Fr. Roger J. Landry
National Catholic Register
February 21, 2022
As Catholics throughout the world prepare to enter into the desert with Jesus for the season of Lent, to repent anew and believe in the Gospel, to pick up our daily Cross and follow him, and at his encouragement, to imitate his prayer, fasting and charity, it’s key to do with a clear sense of the purpose and goal of the season. Conversion means more than turning away from sin and turning with fidelity toward Christ; it means literally to “turn with” Christ consistently, perseveringly, full-time.
Our Lenten penances, sacrifices and practices are all supposed to unite ourselves to Christ as he seeks to help us to fast so that he as Bridegroom can be with us in all parts of our life, to pray by entering his own prayer to the Father, and to give of ourselves and our gifts to our neighbor., together with him who has given his own life to save ours.
Many of our Lenten penances and sacrifices are inadequate to the restoration of holiness that our Lenten ascesis is supposed to foster. For most people, giving up chocolate, filling up a Rice Bowl with loose change, or attending the Stations of the Cross on Fridays are not going to bring about a radical reset in life. Many have become accustomed over time just to “do something,” but not much. They can regard the summons to prayer, almsgiving and fasting as a multiple-choice test, rather than as a complementary call to reorder, respectively, their relationship with God, others, and themselves. Their Lent is marked more by minimalism than heroism.
To rediscover the valor that is meant to characterize Lent, it’s helpful to view it through the context of those for whom cruciform nature of Christian discipleship is a daily reality. There would be lots of examples on which to focus, like those with debilitating illnesses or the manifold sufferings of Ukrainians as we approach the first anniversary of the infernal Russian invasion and bombardment. But this Lent I’m focused in a particular way on the sufferings of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, where more Christians are being martyred each year than in the rest of the world combined.
Over the last few years in Nigeria, 13 Christians are killed for the faith every day, one about every two hours. Armed groups like Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Fulani Herdsman, motivated by a militant version of Islam, are attacking Christian Churches, villages and families, burning buildings to the ground, massacring thousands with guns, machetes and torches, kidnapping thousands of others for ransom, forcing survivors to flee to refugee camps while the murderous mobs take over their lands.
And it’s happening for the most part with impunity, as the federal government of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, many regional governments and the international community forsake their responsibilities, downplay the bloodshed, ignore its genocidal aspects, and often pretend as if there’s no religious dimension to what’s taking place.
Yet, amazingly, when Nigerians even in relatively safe places in the more Christian south have been massacred during Church liturgies — like at St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo in Ondo State on Pentecost 2022, where 38 were killed and 80 injured — Mass attendance in Nigeria is 94 percent, by far the highest of any country in the world. (Second most is in Kenya at 73 percent; the U.S. is at 17 percent). Nigerians, despite living in the most dangerous place in the world for Christians, grasp that to be a disciple means to follow a crucified Savior who promised that we would suffer on account of his name and so they faithfully and courageously assume the risk.
The human face of what Christians are undergoing is laid out in moving detail in a new book of testimonies by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need entitled Nigeria: A Bleeding Wound, released on Ash Wednesday. The 39-page book presents 26 first-hand accounts of Christian survivors of recent anti-Christian atrocities.
It’s gut-wrenching reading: daughters describe their fathers being decapitated in front of them and sons their mothers; siblings forced to watch the dismembering of their family members; pregnant moms enduring the attempt to kill their babies in utero; whole villages and homes being torched with people within; faithful being gunned down during worship before the Church is blown up with dynamite; women and priests being kidnapped and held for ransom while being tortured; and more. It involves testimony from victims — men, women, boys, girls and priests — as young as five and as old as 65.
The survivors also detail the long road to recovery from the trauma after the attacks, life in the refugee camps, and the struggle to learn new trades to support themselves.
They recount the spiritual disorientation that comes after the attack. A five-year old boy said, “I don’t want to go to Church again, because if I do, I might be killed.” A nine-year old girl who dreamed of being a nun stated, “I am not sure if I will be able to continue going to Church for now, because it was when I went to Church that I was shot. I don’t want to die.”
But they also give witness to faithful defiance and resilience. That is seen especially in the situation of those who, like Christ on the Cross, forgive and pray for the conversion of their attackers.
A 22 year-old woman whose father was decapitated in front of her for not having incestuous relations with her, who later was kidnapped and tortured for six days that seemed like six years, said, “I can’t even believe that I am the one saying this, but I have forgiven them in my heart and I pray for the redemption of their souls.”
A 20 year-old mother who watched as Fulani murdered her husband, covered her in his blood, and then suffered machete blows to her head, shoulder, back and hand, cutting off three fingers, said, “As Christians, we are taught to forgive those who trespass against us so that we may also be forgiven. So I have forgiven them for the pain they have inflicted on me.”
Christians from persecuted lands often understandably express their astonishment at what can preoccupy Christians in the countries of the West, like which gender pronouns to use in liturgical translations and how to make Christ’s radical standards somehow palatable to those who want to persevere in lifestyles incompatible with the Gospel. They sometimes wonder how such concerns can be prioritized over the atrocities happening to their spiritual brothers and sisters in different parts of the globe.
Nigerian Christians are particularly concerned that the international community pay close attention to upcoming presidential elections on February 25 and, if there is a need for a run-off, on March 11. There are four main tickets running, with Catholic Peter Obi, the former governor of Anambra State, presently leading the polling.
Many Christian leaders are concerned that Boko Haram, ISWAP, and the Fulani will escalate anti-Christian violence in the days leading up to the election as well as on election day itself, in order to depress turnout among Christians. After the election, Christian leaders think there will be violence regardless of the outcome: if Obi wins, they believe Christians will be attacked by such groups trying to pretend that Christians “stole” the election; if Obi loses, they fear that anti-Christian groups will see it as a green light to continue their vigilante attacks immune to investigation and punishment.
This Lent is an opportunity to grow in real solidarity with our suffering spiritual siblings.
As we focus on increasing the quantity and quality of our prayer, it’s a chance to pray our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, particularly as the election approaches.
It’s an opportunity to sacrifice for them and their many needs as they try to rebuild their lives as well as their Churches, like through helping Aid to the Church in Need in funding of refugee camps and trauma counseling centers, rebuilding of Churches and other activities.
It’s an occasion to fast in union with those who are often hungry, as we begin to share their hunger for basic peace, justice and religious freedom.
As the Prophet Isaiah will proclaim at Mass the day before their presidential election, it’s a time not turn our back on our own, but to turn with Christ to his persecuted flock in West Africa.
