Posted by The WORD in other words (2021) by Fr Carlos Lariosa SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Thursday After Ash Wednesday – Lent
While I was in Abijan, the capital city of Ivory Coast in West Africa, giving summer course to some 24 members of the Missionaries of Charity of St. Mother Theresa’s congregation, on the morning of the opening day, a somber message arrived from Oman in the horn of Africa. Three young Sisters learning Arabic were ruthlessly murdered, two were Indians, and one a Filipina. The Filipina alone got 18 bullets. Their only “crime” was that they were Christians.
When the police entered the Sisters’ convent to investigate, they were shocked to find out that these Sisters had only one set of clothing (Sari) for each one, a small pot of rice, and another small pot of fish. On the day of their burial in which Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims were present, an unexpected shower came down on them in a deserted place.
What was edifying for me was their general reaction to the incident. They cried silently and prayed. There was not a single question about who did the crime. I understood that it must have been a part of their covenant with the Lord to offer their lives from the beginning of their religious life to be the poorest of the poor.
In the duration of the summer course, I observed their simplicity, joy, and generosity as they cared for AIDS patients in their 40-bed hospital. It was a concretization of the Lord’s invitation that “whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9,24
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