faith persecution

Oct. 11, 2012-Nov. 24, 2013

Year of Faith

It takes real spiritual maturity to stay faithful when things go wrong

St Alphonsa

"(Her) heroic virtues of patience, fortitude and perseverance in the midst of deep suffering remind us that God always provides the strength we need to overcome every trial“.

Sorrows to joy

When I pick up a person from the street, hungry, I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted, unloved, terrified, the person that has been thrown out from society—that poverty is so hurtable [sic] and so much, and I find that very difficult."

For over 45 years, she ministered to poor, sick, orphaned & dying

Orissa 2007

Ultimate Faith Test

unwantedunlovedkilledrapedterrifiedtorturedpoverty thrown out from society

people were tortured and killed 93

Christians were displaced

More than 40,000

faith

Our inspiration to faith?

Christian homes were torched

5011

Our brothers

burned and looted

Our sisters

Prisons without iron bars

Our families

many were orphaned or abused

Our sisters

faith

Our inspiration to faith?

Widows for faith

Our responsibility ?

Men, women, children injured

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:10

18,000

Our neighbors ?

'attacked and gang-raped in public'

faith

A Nun

Our sister

350 Churches & 45 Service care institutions were looted and vandalized

faith

Our inspiration to faith?

faith

Our neighbors

denied justice

faithOur brothers & sisters?

faithOur inspiration to faith?

• We are not just statistics,we all are one in Christ

• We are not beggars,respect our dignity

• We are vulnerable, not invulnerable.

• We are flesh and blood, not steel and stone.

• We are men and women, not cherubim and seraphim

Our true faith is our stronghold

Our inspiration to faith?

faith

Mustard Seed of India

Kandhmal

Our inspiration to faith?

real world

our we

Growing Christians with healthy faith strive to see the world and their lives, as they really are.

rekindle healthy faith

While tending his father-in-law Jethro's sheep in the land of Midian, Moses saw a baffling sight on Mount Horeb. A bush was on fire, but it did not burn up. Moses went over to the burning bush to investigate, and the voice of God called to him.

Messages through fire

The inspiration

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound and cast into the flames. The fiery blast was so hot it killed the soldiers who had escorted them. But as King Nebuchadnezzar peered into the furnace, he marveled at what he saw: "But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." Daniel 3:25

Faith through fire

faith walk-through for visitors

prayer area

handouts

photographs | stories of faith | scriptures | prayers | audio | video

= exhibits with participants in candle light

Burning Busha human interactive installation

Top view of installation

He had send us to proclaim release to the captives, to set at liberty to those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation

Love, respect, celebrate and defend the gift, value and dignity of human life in all circumstances.

Ecumenism Pro-life

You desire justice for all:enable us to uphold the rights of others;do not allow us to be misled by ignorance or corrupted by fear or favor. Unite us to yourself in the bond of love and keep us faithful to all that is true.

Year Of Faith Prayer

social change

her voice

you

PrideJames 2 : 14

Our God’s plans are mighty

their pain

your support

faith transformedWe are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.2 Corinthians 4:8-9