As I was folding laundry this afternoon, I began to pray the intentions for my Rosary. I did not get far because I began to contemplate the horrors Christians and other minority groups in Syria and Iraq are facing today. It’s not just a Middle Eastern problem. Islamists like ISIS or ARAQ, are setting up shop around the globe. There are countless countries already impacted besides our own on 9-11: Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Indonesia, UK, Spain, Bali, etc. This is a growing threat and danger, but more than that, we need to do what we can to help. I cannot call up our President and demand he take action, but I can raise awareness and give alms.
As I contemplated the plight of hundreds of thousands of people, my mind was drawn to an article I read earlier today. In the article it detailed how an Iraqi Christian woman and her husband lost their 3 year old daughter to the ISIS. They kidnapped their daughter last month and this family has not seen her since. You see, I have a three year old daughter. I tried to imagine what that would be like. I was horrified, struck with terror, and pierced by intense pain. It is my greatest nightmare for something like that to happen to my child, and yet, this is the lot of hundreds of thousands to millions of people globally.
We Americans are pretty insulated from the intense daily suffering. Yes, people get terribly sick, there is violent crime, and loss, but we do not live day-in-and-day out in the fear that today will be the day we die at the hands of murderous thugs. I do not walk out of my home worried that a group of ISIS thugs is going to rape me, sell me into slavery, or behead me, or my family. I go about my day in peace. I go about my day in freedom.
These stories and others like it coming out of Syria and Iraq are the reason a bunch of us got together on Facebook and started our group Help Nasara. The mainstream media and our current President are not mentioning the plight of Christians at the hands of ISIS. We are selling custom designed bumper stickers and car magnets for $3.50 each plus shipping (.75 cents). We are too small to cover our printing costs, so $2.30 will go to Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) and the rest covers our printing. Help us get the word out about these grave injustices. Like us on Facebook and check out our website: www.helpnasara.org
Thank you so much for your support and may God bless you always.
Swimming the Depths 