The power of Christ working on women
(republishing, copying, no restrictions)
By: Father Shay Cullen
THIS Holy week there will be reminders of the great biblical event that changed the world from one that was almost totally dominated by brutality, torture, violence and abuse. These vicious attitudes are still evident today. Darfur in the Sudan is drenched with the blood of innocents as villages burn and thousands of raped women tremble in fear of the killers and rapists.
The Congo is the scene of even worse atrocities, and wild-armed groups are still creating mayhem and madness, death and destruction. When will they stop? Has the suffering of Jesus of Nazareth all been in vain? Have his sacrifice and message failed to change and redeem this sinful world of 2006? Millions are starving in drought-hit Uganda and Niger, yet the warehouses of the rich nations are bursting with subsidized food surpluses that create poverty and hunger.
Is there any hope that the compassion, love, justice and respect that Jesus taught and died for have taken hold in the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world? Some Christians refuse to believe anymore, because they can’t see any hope of salvation and redemption. They see chaos and confusion, war and despair.
While there is great sin in the world it is there because we have not done enough to eradicate and replace it with the prophetic presence of Christ. All of us have to see the Gospel in action and know that there are hundreds of thousands of Christians feeding the hungry, healing the sick, fighting for human rights and justice, risking their lives and dying to protect the wretched of the earth.
Christ is present through them. But they are still too few.
Not only should we of little faith see these self-sacrificing Christians, but we should join them spiritually or physically. Because it is then that we are closest to the living presence of Jesus Christ.
That’s how He wants us to be with Him. We meet Him when we are one in heart and soul with the outcasts, the oppressed and the downtrodden. What you do to these, the poorest of all, you do to me, He said.
Disillusioned Christians have to see that the revolutionary values that Jesus brought into the world are alive and active today. They are there with the misery of poverty and devastation.
They are inspiring millions and lifting up the downtrodden and the nobodies and declaring them beloved of God as Jesus of Nazareth did.
Many of these valiant Christians are the women who were once oppressed and excluded but now empowered and exalted with respect and dignity. For Jesus Christ, the crucified and the risen, everyone is somebody. No one is excluded from His embrace and friendship. No matter how useless, how depressed and lonely they might feel.
The Gospel story exalts women. They were with Him, every painful step of the way and had status as disciples. They were with Him in His ministry, when He was dying on the Cross and it was a woman who was the first to announce that He had risen from the dead.
Today there are hundreds of thousands of remarkable women helping in refugee camps, homes of the aged and the sick. Others are helping the poorest of the poor, donating money, raising funds for the poor, promoting economic justice and fair trade.
Many more campaign for justice issues.
The example of the Christian women in Rwanda is inspiring. After the shocking genocide perpetrated by the Hutus against the Tutsi that ended in 1974 there were seven women for every three men. The males were almost wiped out. The women have come to lead and inspire the nation better than the men ever did. Fifty percent of the seats in parliament and most high offices are held by women. The Supreme Court president is a woman.
In Chile, Michelle Bachelet, a victim of torture by the Pinochle regime, overcame all adversity and is now President. In Liberia a Harvard-educated grandmother, 67-year-old Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, surrounded by a parliament sprinkled with elected war criminals is the first woman president in all Africa.
Women once despised and banished to the cooking pot and kitchen are emerging empowered and bringing hope where there was little or none.
This coming Holy Week there is much to learn how great faith can rise above suffering and death and follow the example of the selfless love of Jesus Christ. It is this that brings hope and resurrection to a nation. [End]
