Rouen, France, Aug 3, 2016 / 05:01 am
During Tuesday's funeral Mass for Fr. Jacques Hamel, who was killed last week by Islamic State terrorists, the Archbishop of Rouen said the priest's death urges us to respond to God in our lives.
"The death of Jacques Hamel called me to a frank yes – not to a tepid yes," Archbishop Dominique Lebrun said Aug. 2 at Rouen's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.
"A 'yes' to life, like Jacques' 'yes' at his ordination. Is this possible? We must respond yes every time. God will not force us. God is patient. God is merciful. Even when I, Dominique, said no to love, even when I said to God 'perhaps later', even when I forgot, God waits for me because of his infinite mercy. But today, can the world still wait for the chain of love which will replace the chain of hate?"
Fr. Hamel, who was 85, was killed July 26 in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, a suburb of Rouen, while saying Mass. The assailants, who were armed with knives, declared their allegiance to the Islamic State, and were later shot dead by police.