own comfort, their very selves, in order to serve others. May we, too, choose love over fear this Advent season, no matter what path it takes us down.
Am I willing to suffer with the people here, the powerless? Can I say to my neighbors, "I have no solutions to this situation; I don't know the answers, but I will walk with you, be with you"? Can I let myself be evangelized by this opportunity?
--Sister Ita Ford
--Sister Ita Ford
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