There are lies out in the world. This is the honest truth - some people hate others and live a life devoted to violence; they are living lies as we are all children of the same God. We are called to holiness. All are called to enter God's House in Heaven.Of these lies, some people deny God's existence and His love, which is poured out into each of us when we receive Him in Holy Communion. Christ's love for us is incomparable; on His sacred shoulder rested the wait of the world. I was carrying a heavy bag today and thought of how horrible it would be to carry the world on your shoulder; and Christ did it for love of us!
There are also people who deny the Holocaust. This is a blatant lie; during the Holocaust millions of people: Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, and priests died in horrible concentration camps. Yes, 4,000 priests died for their beliefs and love. We have the survivor's stories, their pictures, their memories. We have a small piece of history remaining only today though as many of the survivors have already died from old age. Today I had the chance to hear a speech in my community by a survivor of the Holocaust.
He spoke about hate and how he knew it. He spoke about how he saw people murdered (his brother brutally and his parents and uncles and aunts). He spoke of people being lit on fire alive and how could they do this. How did the anyone know they were Jewish? Because people told on them. They would scream, "Jews live here! And there! In that house too!" It was a world of hate and pain. These people were not pressured to tell; they wanted to tell. It was hate.
I also disagreed with the gentleman though on some claims such as that "Christ was a Jew; a creation of God." We know that Christ is God and not a creation of God but eternally begotten of the father. This, though is no reason we should hate others. The speaker today even spoke so highly of Pope John Paul ll. Why? Because Pope John Paul ll was a Pope of love. He spoke against the Holocaust, Communism, and other attacks on life. Pope John Paul ll in this speaker's words was the "greatest pope in history" because of his tolerance for others. So many people could have helped these poor people but didn't. In the end, people blame the Church for not doing enough. But in truth, it was us as a people; not us as a Church. The Catholic Church saved nearly 800,000 Jewish people from death in the Holocaust (Read More).
In today's world, we no longer have a Holocaust but a different one. There is one directed against the elderly by legalizing euthanasia, one against the unborn child in embryonic stem cell research and abortion, and a holocaust against love. People are trying to take God out of life and make the world secular. This is an outrage!
I hope those of you that have read this post can one day soon listen to a holocaust speaker. It was 1 1/2 hours long but filled with pain - pain knowing that no one cared when he cried out.
Trust the Lord, receive Him in the Eucharist. Love Him as He loved you and listen. Listen to Our Lord. Take the Crucifix in your hands, as Mother Teresa said, and what a sermon you will hear. And what is the sermon on? It's on love - the foundation of our Faith as God is the God of Love.
"I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God even when He is silent" (an anonymous prisoner of the Holocaust)
Image Source: Photo of Pope Pius XII believed to be in the Public Domain
9 comment(s):
Moneybags,
i go to the same school you do and i heard the same speech today. It really moved me and it really made me realize how much hate is in this world
Moneybags, what a heartfelt post. I can tell that the speech made an impact. Today we still have Sudan...
and although in a much smaller scale, we also have so much hate, particularly among religions. we must pray for peace and love.
was the subject I was researching when I came across your site, Moneybags. General interest and popularity of the subject The Holocaust has lead me to your site as well as to . Yours is a fine site providing a real service and exceptional content. Thanks for reading my comment
It is so important for Holocaust survivors to be heard and to tell their stories. Word War II was a time that saw so many extremes of human behavior. It is hard for some to comprehend what others went through at the hands of their fellow human beings. Being able to feel things and to know right from wrong and to have the courage to speak out is a need that has not gone away with the ending of the 20th century.
I agree with everything you guys wrote that we must still care for others today. That is the underlying theme I heard in the his speech too.
And Bill, the speaker also raised his arm and showed us his tatoo - a reminder of a horrible past.
Thanks be to God for giving us the fullness of His love in the Church and saving us.
Moneybags,
a very thought provoking piece. One of the reasons why the Nazi's were able to murder so many people, was the thought process of, 'if it's not happening to me, then it doesnt matter'!
We live with this same thinking today, and what a dangerous way to live.
Brilliant post Moneybags, I will leave with these words;
"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."
by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
Peace of Christ to all
Marie
Faith of the Fathers Blog
I loved the quotation, Marie. Thank you for your comments.
Ty Moneybags,
I would like to ask your opinion on something that well baffles me.
When Steve and I both worked on a piece on Pope Pius Xll we were stunned at the amount of DISinformation and most of it BOGUS! Yet SO many pseudo-intellectuals ran with it...The thinking that Pope Pius Xll was 'Hitlers Pope'! I find that title higly offensive and totally beyond the FACTS when proper research is done!!
What stunned me is that many Catholics also think that Pope Pius Xll either didnt do enough or that he supported Hitlers evil regime *sigh*!
Have you come across this faulty thinking when it comes to that most maligned of all our Pontiffs, Pope Pius Xll?
I will leave the piece that Steve wrote on it and which I collaborated with the research.
http://faithofthefathershottopics.blogspot.com/
Ty Moneybags
Peace of Christ to you.
Marie
Hello, Marie:
I have found a lot of sites claiming Pope Pius XII as "Hitler's Pope". I don't know the origins of this, but I do know that one prominent writer (his name escapes me) writes books on the Church and called one "Hitler's Pope". People just don't believe Pope Piux XII did enough when he really worked to save 800,000 jewish people and worked actively in 2 plots against Hitler.
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