The Words of Eternal Life

The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.  Yet there are some of you who do not believe.....

 

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.  Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life (Jn. 6).

 

If there has ever been Truth spoken in this world, it would have to have come from the lips of Jesus Christ.  There are so many people who love Jesus, or at least admire Him as a 'great Teacher,' and yet they do not believe anything He says.  This is such a mystery to me that I never stop wondering how it can be true -- and yet I see it all the time.  How can anyone profess that Jesus is a "Great Teacher," a Guide to morality and Universal Truth --- and yet not believe the things He says?

 

The only way I can begin to reconcile this phenomenon is to think that people love the  "idea" of Jesus Christ, but not His words.  Like some Greek god descended to earth to walk among the common folk, Jesus is a story, a fantasy, a tale told on a winter's night to amuse and entertain us for awhile -- but not to be embraced, believed, and accepted as Truth.  He is a "Great Teacher" indeed, but we have no desire to be His pupils.

 

Or, to see another perspective --- if the Woman at the Well had arrived in her village with her story about a great Prophet "who told her everything she had ever done," there could have been some in the village who refused to go see Jesus for themselves, but who remained at home, content to hear from others about the "Great Teacher" that had transformed their lives.  They might marvel, exclaim, and even praise the Great Teacher they had heard about, but they were just not curious enough to go see for themselves and to hear themselves His words of eternal life.

 

Those in the village who believed the woman and who went out to see Jesus and to listen to Him for two days came back saying, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world" (Jn. 4).  They were the ones who received, accepted, and believed the words of Jesus Himself, not through another person, but from the Light of the World.  They were the ones whose lives were changed forever by an encounter with the "One come down from heaven."

 

Unfortunately, from what I can tell, many people are content to sit in church every Sunday and hear about Jesus, but they are not curious enough to "go out" and see for themselves, to listen to His words, and to allow themselves to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, who indwells the Word of the Lord:  Yet, to all who received Him, He gave the power to become children of God----.....born of God (Jn. 1).

 

The opportunity to receive the Words of eternal life was not limited to those who met Jesus on earth; it exists today just as powerfully as it did then.  In fact, we are more fortunate than those villagers with whom Jesus remained for only two days.  In our hands, we hold a record of His words; we can take our time to eat and digest His words so that they become for us bread and nourishment for our daily life. 

 

Two of John's disciples heard John's testimony about Jesus and went to see for themselves if what John said was true.  When Jesus saw the two disciples following Him, he turned and asked, "What do you want?"  They asked where He was staying, and Jesus replied, "Come, and you will see."  They went with him "and spent that day with him.  It was about the tenth hour."

 

People never forget the day or the hour when they first encounter the Lord and begin to listen to Him.  I challenge anyone who admires Jesus to spend a day with Him -- or even an hour at first, "listening to" His words and pondering them in their hearts.  One of the best ways to do this is to journal about one of the 'words' of the Lord, exploring our reaction to them, allowing the words to penetrate the darkness of our minds and the hardness of our hearts.  This is what it means to be a student, a learner, a disciple.

 

Another way, for those who hate to journal, is simply to repeat the words back to Jesus, believing what He says about Himself.  Scripture says that faith comes through hearing --- and we often need to hear ourselves saying something before we begin to believe it to be true.  For example, Jesus says, I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty (Jn. 6).  Teachers will often have children repeat the lesson they are trying to teach, so if we say back to Jesus, "You are the bread of life.  I come to You that I may not go hungry, that I may not go thirsty."  And then we must wait to allow time for the words to soak into our hungry and thirsty spirits.  We will not have long to wait, for if we are truly hungry and thirsty for the Spirit of Jesus, He will swiftly come to us, and we will know His words to be true for the first time in our lives.

 

It is hard for me to understand why people will not "come and see" for themselves, why they will not receive into their own hearts the words of eternal life, the bread of life and the water of joy.  Especially if someone has pointed out to them, as did John the Baptist, "I baptize with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."  How can we be content with water baptism only, when we have heard those words?  So many people consider themselves adventurous, and yet, this is one adventure they will not set out upon -- what on earth are they afraid of?

 



What is Truth?

You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

 

Jesus brings the biblical tradition to a climax when he defines truth itself as person rather than conceptual.  He says, "I am the truth" (Jn. 14:6), and then immediately defines himself as one who is in absolute relationship with his father and the Spirit who is in relationship to both (14:16-18). This rearranges the world of religion from arguments over ideas and concepts into a world of encounter, relationship, and presence to the face of the other.  That changes everything (Rohr: Things Hidden, 61).

 



Richard Rohr's description of "encounter, relationship, and presence to the face of the other" took my breath away, because it described what happened to me in 1977 following the prayer of my doctor in his office, when he asked for the anointing of the Holy Spirit on my life.  Six weeks later, a young girl in the hospital again prayed for me to receive the Holy Spirit.  Both events changed my life forever.

 

My "religion" almost overnight went from a belief system to a living relationship with a "real" God Who loved me and Who took a personal and sustaining interest in all the affairs of my existence.  Before this, I had had "moments" of relationship throughout my life, even as a young child.  But, as in the Parable of the Sower, the "cares and worries of this world choked out the growth" of this relationship.  The seed had not yet fallen on good ground.  But with the anointing and the constant watering brought by the Holy Spirit, my life began to change.  My religion was no longer about a belief system, or what I did;  it was now about daily encounter with the Risen Jesus, surrender, trust, and an inner experience of presence and power (Rohr, 63).

 

Look at it this way:  for most of the history of the world, there was no written "Bible" as such.  Even after the invention of the printing press, most people could not read, and books -- much less Bibles -- were extremely scarce.  I have a book printed in 1691 that, according to the appraiser, could have been afforded only by royalty or the church; even the paper on each page was made by hand.

 

If truth were dependent on reason and conceptual knowledge, it would be only after the 15th century that men and women in general would have had access to Truth.  But Jesus said, "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  St. Bonaventure said that a cleaning person can know God better than a doctor in theology.

 

The Holy Spirit is not dependent upon what we know, thank God!  Biblical "knowing" is not learning or book knowledge, but face-to-face presence with the living God.  In fact, "knowing" in the biblical texts is actually the word for 'carnal knowledge" or sexual intimacy.  With the exception of Mary and Jesus, there are no "Greek heroes" in Scripture.  All are transformed sinners, flawed, wounded individuals transformed by the presence and power of God in their lives.

 

In some Hindu temples in India, worshippers are told, "You come here not to gaze at God but to let God gaze at you."  When we allow ourselves to be naked before God, with all our flaws, when we know His complete acceptance of us, just as we are today, our lives are changed.  We are no longer afraid of ourselves or of others -- the Truth has set us free!  Then we can be present to others just as we are, without pretense.

 

There is a way of knowing the Truth that does not depend on our thought processes, our education, or even our own energy.  It is not a matter of being "correct," but of being "connected."  St. Paul wrote about a matter of doctrine, "If anyone thinks differently about this, God Himself will teach you all things."  That is why Jesus could tell us with confidence that the Spirit will lead us into all truth.

 

Richard Rohr tells about visiting a jail in Albuquerque on Christmas Day.  Talking to a Hispanic man in his cell, Rohr commented that it must feel very lonely to be in jail on Christmas Day.  The Hispanic man answered him: "Father, if you agree to be with Him, He always agrees to be with you."  Rohr was astounded by the man's answer; he said that the man did not need sophisticated theology classes; he already knew who he was -- he had a "face," and he allowed God to have a face also.

 

Many people want to argue whether we should call God "He," "She," or It.  Because God is so personal to me, I could never consent to calling Him "It."  It would be akin to calling my own husband and children "It."  If we have been wounded by men, there is no problem addressing God as "She," for both 'he' and 'she' as we know it have their origin and source in the Divine Being.  The important language is not our 3rd-person label for God, but our 2nd-person name for Him. 

 

In a relationship where one feels loved, where one's being is mirrored back as "good," the most important name is "Thou," or "You."  As long as our name for God is an endearment, we "know" Him; we are intimate with Him.  We know the truth, and we are free to be ourselves with Him.  Once we know ourselves to be the Beloved, we have many choices of names and titles for God:  Elohim, Yahweh, El Shaddai (the warm-breasted One), Lord, Sophia, Lord of Hosts.

 

The nicknames we call those we love are a clue to the special relationship we have with them.  One of my children was always called "Keeks" (for Kathleen) by her next-door friend.  No one would insist that she be called by her "proper" name instead of her "love name."  It is the same with God; whatever we call Him, we know that He has seen us naked and He still calls us His "Beloved."  Then, at last, we know the Truth about ourselves -- who we are -- and about Him.  And we are free from all other labels we and others have tried to pin on us all our lives.

 





Hidden Things

I am convinced that prayer is the greatest adventure we can find, for it reveals to us "things hidden from the foundation of the world."  It takes us to worlds our eyes cannot see, nor our ears hear, but which our spirits can apprehend and grasp.  Prayer can bring us knowledge of Jesus Christ -- not ideas about Jesus, but knowledge of Him in the biblical sense -- that is, intimate union with Him.  Prayer can bring us peace in the midst of distress, even while the storms whirl around us; it can bring us joy that the world cannot give, and it can teach us the love of God, even for our enemies.

St. Augustine said, "Pray as you can, not as you can't."  That is still great advice, for it is the Spirit in us who teaches us to pray, and only He knows where and how we need to begin.  But there are some things we can do to prepare ourselves for the direction of the Holy Spirit.

If we notice the way the first chapter of Genesis is structured, we see a strange pattern of events.  On the first three days, God creates light, firmament (sky) (the waters "above)," and sea and earth (the waters below.  In other words, the first three days are devoted to creating realms or spaces to be filled with ever-increasing variety and profusion.  The days of creation can be seen as follows:

1. Light                          4.  lights (sun, moon, and stars)
2. Firmament                 5.  fish in the waters below and birds in the sky above
3. dry land & plants       6. animals, humans, plants for food

In Genesis, creation is seen as a series of creative acts, beginning with and ordered by Light and Breath (ruah Elohim).  In Hebrew, "ruah" can refer to wind, breath, soul, spirit.  So what has this to do with prayer? 

One of the things I have discovered along the way is that nothing creative will happen unless and until there is space, or a realm, for it to happen.  If I want to paint, or to sew, I have to find a space, a time, and a place for the activity I desire.  Real artists have a kind of "studio space," even if it is only a corner somewhere, where the easel can remain set up.  I used to have a double closet in a hallway that held my sewing projects.  When I opened those doors, I could create; I had the space; I set aside the time and place for sewing, and beautiful things would often emerge. 

The same is true of prayer.  If we want to pray, however we pray, we must first find a space and a time (first day, second day, etc. )that God can fill with His Light and His Spirit/ wind/ breath.  Then our chaos can begin to become an ordered world, filled with unimaginably beautiful and diverse creations.  Once we have dedicated a chair, a corner, or even our bed to prayer, once we have set aside a certain time for prayer, God can begin to fill that space and time with His Light and His Spirit.  He can "do in us more than we can ask or imagine," if we only will give Him the time and space and permission to do it. 

And just like Adam, wondering at the variety and beauty of Paradise, we too will be surprised at what God can do in our world.  There is nothing more exciting than to "turn God loose" in our world and to watch Him at work.  Mountains move, the heavens shake, and miracles drop in our lap every day.   We have Jesus' promise in Matthew 7 and Luke 11 that God will not disappoint us if we ask for the Holy Spirit, for He "knows how to give good gifts to those who ask." 

A good place to begin in prayer is to ask for wisdom, for wisdom brings with it all good things, whatever we can desire.  And then, while we are creating time and space for our personal creation, we can read the words of Wisdom in Sirach, in Wisdom, and in Proverbs -- believing that whatever we ask for in prayer, we will receive. 

Gratitude!

I am so thankful for those who testify, like John, to the Light, to those who can bear witness that His words are true!  (from the last entry)

 

I am so grateful for:

 

St. Peter, the chief of sinners, who denied not only his God, but his friend....

St. Paul, who in arrogance persecuted and put to death the followers of Jesus....

St. Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus cast seven devils.....

St. Augustine, who pursued the lusts of the flesh and of the mind for 33 years before he encountered the Word of God, Jesus Christ.....

almost any saint you can name, whose encounter with Jesus transformed his or her life.

 

I am grateful that we are a church of sinners who become saints by knowledge of Jesus Christ and His power in us.  When St. John says, "The light shines in the darkness," he means the darkness not only of this world, but the darkness in our hearts.  None of us begin as "holy;" holiness comes by the light shining on our sinfulness and transforming it.  The more the light shines, the more conscious we become of our sinful nature and our need for redemption. 

 

And redemption of our sinful nature comes only through walking daily with Jesus Christ, who transforms us from "glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18).  St. Paul tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom -- and the freedom comes from knowing that, though we do not even know our own sins, there is One who continually cleanses us.  Occasionally, we see ourselves as God sees us, and we are horrified to know what we are capable of thinking, believing, and doing.  But our "seeing ourselves as sinners" allows us to turn to God, knowing that we cannot help ourselves.

 

The secret to the success of AA is reliance on a higher power to do for us and in us what we are unable to do for ourselves.  Added to reliance on a higher power is the support of witnesses and mentors all around us who "testify" to their own redemption from alcohol, which held them bound.  This is the story of the "saints," -- not perfect people, but those who have been redeemed from the chains of sin which bound them, those who have been set free to live a life beyond their own strength.  I am thankful for these people who, in acknowledging their own weakness and inability, have become a source of strength to so many others.

 

Reading the stories of the saints is to see people who  have been set free to love God and their neighbor by the compassion and work of Jesus Christ working in their human nature.  We are all "saints" if only we allow Jesus to do His work in us and stop relying on our own strength.  He can do more in us than we can ask or imagine (I Cor. 3:10).  By keeping the witness of Peter, of Paul, of Mary Magdalene, of all the saints in mind, we have the courage to allow Jesus Christ to transform us into His Image.

Let There Be Light!

The words I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life  (Jn. 6:63).

 

Self-pity is a slimy, bottomless pit.  Once you fall in, you tend to go deeper and deeper into the mire.  As you slide down those slippery walls, you are well on your way to depression, and the darkness is profound.......Your only hope is to look up and see the Light of My Presence shining down on you.  Though the Light looks dim from your perspective, deep in the pit, those rays of hope can reach you at any depth.  While you focus on Me in trust, you rise ever so slowly out of the abyss of despair.  Finally, you can reach up and grasp My hand.  I will pull you into the Light again.  I will gently cleanse you, washing off the clinging mire.  I will cover you with My righteousness and walk with you down the path of life.... (from Jesus Calling, July 16).

 

"I ask myself every night as I put my head on the pillow, 'What do people need?"  (from a good priest who really desires to serve his congregation). 

 

All of us at one time or another have "fallen into a slimy, bottomless pit" in some way, and all of us have to some degree or another been unable to see our way out.  That is what the bible means by saying that we have "all gone astray like sheep, seeking our own way."  Sheep are notorious for wandering away from the flock, falling down cliffs or wells, and generally are unable to rescue themselves from the mess in which they find themselves. 

 

I just love that the opening pages of the Bible begin with the "wild and waste" chaos -- something so unformed that it cannot even be considered life.  And the Spirit of God hovers/broods over the abyss.  The Word comes forth from the mouth of God -- the Word that needs Breath, Wind, Spirit to be uttered aloud:  LIGHT! BE! 

 

There is the Speaker, the MIND/ HEART, that begets the WORD, and utters it with the BREATH of His mouth, and these Three are ONE, undivided.  There is nothing so lost, so deep in the abyss, that it cannot be reached by the LIGHT,  the manifestation of the THREE.  "My words are spirit and they are life," He said to us -- and His Life is the LIGHT OF MEN. 

 

The LIGHT can reach us, no matter where we are.  What men need, no matter where they are, is LIGHT AND TRUTH.  And the words that Jesus speaks are Light and Truth.  If there is a shadow of untruth in Him, He cannot save us.  His Truth must be universal, or it is not Truth.  His words can reach the depths of our hearts, where we are most wounded.  But we must look up; we cannot continue to look at the depths in which we find ourselves.  If we look for His words, His Light and Truth will enter our hearts.  That is all we need.  His Light drives away the demons of darkness and despair.  His truth begins to order our world anew, bringing harmony where there was division, growth where there was stagnation, hope where there was despair. 

 

If we study the first chapter of Genesis, we discover that it is not only about the creation of our universe, wonderful as that is.  It is also about our "new" creation once we have been overtaken by wilderness and confusion.  It is about a new beginning:  and God saw that it was good.  The world is not created all at once; first, there is a space for new growth, and then comes the sprouting.  We must be patient, and keep looking for the Light to do its work in us. 

 

What do people need?  We need the Words of Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life:  Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God, He said.  But man also needs someone to point up, to point to the words of LIFE.  "There was a man sent by God; his name was John.  He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."

 

The True Light has entered our world.  Fortunately, He has cast His fire into human hearts, that they can, like John, bear witness to Him.  I am so thankful for those who testify, like John, to the Light, to those who can bear witness that His words are true!

 



The Church

Yesterday, I wrote about the necessity of asking for the living water that Jesus promised to give, and about allowing Him to cleanse us from all sin, preparing us for communion with God as a bride prepares to meet her husband.  So, what part does the church play in this intimate union of the soul with God?

From the beginning, every single person in the church was a convert, either from Judaism or from paganism.  Every single person was a "first-generation" Christian.  The stories of each one's conversion, and how it came about, were the "resources" and the strength of the church.  Each story strengthened the faith of other believers.  In the Acts of the Apostles, the story of Paul's conversion and the story of the Roman centurian Cornelius had to electrify both Jews and pagans.  Surely, the stories were told and re-told, of God's amazing action on the part of unbelievers.

Even in the days of St.Augustine, (354-430 A.D.), when it was still somewhat dangerous to convert to Catholicism, the stories of the conversion of Anthony of the Desert, and of Augustine's close friends inspired and moved Augustine closer to the truth.  And finally, his own conversion story was told over and over to his friends, making them at first wonder and then themselves move toward conversion.

The church, ideally, is the gathering of all those who have experienced the action of God, the stirring of the Holy Spirit, and finally the surrender to Christ in their own hearts.  The stories of how God has acted on our behalf should be told and re-told; for one, it was the inspiration to pick up the Bible and begin reading, as for Augustine.  For others, it was the story of a friend's conversion that changed their hearts.  For others, the answer to a heart-felt prayer, and so on.  Our stories lead us forward, closer to God, enabling us to trust Him more.  Or they strengthen the faith of others who have also experienced the grace and action of God on their behalf.  We 'gather" to hear and to share our stories, matching them to the stories of the Bible, which then take on greater meaning for us.

The Church preserves for us the stories of the past, of how God has acted throughout history, from the time of Genesis forward.  The church preserves for us the Oracles of God, the commandments and instructions passed down to holy men who desired to hear His Word.  And the church preserves for us the written word, the Bible, in its final and edited form-- just as Judaism today carefully preserves the Torah and the Haf-torah in the Arks of its synagogues. 

When we hear the word of the Lord, we are encouraged, ennobled, and enabled to believe that what God has done in the past, He will again do for us today. We hear the stories; our hearts are stirred by the Holy Spirit, and we cry out "Abba, Father!"  With that cry, the Word takes root in our hearts, and we dare to believe that God is with us as He was with Moses, with Abraham, and with all the saints.

Yahweh carried the infant Israel through the desert for 40 years.  Their shoes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.  He fed them manna and slaked their thirst with water from the Rock.  Can we not believe He will do the same for us?  If we cannot believe because of their stories, perhaps we can believe because of the stories of our contemporaries.  When the woman at the well went into her village, the people came out to see Jesus for themselves, finally telling her, "At first, we believed because of what you had said, but now we have heard for ourselves the words of everlasting life."

This is the church -- the gathering of those whose bonds have been broken, who have been set free from the chains of sin, who are being cleansed daily by the washing of water with the Word and the action of the Holy Spirit.  Each sacrament brings us into contact with the Living Christ, Who acts on our behalf, Who leads us through the desert of our own lives, and Who feeds us with the Living Water of the Holy Spirit and with His own Body and Blood for nourishment. 

It is regrettable that we are no longer the church of converts, but of second-third- and 18th- generation Catholics who have never heard or who have forgotten the stories of the past.  Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is not confined by our cultural realities; He is still alive and active today in the hearts of those who want to know God, and the stories are still there for those who wish to hear them.

Ask!

If I could say just one thing to people before I die, I would quote John 4:10, Jesus' words to the woman at the well:  If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

All the religions of the world come down to this one thing -- communion with God, receiving the blessings of His own life that He wants to pour out into our hearts.  Even the pagan philosophers knew what the goal of life was; they just did not know how to get from where to are now (A) to where we need to be (B).  Plato wrote about absolute Truth, Beauty, Wisdom, from which all earthly truth, beauty, and wisdom derive.  He knew it existed; he knew it was our ultimate goal -- but he could not know the Bridge, or the means, to attain it.

Religion has provided paths for man to reach up towards God; the paths differ according to culture and era.  Some are very difficult to follow; others seem to allow anything at all.  But it is not religion that saves us; the purpose of religion is to introduce us to the One Who can and does bring us "the Gift of God."  It is not what we do that brings us into communion with God; it is only what we will allow God to do in us and for us that cleanses us from the sin that bars our way to full union with Him. 

Richard Rohr puts it this way: Nothing in this world is an end in itself, not even the Church.  Only God is an end; everything else is a means, a means toward that end.  Only God saves; nothing else can save us.  Not the law, not the Bible, not the Pope, not the sacraments, not even the Church.  The Church is God's free gift to us, through which we come to hear his Word and allow Him to save us.  When we make means into ends, we forget that.  We think we are putting God first, but really we are putting ourselves first (The Great Themes of Scripture: Old Testament, p. 60). 

If we think we can meet God by our own effort, we are deceiving ourselves.  The best we can do is to do what Jesus said and "ask Him" for the living water that God wants to pour out on us.  Then, that Gift of God will lead us surely to eternal life.  In the Book of Ephesians, Paul tells wives to "submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior....Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or winkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Eph. 5).

It is true that we must be holy as God is holy if we are to share His life and His Spirit.  But my point here is that we can do nothing to make ourselves holy; we can only submit to Christ, who constantly offers us living water for our souls, and who daily cleanses us through His all -powerful word.  He alone saves us; He alone makes us holy and "without blemish." 

We can trust Him.  The woman at the well wanted to know if she had been taught correctly about the right place to worship God.  All of us want to know if we too have been taught correctly about how to worship God.  There is only One who can tell us the Truth.  If we come to Him, we will know the Truth, and He will lead us into all Truth.  And then, He promised us, "The Father and I will come and dwell in [us]. 

We don't want it to be that easy; we want to earn our reward -- but Jesus laid down one condition -- ask and receive.  The adventure of asking and living in His Promise and watching it come true is life's greatest pleasure and reward!

A Modern Martyr

I cannot stop thinking about Miriam Ibriham, the young woman from Iraq who has been imprisoned for months with her young children.  She was sentenced to 100 lashes and then beheading for the crime of leaving her Muslim faith and converting to Christianity.  The truth is, however, that her Muslim father abandoned the family when she was only a baby, so she was raised by her Christian mother.  She was never a Muslim.  As a young woman, she married an American man, also a Christian, and had two children, if I remember rightly. 

When pregnant with her third child, she was arrested and imprisoned with her two young children, awaiting the birth of the third so that her sentence could be carried out.  She gave birth to the infant while chained hand and foot to a prison wall.  Because of world-wide public outcry over the injustice of this judgment, she was temporarily released, but then re-arrested just moments before she and her husband and children boarded a plane to freedom.  Since then, no one has heard where she is.  She may be dead, or suffering untold tortures in a prison cell underground.

Miriam Ibriham was given the option to renounce her Christian faith to save her life, but she would not do it.  The Catholic church honors Saints Perpetua and Felicity, two early martyrs in the Roman empire.  Perpetua also gave birth to an infant while in prison for her faith; her servant Felicity was nursing a child while in prison.  Both of these women handed over their infants to others before going to face their deaths in the Coliseum.  We do not know the fate of Ibriham's children at this moment, but it is safe to call Miriam a modern martyr. 

What is it about Christianity that makes it such a threat to an evil empire?  Why have Jews and Christians been so persecuted throughout history?  (To be fair, the Catholic Church did its share of persecution and torture of Jews and Muslims also during the Spanish Inquisition, and even Protestant sects have gone through periods of bloody persecution of Catholics and "infidels.")  Jesus warned us that "...the world has hated [you], for [you] are not of the world any more than I am of the world....if you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own....if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also....they will treat you this way because of My Name, for they do not know the One Who sent me....He who hates me hates My Father as well" (Jn. 17 & 15).

The sixth chapter of Ephesians tells us that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  This is coming from Paul himself, who persecuted and put to death the early Christians -- thinking, as Jesus told us, that he was doing God a favor.

The forces of evil are relentless; in the name of God, countless people like Miriam Ibriham have been beheaded, scourged, tortured, imprisoned and hated throughout history.  Those of us who are able to freely and openly practice our Christian faith surely owe a great debt to those who have not been so fortunate.  Let us continue to pray for Miriam Ibriham and others like her who are victims of "...the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."