October 7 does not sound like an attractive date. It has gained notoriety for that was the date, in 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel leading to the death of over 1200 persons. It has also led to the destruction of homes, families and thousands more lives lost in a retaliation that has attracted worldwide condemnation. 

Israeli response is unprecedented in its ruthlessness and its utter disregard for human life. Millions have been displaced, families separated, men, women and children subjected to living conditions that rob them of their humanity. The Israeli government has employed a sledgehammer in killing the Hamas mosquito.

October 7. No, it is not the date, but the evil that men inflicted on other men. For the same date in 2025, we will witness another big event. One Million Children Praying the Rosary for Peace and Unity in the World is an annual event uniting the children of the world in prayer for peace. 

Children are turning to prayers for peace while adults are turning the world into hell for others. In this, one may see the horror of destruction. You may also see the hope for humanity in the prayers of the young people, the owners, and the guardians of the future of humanity.

In another part of the world, Russia under President Vladimir Putin is waging a war to forcefully acquire part of Ukraine, a sovereign nation. All pleas to desist is taken as idle talk. Destruction, death, and destitution is the order of the day. But all is not lost. The world has risen in aid of Ukraine as the country battles to get the hundred-pound gorilla off her back. 

A larger warfare which started over two thousand years ago continues unabated. In scores of countries and regions of the world, the Body of Christ, His Beloved spouse is facing battles waged possible. All over Africa, the Church is under unceasing siege by forces that do not wish her well.

Nations, rulers, and other civil authorities engage in open and subtle means to suppress the Church. Long after Herod felt challenged by the Baby Jesus, powerful rulers are still threatened by the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of peace over the kingdom of power by other means. 

Nero felt threatened by early Christians and had them murdered in the most gruesome manner. Centuries later, King Mwanga of Buganda (Uganda) feeling similarly challenged by the growth of Christianity and the defiance of converts put forty-five of them to painful deaths. 

In 1971, President Ahmadu Ahidjo of Cameroon turned against a former ally, Bishop Albert Ndongmo, Catholic Bishop of Nkongsamba. He had His Lordship arrested, tried for treason and sentenced to death by firing squad.

Robert Cardinal Sarah did not start courting controversy as a member of the Roman Curia, he was a powerful voice against the dictatorship of Ahmadu Sekou Toure. Sarah as Archbishop of Dakar, was on Sekou Toure’s death list. By a twist of fate, Sekou Toure died more than forty years ago while Cardinal Sarah is still alive.

Islamic Fundamentalists have unleashed a murderous rage on the Church, so furious that only the assurance of Christ that His Church will never be overwhelmed keeps the Church going. Gunmen invade Churches during Mass shooting worshippers to death. They invade rectories killing priests. They attack seminaries, killing and kidnapping seminarians. 

Through all this, the Church is growing, thriving, being renewed. Sanctuaries are filled; faith formation classes are overflowing with candidates. At the slightest opportunity, rulers and princes flock to the Holy See to bow before the King of Glory.