The Anchoress writes of a young Indian Christian girl whose face was disfigured by Hindu terrorists:
I am struck by her power and beauty, which is transmitted through her eyes. One does not see the scars for the steadiness and fullness of Namrata Nayak's eyes.Her eyes are fearless. She is unintimidated. She looks directly at you, with a collectedness and assurance that only comes from deep interior knowledge. Namrata Nayak knows who she is. At 10 years of age, she understands the world in ways many of us never will, no matter how long we tread the stony paths.
I look at her picture and I see the same transcendent beauty, the same instruction, the same heaven-directed messages that I glean from the written Icons of orthodoxy.
But I will let her speak for herself, because Namrata Nayak does not need anyone to speak for her. Observe her astonishing and heroic witness.
"The world has seen my face destroyed by the fire, now it must come to know my smile full of love and peace...I want to dedicate my life to spreading the Gospel."
They burned this 10-year-old child's face, and look how she reacts. What's your excuse for living the way you do? What's mine? That Indian Christian child reveals our true poverty of spirit. Well, let me backtrack: I can only speak for myself, and yes, I can say that I am nothing in the light of that child's courage. The Anchoress wrote earlier about an Iraqi Muslim woman who converted to Catholicism after seeing the good that American medics were doing among her people, concluding:
The Incarnation did not happen only once. It happens every day. Jesus comes. Time is a construct. Even now, as you read this, the star is being followed; the angels are heralding, and God kisses creation and feeds it with a new food.
UPDATE: Amy Welborn contrasts the worldviews of a nitwit UK Catholic bishop, and Pope Benedict. Trust Pope Benedict. Trust Namrata Nayak. Fifty, a hundred years from now, the faith that the Pope and Namrata hold will still be with us, while the trendy bishop's soppy tissue of opinions will have dissolved into nothingness.
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Darn, the software messed me up before I could add my most important point: that's a great link me posted. Now, that's the kind of reaction I consider highly appropriate. Good job, me! That's what I'm talkin' about! Thank you!
"even though it might make her less effective as an icon-like poster child"
Missed the point of the 'icon' reference as well, I see. Sheesh.
No, Rob G., I totally got the icon reference. The problem is that you think it's a pious and inspiring response to a little girl getting her face burned off by religious fanatics, and I don't.
I think many miss the point here. This is not interesting only because it is a Christian girl who was burned. What is remarkable is her attitude, her witness and her forgiveness and love.
It's sad that some people can only see things through their political lenses. This isn't about caring about Christians more than Muslims. It's about a personal testimony of faith.
Merry Christmas.
Sig, it's probably too late for you to catch this, but my post was meant as a push-back AGAINST your protests. Of course we are appalled at the violence. Of course, we want it to stop. Of course we'd do whatever we can to help this little girl and ought to reach out to help other little girls like her. That's a no-brainer. However, what this post was particularly about is dignity in the face of suffering. We all suffer. And many of us do it very poorly. Many of us blow our petty problems way out of proportion. An image like this tugs at our conscience and calls us to endure suffering with far greater grace than we normally do. And image like this reminds us that even in the face of evil and terrible injustice and suffering - actually especially in the face of those things - we can and are called to radiate the love, peace and grace of Christ. Which is what this little girl is doing. While we certainly need to be aware of how we are called to serve her, we would do well to take full note of how the example her response to suffering serves us as well. To do otherwise is to disgrace her suffering and her spirit. That is what Rod's post was about. And that is why I personally found your response offensive and unnecessarily combative.
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