“Osama bin Laden – as we all know – was gravely responsible for promoting division and hatred between peoples, causing the end of countless innocent lives, and of exploiting religions to this end.
“Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.”
Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesperson
Those who live by the sword die by the sword.
Matthew 26: 52
Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5: 44
Do not look for revenge… Vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
Romans 12: 19
Those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind.
Hosea 8:7
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles.
Proverbs 24:17
Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.
Luke 23: 34
Hate not.
Desire not to conquer or control, but love.
Some think your death will end terror
but terror does not rise or die with one man,
as Nazism did not rise or die with Hitler.
Terror rises from powerlessness
but responds to another kind of terror
that makes people powerless,
a terror of loving money and power,
controlling, hoarding, killing.
Osama bin Laden,
May Allah give you the graciousness to repent
for the deaths of innocents and soldiers,
for the loss that so many families feel
from your policies of terror and hate.
And may God give the West the graciousness to repent
of killing in the name of ending terror,
of the massacre of innocents through drone bombs,
of the killing by hunger of innocents by economic policies
that reward those already enriched
and leave the poor with less than crumbs.
Lord, have mercy on us all.
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9 comments:
John,
Thanks for this wonderful, sane, Christian post.
Liam
Loved the prayer until I read the part "May Allah give you the graciousness to repent". Scratching my head on this one.
I used "Allah" which is Arabic for "God" - respecting the tradition bin Laden claims, though many Muslims do not see him as a true representative of Islam. I hope and pray that all people have the grace to repent. (I used "graciousness" because I do not know that Islam uses the term "grace" for the gracious mercy of God who calls all to repent.)
Oscar, Allah is God in Arabic
oh sorry, I didnt see someone already explained that. oopsy
I love this whole write up, people are ranting and raving and hootin and hollerin, and I am ashamed, I love the quotes and writing's you posted, beautifully said.
I wrote a longer post on this, but it was Bloggered. My error for not saving a copy.
I find it difficult to pray for bin Laden, not out of anger, but out of indifference: there are so many who need prayer, and especially the innocents who suffer, and therefore are in danger of anger.
The summary was this:
How many more innocent lambs have to perish for the vainglory of men like Bush and bin Laden, men who do not consult Compassion, recognized by every religion as a manifestation of God?
Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus, come.
--Charles
John,
I too thank you for this posting...I was talking to a friend at work, and he too shared the same feelings as me. So different from what we had seen on the TV. Your posting touched my heart as I am sure it touched many others. Thank you for the reminders of our faith.
we should have compassion for all, even our enemies, I know it is hard, but we should not hold anger towards anyone, but pray for them, as much as we dont think so, they are also children of God, and he wishes good upon all his creation. That is mt belief anyways.
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