A Near-Hit In Another Sense Of The Word--WYD And Sacrifice

in 1995, the World Youth Day took place in Manila Philippines. At that time, the closing Mass was the largest crowd ever assembled--5M people--which was bested only in the same location last year when Pope Francis visited--at 6M people. But many people do not know that it could have been a major tragedy instead of a great celebration. Two weeks ago,fire struck in the building where many friends dorm, and the firemen came to the scene expecting the room to have a normal apartment electrical or kitchen fire, which it was. But they uncovered from that apartment, maps, airline routes, building plans as well as the assasination plot of the Pope during his Manila visit. This was the Al Queda operatives' hideout to plan the first of the series of bombings and terorrist acts all before the World Trade Center bombing and 9/11. World Youth Day would have been the world's largest mass casualty event had it not been for the swift and quiet action of local and international agencies who apprehended the Manila plotters. Unfortunately not all plans were contained, as you know from the New York tragedies.

I say this because I could have been among the casualties. Secular chick that I was then, I walked out at the last minute, impatient to the end, missing a saint and my own jumpstart in the faith--and I had an excellent view too having already camped out the night before. I say this because any safety of large-scale activities should not be taken for granted, then, now or later. It takes only one person--to doom or save.

Catholic faithful should note that French priest Fr. Jacques Hamel had been killed at the altar, like Isaac would have been killed had the Angel not stayed Abraham's knife. We should not miss the signficance of this--the sacrifice, granted that it was in the hands of ISIS, as a way for atonement. A sacrifice that was for appeasement--in this case, perhaps for a greater tragedy that would have affected more and in Poland. True enough, there was a terrorist that had been caught before the WYD, who explicitly desired desctruction.
We should be aware that God, who is justice as well as mercy, received the blood of the first 300 popes to soak and saturate history and build a Church that will endure. We should be thankful for sacrifices made in faith at great cost that buys time for many to be graced in their soul to discover Christ and win in turn further souls.