Posted on 06/18/2014 9:32:59 AM PDT by NYer
In light of recent religious persecutions, Chris Stefanick’s latest video is bound to bring tears to your eyes.
In a brief, two-and-a-half minute YouTube video entitled “Mass”, the well-known Catholic public speaker paints a powerful picture of what a privilege it is to attend Mass in freedom and how this can be so easily taken for granted.
On one hand, Stefanick recalls a recent text from a friend of his in Iraq: “Please pray for our church, where all the people are held captive by terrorists.”
A few hours later, another text followed: “Lord have mercy.” Shortly thereafter, everyone in that Catholic Church – men, women and children – were gunned down and killed.
On the other hand, at Mass that same weekend back in the States, grateful for his safety and freedom to worship, Stefanick couldn’t help but notice a kid in the back pew playing video games the whole time.
“It really struck me that 7,000 miles away from us, a whole Church load of people had given their lives to be where he was.”
Amid beautiful footage of a Eucharistic procession and intense music, Stefanick poses the question: “What did they see that he was missing?”
It’s something Meriam Ibrahim, a Catholic Sudanese woman who faces a death sentence for allegedly abandoning Islam and not denouncing her Catholic faith, has seen.
It’s something the persecuted Catholics in Syria, Jordan, Kenya and a host of other Middle Eastern and African countries have seen and witnessed with their lives.
It’s something that Catholics around the globe have seen throughout the centuries; something they have been willing to risk their lives for “since the birth of the Church,” Stefanick says.
“What are all these people seeing at Mass?” Stefanick asks.
“If you’re not seeing it, you’re missing something pretty amazing.”
Although Stefanick never says it explicitly, he is prodding the viewer to consider the Eucharist. The video concludes with a bible verse from Luke 22:19 – “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body given for you do this is remembrance of me.’”
Catholic doctrine teaches that the bread and wine, once consecrated at Mass, actually become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. This radical belief has been worth the cost of everything for countless Catholics throughout history.
Stefanick’s short video calls us out as Catholics: What do we see at Mass? And are we willing to die for it?
This video and others of Christopher Stefanick’s can be viewed on his YouTube channel or on his website.
Ping!
I”m like St. Peter, before and after Pentecost.
I mean well, but I’m a big chicken. However with help from the Holy Spirit, I could rise to the occasion better than one would have thought.
But we all should be practicing on the little things to work our way up to the big challenges of faith. Like, inserting Christian identity into conversation where it comes up naturally, but I feel hesitant to use the “teachable moment” and risk the rejection.
My screen is all blurry.
Every Christian in the USA needs to prepare spiritually for the possibility of facing martyrdom.
I try to remember this fact when I say the Lord’s Prayer. The words, “deliver us from evil” are a powerful reminder that we may eventually look evil in the face. It may come at the end of a gun or bayonet with the words, ‘renounce Jesus and convert to Islam.’ If that day comes, will we be ready to affirm our faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Redeemer?
When I was a child, I first gave some thought of this when I watched the movie Quo Vadis. I was very impressed with the depiction of the early martyrs in Rome. It is something I have recalled often in my life, but now in the time of Islamic jihad, I feel its impact more and more.
Jesus, protect us on a daily basis and deliver us from evil, Amen.
Mathew 24
9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
Jesus is worth dying for whether at mass or in a prison camp.
Rather be thankful for the 2nd Amendment and I do predict it will be put to use down the road.
AMEN!
This is one of the reasons why Americans have been arming themselves to the teeth.
Yet the good news is that the Christian faith is growing by leaps and bounds.
I’m willing to die for Christ, not for religious ritual.
+1
Christ is the Mass
Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Eucharist.
True martyrs are found only in the Catholic Church; for, since there is but one true faith, there is but one true martyrdom. - St. Irenaeus of Lyonshttp://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/articles/item/458-a-question-from-the-devil-s-advocate-will-saint-john-paul-open-the-door-to-non-catholic-saints
All those things are unnecessary stepping stones and layers of man-made bureacracy when Christ plainly says that no one goes to the Father except through Him. There is no need for priests or the dead to speak in our behalf, all believers are welcomed to petition God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Wow, all this time I thought he was the Son of God...
Catholics actually believe the Lord of Lords, Lord God Almighty is a man-made ritual...?
Rev 19:7
John 15:4 says: "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me." Nothing in that verse about popes, priests or martyrs--only Christ.
Not man made.
Christ gave us the guts of the Mass at the Last Supper.
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