Subject: Fw: 7 Roses in waiting 21st May 2012
---- Forwarded Message -----
From: William - - -
To: Donald - - -
Sent: Tuesday, 8 May 2012, 20:36
Subject: Atlas Martyrs commemoration card
From: William - - -
To: Donald - - -
Sent: Tuesday, 8 May 2012, 20:36
Subject: Atlas Martyrs commemoration card
Dear Father Donald,
Thank you for sight of the glorious 'burning bush' in the cloister garth - what a sight in the sunlight, aflame with fire!
How timely the visit by your visitor, Annabelle, so close to the memoria of the Atlas Martyrs, an association that will bring poignant memories of her husband at the Grove. I am pleased to see that there are new publications following on from the acclaimed film.
I am attaching for you 'in advance' images of the card of commemoration that is now finished ready for posting to Erica's on Monday to accompany the seven red roses delivery at the end of next week. I have placed the first image both on the card and on an A4 size 'poster'. The text within the card is Fr. Christian's testament, with a partial print of his handwritten text, and on the back my own reflection which you included in Vol 2 of your "A Heritage Too Big". It is always special for me to share in your commemoration of their lives. It was a lovely gesture to order a DVD for Annabelle. The remaining DVD's will, I imagine, fly out of the Abbey Shop. The film carries the most haunting of images.
- - -
Thank you for your welcoming words with regard to my longed-for retreat. I will write formally very soon now. Then the anticipation begins!
With my love in Our Risen Lord,
William
It is a delight for me to see the Seven Red Roses in place ready for the memoria of the Atlas Martyrs, thank you very much for sending me the photos.
Testament of
Dom Christian
When
an "A-Dieu' takes on a face.
If
it should happen one - day-and it could be today - that I become a victim of
the terrorism which now seems ready to engulf all the foreigners living in Algeria,
I would like my community, my Church, my family, to remember that my
life was given to God and to this country.
I
ask them to accept that the Sole Master of all life was not a stranger to this
brutal departure. I ask them to pray for me- for how could I be found worthy of
such an offering? I ask them to be able to link this death with the many other deaths
which were just as violent, but forgotten through indifference and anonymity.
My life has no more value than any other. Nor any less value.
In
any case it has not the Innocence of Childhood. I have lived long enough to know
that I am an accomplice in the evil which seems, alas, to prevail in the world,
even In that which would strike me blindly. I should like, when the time comes,
to have the moment of lucidity which would allow me to beg forgiveness of God and
of my fellow human beings, and at the same time to forgive with all my heart
the one who would strike me down.
I
could not desire such a death. It seems to me Important to state this.
I
do not see, in fact, how I could rejoice if the people I love were to be
accused Indiscriminately of my murder. To owe it to an Algerian, whoever he may
be, would be too high a price to pay for what will, perhaps, be called, the 'grace
of martyrdom,' especially if he says he is acting in fidelity to what he believes
to be Islam.
I
am aware of the scorn which can be heaped on Algerians indiscriminately. I am
also aware of the caricatures of Islam which a certain Islam ism encourages. It
is too easy to salve one's conscience by identifying this religious way with
the fundamentalist Ideologies of the extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam are
something different: they are a body and a soul. I have proclaimed this often enough,
I believe, in the sure knowledge of what I have received from it, finding there
so often that true strand of the Gospel, leamt at my mother's knee, my very first
Church, already in Algeria itself, In the respect of believing Muslims.
 |
| Our Lady of Atlas, Tibhirine, Algeria |
My death, clearly, will appear to Justify
those who hastily judged me naive, or idealistic: 'Let him tell us now what he thinks
of ill' But these people must realise that my avid curiosity will then be satisfied.
This is what I shall be able to do, If God wills- Immerse my gaze in that of
the Father, and contemplate with him his children of Islam Just as he sees them,
all shining with the glory of Christ, the fruit of His Passion, and filled with
the Gift of the Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion
and to refashion the likeness, playfully delighting In the differences.
For this life lost, totally mine and
totally theirs, I thank God who seems to have willed It entirely for the sake
of that joy in everything and In spite of everything. In this thank
you, which sums up my whole life to this moment, I certainly Include you, friends
of yesterday and today, and you, my friends of this place, along with my mother
and father, my sisters and brothers and their families, the hundredfold
granted as was promised!
And
also you, the friend of my final moment, who would not be aware of what you were
doing. Yes, I also say this Thank You and this A-Oleu to you, In
whom I see the face of God. And may we find each other, happy good thieves, In
Paradise, If It pleases God, the Father of us both. Amen. (In sha 'Allah). Algiers,
December 1, 1993-Tibhlrine, January 1, 1994. Christian.
ATLAS of the World
From
the hidden world of Algeria the words
of Fr Christian continue to echo around the globe as the witness
of the Seven Brothers rises over the Atlas of
the world ....
Lord.,
I love to remember these friends that You gave us
Martyrs to the love that is dearer than life,
Chosen by the spirit for the salvation of souls
Witnesses hidden amidst the continents of men.
Martyrs to the love that is dearer than life,
Chosen by the spirit for the salvation of souls
Witnesses hidden amidst the continents of men.
The lives that they led bore
the risk of true faith
Their being surrendered to the will of God,
Lives that were GIVEN as an offering of love
Lost for the sake of that JOY in everything.
Their being surrendered to the will of God,
Lives that were GIVEN as an offering of love
Lost for the sake of that JOY in everything.
The death they accepted as they bid A-DIEU
Was the final testimony of their mission in life
To establish communion by the Gift of the Spirit
Refashioning the likeness in the face of God.
Was the final testimony of their mission in life
To establish communion by the Gift of the Spirit
Refashioning the likeness in the face of God.
For
all their friends of yesterday and today,
Many hundredfold granted than was promised.,
Their gaze is immersed in that of the Father,
Witnesses risen over the Atlas of the world.
Many hundredfold granted than was promised.,
Their gaze is immersed in that of the Father,
Witnesses risen over the Atlas of the world.
William
J. W.
