Posted on 03/16/2016 12:35:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A young Pakistani man killed while preventing a suicide bomber from entering a crowded church should be considered for canonization, according to Catholics marking the anniversary of a deadly terrorist attack carried out in Lahore on March 15 last year. Volunteer security guard Akash Bashir, 20, stopped the suicide bomber from entering St. John's Catholic Church and tackled him while being aware he wore a bomb vest. The attacker from a Taliban splinter group detonated the bomb, killing himself and Bashir outside the church.
Father Francis Gulzar, the parish priest, said the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on two churches in the Youhanabad area of Lahore marks the beginning of a movement to seek sainthood for Bashir. "Akash is our hero; his bravery saved more than 2,000 people inside the church," said Father Gulzar. Bashir was one of at least 15 people who died in the attacks and more than 70 were wounded. The other site simultaneously attacked was a nearby Protestant church. Currently 42 Christians remain in jail over the lynching of two Muslims who were suspected of being involved in the attacks.
Under tight police security, Archbishop Sebastian Shah of Lahore and seven priests celebrated a Mass for about 3,000 faithful on March 13 in the memory of victims of last year's terror attack. At the anniversary, Bashir's parents helped launch "Unforgettable Sacrifice" a booklet about their son's sacrifice that includes eyewitness accounts of his death. Father Gulzar said the booklet would help document the life of the country's potential first saint. (Source: UCAN)
So people can then pray to him and Mother Teresa?
He already earned his crown of martyrdom. Either way he has his reward already.
Yes, pray to him and Mother Theresa who will in turn then ask God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to bless you.
So not VFR direct? How does praying to them help vice going directly to God?
yes
Pakistan is possibly the worst country in the world. Its a backward, fundamentalist Muslim kleptocracy run by 300 families. Oh, and its armed with nukes.
Maybe Somalia can give it a run for title of a##hole of the world, but regardless, It needs a giant fence to be put up around it.
You can’t even appreciate the guy’s heroism? What a cynic, the guy laid his life down for Christ.
Ping.
You could ask them to pray for you, just like you might ask your mother or your cousin to pray for you.
I can appreciate his heroism. What I’m asking about is praying to dead people.
There are no dead people in heaven.
AMEN !
You and I can intercede for others, too.
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16 KJV)
Because you have three people praying to the TRINITY instead of just one, and since we Catholics believe those Saints are in the presence of God, then their prayers to God are even more relevant.
Just explaining not proselytizing.
"For He is not a God of the dead, but of the living: for all live unto him." Luke 20:38.
I love these verses. The Bible provides such tremendous insights.
I love these types that show up on a thread almost immediately with the same old anti-Catholic rubbish, trying to change the subject.
Does he not know that this has been covered literally thousands of times on Religion forum posts over the past 18 years? I’m sure there’s at least 10,000 posts where praying to the saints has been covered, and the Catholic teaching on it presented. But no, he has to drop in here all of a sudden like it’s something brand new.
I have to admire the devotion the Christians/Catholics have to their Faith here in Muslim majority countries. Every Mass I’ve attended here in Abu Dhabi has been standing room only. God bless this brave martyr from Pakistan.
Why do FReepers ask for prayers? Same thing, but at a superntural level (the Communion of Saints).
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