I attended mass at Greenbelt Chapel today.  Father Bob was the celebrant and he left a seed of thought in my mind.

A graduate of a university that did not advocate apathy … but sadly… I’ve noticed that since I’ve left the college walls, I somehow lived it.  Minding my own business … in fear that helping someone begging in the streets might make me part of a big scam like that of the “Budol budol” gang.  Yeah, sad but true.

Anyway, back to Father Bob’s homily … he said that he rarely saw a persecuted Christian at present times.  Men have grown tender … but .. and there’s that BUT … it’s still Calvary all over again but this time it may even be worse.  He shared a poem comparing the present time with Calvary.  The poem mentions of Birmingham which is a highly developed place in England.  It struck a cord in me so I’m sharing it with you

When Jesus Came to Birmingham

When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.

Still Jesus cried, ‘Forgive them, for they know not what they do, ‘
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.

G. A. Studdert-Kenned

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There are no opportunities for us to die for our faith as they did years and years before. So the challenge for us is not to die for it but to live it.