58 years of priesthood! Fifty-eight years in the service of Jesus as priest, that is to say, the servant of his Word, his Eucharist — his Eucharist and charity. [Before that fact] I feel very small. Of Jesus, Peter said that “Wherever he went, he did good.” Jacques, you were a faithful disciple of Jesus. Wherever you went, you did good.
During last Easter, Jacques, you wrote to your parishioners: “Christ is risen, it is a mystery, a secret, a secret that God gives us to share.” Perhaps this mystery, this secret, this confidence about the risen Christ, is rooted in the experience of death in Algeria which, your family reminds us, you encountered and knew so well. Perhaps this mystery, this secret you confided was what was winning hearts in our assembly: yes, Christ is risen. The death is not the last word.
For you, Jacques, the resurrection of Jesus is not a catechism lesson, it is a reality, a reality for our heart, for the secret of the heart, a reality at the same time to share with others, as a confidence told with trust. And God knows, [as we stand] before the reality of your death as brutal and unjust and horrible, you must now tap into our hearts to help us find the light.
Brothers and sisters, let us be true to ourselves. You know the story of Jesus that no historian can call a fable. Peter said the essential: Jesus of Nazareth, just and good, “healed those who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him … the one killed by the wood of the cross God resurrected on the third day…”
Brothers and sisters, let us be simple and honest about ourselves. It is in our heart, in the depths of our heart that we have to say “yes” or “no” to Jesus, “yes” or “no” to the path of truth and peace; “Yes” or “no” to the victory of love over hatred, “yes” or “no” to his resurrection.
The death of Jacques Hamel called me to make a frank “yes,”— no, not a tepid yes — a “yes” to life, as the “yes” of Jacques to his ordination. And we must respond yes again and again. God will never force us. God is patient, and God is merciful. Even when I, Dominique, have resisted, and said “no” to love; even when I told God, “I will think about it; we will see later,” even when I have forgotten, God is patient. God expects me because of his infinite mercy.
But today, can the world wait to forge the chain of love that will replace the chain of hatred?
Will there be any other killings before we are to be converted to love, and to the justice that builds love — justice and love between individuals and peoples, whatever side of the Mediterranean they are located. Too many deaths in the Middle East, too many deaths in Africa, too many deaths in America! Too many violent deaths! Enough! This is enough! - See more at: http://aleteia.org/2016/08/02/fr-hamel-ordered-begone-satan-as-his-killers-attacked/#sthash.CdfER8I7.dpuf
A most Holy Martyr ~
Didn’t help him any...
Good man. Western society let him down. And he saw and spoke the truth about the islamicists than his pope does.
Horrifying
He should be canonized, and also be made a cause celebre for re-taking France from these heretics and killers.
“And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul...” Matt. 10:28
Poor, delusional man...he clearly thought that Obama and Hillary were nearby.
In all seriousness, I feel glad that this brave man died as he lived - working to bring light into this world and shove the darkness out.
G-d rest his soul, and comfort those directly affected by the hideous way in which he was murdered.
And Father Hamel would be right. Al-Lah is not the Judeo-Christian God. He is Satan.
It is not HIS righteous works - it is the work of Jesus Christ on his behalf. We can add nothing to Christ’s finished work.
A loaded weapon works much better.
Christians know and feel evil when it is in their presence.