CHILD TERROR

CHILD TERROR

 

 

“This generation is an evil generation.” – Luke 11:29

 

A couple of weeks before I received this assignment to write for Didache 2010, I attended a media forum, the Bulong Pulungan held at the Hotel Sofitel, where the guest was Edu Manzano, chair of the Optical Media Board, whose mandate is to confiscate pirated CDs or DVDs. Edu showed samples of DVDs he has confiscated — showing what he called “appalling, stomach wrenching” pornography involving girls in their puberty.

A week after that, I received an invitation to attend a press conference on human trafficking. The guest was Kristie Kenny, United States Ambassador to the Philippines. She called on everyone to make the fight against human trafficking “the fight of our lifetime.”

Then, a couple of weeks later, Rey Ortega, founder of Tahanan ng Pagmamahal, an orphanage supported by the Light of Jesus, gave me an article where he wrote about the wards of Tahanan. One of them was a rape victim.

Yes, children are being attacked by adults who are supposed to nurture and protect them. Indeed, as the Gospel today points out, evil lurks in our midst. Let us pray for the victims, let us pray for strength for those who are working to save the children, and let us do what we can to fight this evil. Cynthia Santiago (boses2go@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

What can you do to assist those who help victims of child terror?

 

Lord, grant that I may give — my time, my talent, my resources — to support the advocacy against human trafficking and child pornography.

 

 

Fishy Jonah

 

The first time God had sent Jonah to Nineveh, he tried to escape from God. Now he is back to square one and he’d better go to Nineveh, known in the ancient world as the most cruel and horrible city. He went and, wonder of wonders, he did not have to preach for three days. One day of a brief announcement of disaster was enough to turn these pagans from their evil ways to God. The author exaggerates, of course, when he writes that even the poor animals had to fast and were deprived even of water — he wants to emphasize the unbelievable seriousness of these people. Please take your Bible and read the fourth chapter where Jonah is very angry with God for not punishing that wicked city. He was a strange prophet. In the New Jerusalem Bible, I found the following comment: “All the characters in the story are likable, the foreign sailor, the king of Assyria, the populace of Nineveh, even the animals of Nineveh, all except the only Israelite on stage — and he is a prophet!”

We have here a humorous but critical short story about Israel — and about us. God had sent prophet after prophet but the Israelites would not repent. Finally, both their kingdoms had been destroyed. And yet, they still didn’t repent. They still wanted the pagans to be destroyed. What about us? Not only prophet after prophet, saint after saint, the Son of God Himself was sent to us to call us to repentance. Now we understand the harsh word of Jesus, “On Judgment day, the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.”

May these words of Jesus not apply to us! Lent is given to us as a time to turn away from sin, as we were told on Ash Wednesday. One week of Lent has passed already. Ask yourself and answer honestly: Have I turned away from sin already? Have I repented? May we not be put to shame by the people and animals of Nineveh. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

Reflection Question:

Have I turned away from sin already? Have I repented?

 

Lord, yes, I feel ashamed when I read about the seriousness of the people of Nineveh. I feel ashamed because I have let so many days of Lent pass without doing much about my spiritual life. Please forgive me. And as You have given Jonah a second chance, so do with me.

 

St. Adela, pray for us.