The recent death of the four nuns belonging to the Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity in Yemen, is hard to take in. They became nuns for a reason, they wanted to dedicate their lives to serving God by caring for the infirm and weak in society. They weren’t a threat to anybody, they were just caring for the aged in a war torn region. The people who shot them dead must have been really scared of what they stood for: love. Why else would they have shot harmless nuns and kidnapped a priest? They couldn’t understand this brand of love they depicted, and in typical barbarian fashion they decided to deal with it by eliminating whatever made them question their vile beliefs rooted in selfishness, vengeance and a self-gratification ideology.
Fr. Tom Uzhunnali, the Salesian priest supposedly kidnapped by the IS, was serving the spiritual needs of the sisters and so far there hasn’t been any news about his whereabouts. Official reports suspect that he has been kidnapped and one can only imagine what he is going through right now. Wherever he is, we can only hope and pray that he will get through this ordeal. This is the kind of life they lead, people who go out of their way to serve others in society. Though the nuns and the others who were shot down are no more, they have lived extraordinary lives and they will live on in the hearts of the people they sacrificed their lives for. They have loved and given of themselves more than most of us would in a lifetime, they embody the perfect essence of Christ.
And lastly, I cannot let the month April pass by without writing about the more than 200 Nigerian school girls who were kidnapped and kept in captivity since April 2014. What can you say about a world that doesn’t care for them, that doesn’t think they are worth rescuing? As of now no one really knows about their plight, almost all of them were forcefully married to their captives and reports are now arising that a few have been employed as suicide bombers. There is no effort being made to find them anymore, somehow no one seems bothered, especially the Nigerian government. Atrocities are bound to keep happening, this is not a perfect world, but how can one section of the world completely forget the other section that is suffering day in and day out. Life can be cruel, but those with a voice should never stop speaking for the voiceless. One should continue telling their tale and remembering them,reaching out to them if only in our thoughts… to forget them would be an even bigger crime.
This is an article I wrote for the church magazine…