Testament of Dom Christian De Cherge OCSO

This testament was composed by Dom Christian de Cherge in Algiers, December 1, 1993 and produced in Tibhirine, January 1, 1994. It was opened on Pentecost Sunday, 1996, shortly after Dom Christian and others of his Trappist community were murdered in Algeria.  It is one of the most moving testaments concerning faith in Christ I have ever read:

If it should happen one day—and it could be today—that I become a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to encompass all the foreigners in Algeria, I would like my community, my Church, my family, to remember that my life was given to God and to this country. To accept that the One Master of all life was not a stranger to this brutal departure. I would like them to pray for me: how worthy would I be found of such an offering?

I would like them to be able to associate this death with so many other equally violent ones allowed to fall into the indifference of anonymity. My life has no more value than any other. Nor any less value. In any case, it has not the innocence of childhood. I have lived long enough to know that I share in the evil which seems, alas, to prevail in the world, and even in that which would strike me blindly. I should like, when the time comes, to have a space of lucidity which would enable me to beg forgiveness of God and of my fellow human beings, and at the same time to forgive with all my heart the one who would strike me down.

I could not desire such a death. It seems to me important to state this. I don’t see, in fact, how I could rejoice if the people I love were indiscriminately accused of my murder. It would be too high a price to pay for what will be called, perhaps, the “grace of martyrdom” to owe this to an Algerian, whoever he may be, especially if he says he is acting in fidelity to what he believes to be Islam.

I know the contempt in which Algerians taken as a whole can be engulfed. I know, too, the caricatures of Islam which encourage a certain idealism. It is too easy to give oneself a good conscience in identifying this religious way with the fundamentalist ideology of its extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam is something different. It is a body and a soul. I have proclaimed it often enough, I think, in view of and in the knowledge of what I have received from it, finding there so often that true strand of the Gospel learned at my mother’s knee, my very first Church, precisely in Algeria, and already respecting believing Muslims.

My death, obviously, will appear to confirm those who hastily judged me naive or idealistic: “Let him tell us now what he thinks of it!” But these must know that my insistent curiosity will then be set free. This is what I shall be able to do, if God wills: Immerse my gaze in that of the Father, to contemplate with Him His children of Islam as He sees them, all shining with the glory of Christ, fruit of His Passion, filled with the Gift of the Spirit whose secret joy will always be to establish communion and to refashion the likeness, playing with the differences.

This life lost, totally mine and totally theirs, I thank God who seems to have wished it entirely for the sake of that JOY in and in spite of everything. In this THANK YOU which is said for everything in my life, from now on, I certainly include you, friends of yesterday and today, and you, O my friends of this place, besides my mother and father, my sisters and brothers and their families, a hundredfold as was promised!

And you too, my last minute friend, who will not know what you are doing, Yes, for you too I say this THANK YOU AND THIS “A-DIEU”-—to commend you to this God in whose face I see yours. And may we find each other, happy “good thieves” in Paradise, if it please God, the Father of us both. . . AMEN!

© Monastic Inter-Religious Dialogue, from Bulletin 55, May 1996

Almost take-off...

Just doing last minute prep. before flying off to Italy tomorrow to begin my Sabbatical proper. The excitment mounts, tho' tempered by Chris not being able to come with me...

Today we celebrated our second 'Friends and Families Sunday' at St. Andrew's. This has become a tradition and is clearly popular, with over 140 people present at Mass. It's Suzanne's 'baby', and she delivers well!! Lot's of people involved and a hoard of kids, visitors, brass band etc...
And, at the end, we re-hallowed a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham which I will present to our twin parish of St. Bede, Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Michael Creasey has restored it and the statue looks wonderful. It was given by those members of St. John's, Mawney Road who have made their home with us since the closure of their church.

The Bishop of Durham seems to have exploded, and what a mess! Here's what he said today about the matter of gay adoptions, equality and the church:

“This completely fails to take into account the views and beliefs of all those involved. The idea that new Labour — which has got every second thing wrong and is back-tracking on extended drinking hours, is in a mess over this cash-for-peerages business, cannot keep all its prisons under control — the idea that new Labour can come up with a new morality which it forces on the Catholic Church after 2,000 years; I am sorry, this is amazing arrogance on the part of the Government.”

Ummmmm ... excuse me but our elected, democratic Government (and, yes, it may have been elected by less than 50% of the population, but that's how democracy works in our society) has proposed that those dealing with the adoption of children must accept a particular piece of legislation. If this is passed by Parliament (not the State, which is another concept) then it will become Law. Isn't that how we do things in our country?

The Law will not affect the 'views and beliefs' of the church - except to say that discrimination is against the Law. Clearly Bp. Wright thinks the church should be allowed to discriminate. Oh dear. It saddens me that someone like him should have spoken before thinking. It seems perfectly right to me that where religion seeks to play a part in society it must, surely, acknowledge, as part of that society, the Law.

If the church (which one?) were granted an exemption from Equality legislation (and I understand this to be the point) then any religious group could claim exemption for some aspect of it's teaching (not belief) and continue to excercise discrimination.

And then we'd really be up s*** creek.

On another note, I listened to 'Today' and noticed a subtle (?) change in the Cardinal's stance when he said to the interviewer that the real reason why the RC Church objected to the proposals was that it believed in the necessity of children being brought up in a fmaily where there is a father and a mother? Or did I dream that is what he said?