Lighting a torch in the darkness
Earlier this week, two assailants loyal to ISIS entered a church in St. Etienne, near Rouen in France. They forced the 86 year old priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, to kneel and then slit his throat. The attackers were later shot by police.
Fr. Hamel was remembered as a kind and quiet man, who loved his work and chose not to retire when he could have done so. “He was loved by all. He was a little like a grandfather”, stated one mourner.
Further information available at New York Times”.
More than 80 people were killed, including 10 children, in the latest atrocity.
The man who used a truck to fatally mow down dozens of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, has been identified by authorities as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhel, a French-Tunisian resident of the southern coastal city.
You can read more at CNN or news venue of your choice.
Our prayers for people of France, echoing the words of an Orthodox prayer for times of trouble:
Lord of the Powers be with us, for in times of distress we have no other help but You.
Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us.
(From Orthodox Prayer site).