I'm humbled and honored to be here before all of you I'm just like you have
a daughter a sister a mother like so many of you and I was blessed I am
blessed to have had five very beautiful children in a career as a family nurse
practitioner but I'm here today to bear witness to the light of Christ
amid the dark captivity and horrific execution of our son Jim in August of
2014 in John 8:12 Jesus says I am the light of the world whoever follows me
will not walk in darkness but will have the light of Life I'm here to testify to
the reality of the light of Christ in my life to me that light is the hope faith
and love of Christ within each one of us a candle helps is a important image to
me because I viewed the light of Christ as that valiant fragile flame that burns
brightly within us even if we don't notice it I was born in New Hampshire
grew up there and was blessed with a faith in God from my earliest years
both my parents were Christian my daddy Unitarian my mom Roman Catholic my
father did not want me baptized until I was of an age to choose which religion I
wanted to follow now my lack of baptism really bothered my mother but it
actually made me very interested in God my mother's deep faith intrigued me
generally my younger sister Rita went to Unitarian services with dad while I
joined my mom yes I was drawn to God and his profound
stillness and particularly drawn to his mother Mary after school I remember
stopping by our church to pray in front of a statue of the Blessed Virgin I was
really unsure what drew me but I knew I felt safe and loved I chose to become a
Roman Catholic at the age of 14 and received the sacraments of Baptism
Confirmation and Holy Eucharist all in one day two years later my dad died of
cancer his death spurred me to study nursing and continue to continue to draw
me to God I high school I went to the University of New Hampshire and I was
blessed there by the presence of our beloved chaplain of Father Vincent
lawless who had a deformed hand I was told that he was nearly denied
ordination due to his deformity but once ordained he truly gave glory to God I
was fed spiritually by his sermons and evening folk masses throughout my
college years I seriously started to consider religious life the Peace Corps
all sorts of things but I lacked the courage or the encouragement and at the
same time I met my husband John and grew in relationship with him
John pursued me and we spent more and more time together studying going to
Mass just conversing for hours and dreaming together Father Vincent lawless
married us in August of 1971 he died less than a year later in front of the
altar at church but I'll never forget him his deep faith and goodness fan that
tiny flame of faith I had within me after our wedding John
I could not afford a honeymoon so we put our wedding gifts in a u-haul attached
to our secondhand red comet and headed west to West Des Moines my first job in
Iowa was this community health nurse I remember doing maternity and newborn
counseling to unwed teenage mothers when I knew nothing of motherhood myself at
the time I really had no idea what a life-altering blessing motherhood would
be for me all I knew was I hoped we could have a baby I did go to weekly
mass but did nothing else particular to pursue my faith but God pursued me our
son Jim was the oldest of our five children and except for the first year
of colic induced sleepless nights that many of us have endured Jim was such a
joy he was a happy child curious about the world and people he loved to be read
to he loved Bible stories history and fantasy he had quite an imagination
loving to pretend to be all the heroes I read to him about we lived in Texas
during his preschool years and I can still see him in our backyard with his
Coonskin cap pretending to be Davy Crockett at the Alamo he and his closest
brother Michael had so many adventures together one distinctive thing about Jim
was his big heart and ready smile for everyone as the little boy he had a
kindness about him which you know I I really took for granted
he was easygoing made friends very easily Jim grew up in the Catholic
Church serving as an altar boy but he wasn't
particularly religious perhaps he was a lot like your sons and
daughters he was fun-loving hard-working and well-liked and like many teens he
gave us quite a few gray hairs he loved to explore was very curious about people
and other cultures in 1978 I was drawn to go on a cruise Co weekend retreat
versio is a weekend course in Christianity which originated in Spain
but is now worldwide precio was such a moving experience of God's closeness I
became hungrier to know God that we can help me to feel God's unconditional love
for me I remember being drawn to more frequent Mass and the reading of
Scripture Mass became a place of refuge and sacred stillness where my mind and
soul was truly fed with the Word of God and the Eucharist it was a safe place
where God nurtured me and further fanned that light of Christ within me I rather
enjoyed moving around the country as my husband went to medical school
internship and then joined the Army Medical Corps I enjoyed the diverse and
interesting people I met and grew in faith but my husband wanted to come back
to New Hampshire to a tiny lakeside community of Wolfeboro after his years
in the Army I went along with the plan but inside I really resisted I didn't
want to go to such a remote place it didn't even have a movie theater and
though doubtful I remember asking God to help me find him even there well God
answered my prayers and abundance at that point we had three young sons and I
wanted them to know about God in their lives so I was challenged to attempt to
prepare our parish children for a First Holy Communion
I know I learned so much more than they said I just began to realize how God
yearns to feed us to care for us how he continually offers his strength and hope
or our journey at that time in our small state of New Hampshire
we had a powerful office of renewal led by a very charismatic priest father mark
became a dear friend to me becoming my spiritual director for years and
godfather to our fifth child and only daughter Katie I had the privilege of
serving on Accra CEO team and being fed by an informal weekly prayer group that
devout women in my prayer group taught me so patiently and lovingly about God's
goodness and compassion week after week as we reflected on the upcoming Sunday
readings together those thirteen years spent in Wolfeboro were truly filled
with God nurturing me and strengthening me for the future while I thoroughly
enjoyed being a mother and growing in my faith my husband John was working
non-stop he was the only internal medicine
physician in this tiny town that mushroomed to summer population of over
35,000 people while I enjoyed taking our kids to the lake for picnics and
swimming John was working day and night and we started to grow apart Marriage
Encounter weekend retreat for marriages allowed a beef a brief respite but
gradually we withdrew more and more into our separate lives John was working all
the time and I was busy with our five children in 1993 John suddenly announced
he wanted to move south to a bigger city a medical center and I was left in
Wolfeboro to care for our home and family while he began
commuting south to work John became very angry with me on the rare times he was
home and I really didn't know what was going on inside of him we went to
marriage and count marriage counseling rather to no avail
our marriage was disintegrating and I was clueless I couldn't figure out why
we finally went on a retro buy weekend a Catholic weekend for troubled marriages
or surely ours was becoming troubled we actually went twice retro vibe with its
deep with its daily communication and weekly follow-up sessions gradually and
miraculously began to heal our marriage such an unexpected time of healing our
dialogues became the Rosary had also become my constant companion when I was
lonely anxious or afraid it accompanied me on walks or drives it just helped me
to relax and trust in the Lord I learned the Divine Mercy chaplet on a
pilgrimage to measure Gloria in 1994 the more I prayed the rosary and the Divine
Mercy chaplet the more I felt God's hope and his light I began to feel a visceral
strengthening within me just a deeper and deeper assurance that God was with
me thus our merciful God was preparing me day by day and step by step - ever so
ever so gently inviting me to come closer sit for a while be refreshed many
days as a young mother of five Matthew 11:28 spoke to me Jesus say come to me
all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest and what bigger
problems velop the 23rd psalm assured me that God
was with me leading me beside quiet waters refreshing my soul and guiding me
along the right paths for his name's sake
little did I know how much I would need him in my darkest Valley that dark
valley began in Lent of 2011 when our oldest son Jim was kidnapped while
working as an independent conflict journalist in Libya we were in shock
we immediately fled to our adoration Chapel to pray sunbird somber tone of
the Lenten scriptures embraced me and strengthened my awareness of a deep
connection through prayer to Jim even though he's thousands of miles away
in Tripoli I spent hours and hours in prayer before candles often symbolizing
my hope in Christ and that made me feel very close to Jim his Libyan captivity
only lasted 44 days but at that time we were plunged into deep panic and fear
for Jim's life our church community rallied around us
I remember the huge way that their prayer and that of so many others lifted
our spirits and gave us hope I remember when I'm one of my dear friends sister
Mary Rose telling me that she had heard the Lord tell her that Jim would return
home when he was freed interiorly what an incredible joy and deep
gratitude we felt at that hum come home coming in May of 2011
Jim returned home with a much deeper faith he had prayed the Rosary
throughout his captivity and had been given scripture verses by another
Christian prisoner passed through cracks in an adjoining south
he told us how close to us he had felt through prayer
what a deep confirmation of the power of prayer and God's mercy but Jim also
returned with the deeper resolve to continue his work of giving voice to the
voiceless when I tried to urge him not to go back to the conflict zone he would
say mom I have found my passion I like to think that some of the seeds of faith
were planted in his childhood but his faith and sense of social justice was
surely strengthened at Marquette University the Jesuit college he chose
to attend at Marquette he was challenged to make a difference to be a man for
others Jim Hadley had lived a very middle-class life and it was really at
Marquette that he was first exposed to real poverty in the inner-city schools
of Milwaukee where he was encouraged to tutor then after graduation he taught in
the inner city of Phoenix Arizona through Teach for America little did I
know but while he was in graduate school he taught English to unwed mothers in
Holyoke Mass and later when in Chicago he cooked a cooked he taught rather at
the Cook County boot camp he seemed drawn to serve Jim was a
voracious reader and an interested writer so it really wasn't surprising
that he chose to become a journalist he'd always been a good listener he was
always interested in everyone's story so we were initially very encouraged that
he found a career that combined his interest in people with capturing their
stories he had been working in Syria since March of 2012 when he was captured
again on Thanksgiving Day he vanished we did not know whether he was dead
for the next ten months from the beginning this kidnapping was totally
different there was no trace of Jim and we never heard his voice again my
personal way of the Cross had begun my innocent good hearted Jim taken at
gunpoint sold and health captive for being a journalist
we were incredulous that he'd been captured again we were terrified at his
disappearance no one knew who had captured him or where he was we were
grateful women FBI came to visit and a media outlet funded funded a security
team but the months went by with no sign of Jim so I finally felt I needed to
quit my job as a nurse practitioner and try my best to help
so I began a series of many trips to Washington DC to the State Department to
the FBI to ambassador's also to New York to the UN just begging for help anyone
who would listen and I was repeatedly told that Jim was their highest priority
you know I kind of felt like the persistent Widow in Luke 18:1 2/8
reminding FBI state officials ambassadors that Jim was still missing
my trips made me feel useful and prayer kept me hopeful but by September of 2013
Jim had still not been found but as a mom I had a certainty that he was alive
and I kept praying that he would be strengthened by God through our
persistent prayers I recalled the words of a up to him be not afraid
which was sung at church throughout Jim's childhood I was just hoping he
would remember that God was with him amid this trial lot more candles
and prayers by September by that September I was invited to do the
Spiritual Exercises of st. Ignatius it was odd because I had first heard about
those exercises many years before when Jim was a toddler in Chicago I remember
bringing little Jim to a meeting with the priest about the exercises and him
telling me it was not the right time now 39 years later it was the perfect time
the weekly st. Ignatius prayer experience and this spiritual direction
truly sustained me during that time those exercises encouraged me to learn
to sit quietly again the lit candle reminded me of God's continual presence
challenging me to listen and be still with God finally in October of 2013 two
former Isis prisoners called to let us know that Jim was alive he was alive in
an Aleppo prison they told us exactly where he was Oh
News gave us hope and then at the end of November we received our first email
from Jim's captors his perfect answers to the three proof-of-life questions
that only he could have answers convinced us that these captors had and
were holding our beloved Jim they demanded a hundred thousand euros or all
proposal and prisoners in exchange for him which of course was impossible for
us but at least we had found him Jim was alive the released hostages tell us that
the deep joy that those proof of life questions gave Jim he knew we
found him but then 30 days later the emails abruptly stopped was odd because
that December our youngest and only daughter Katie became engaged she would
not set a date for her wedding because she wanted to wait for Jim's return so
on one hand I was desperately trying to find help to free Jim and then on the
other helping our little girl plan her wedding Tara on one side and joy
on the other I was lifted up by the love and understanding of our Katie her joy
gave me relief and hope she was one of many angels God sent me as the European
hostages I should say that Jim was we found out later Jim was held with 18
other hostages and as the European hostages were gradually released in 2014
they each reached out to us to reassure us that Jim was alive and he was strong
I had a chance to go to Spain to meet two of the hostages who had returned and
to Paris to consult at the French hostage crisis center all of my
desperate attempts to find help for Jim these hostages tell us what a source of
hope Jim had been for them all was encouraging them that they were not
forgotten they told the stories of them giving lectures to each other to pass
the time even making a risk game out of an old cardboard and date in olive seeds
and try to exercise together I thank God for putting him in the midst of such
good men their phone calls and kindness lightened our cross a bit and gave us
hope that June 2 might be released they also spoke about Jim's devotion to
prayer using the five Muslim calls to prayer as his routine and how
it helped him to remain hopeful you know I found a mass app when I was traveling
I drew strength from being able to find a church wherever I was and go and pray
and attend Mass what a solace that was because so often when I was traveling I
was alone and it was such a solace to know that I really wasn't I also used to
be daily Bible readings kept me very hopeful by May of 2014 we found out that
Jim was being held with three other Americans so we came together in
Washington to meet each other and to ask the government for help I hadn't gotten
anywhere alone so we thought we'll come together we finally got into the White
House and we really thought we were heard and all too late in June of 2014
we realized we were on our own to get Jim out so we sought legal advice and
started to raise pledges for the ransom demand also in June the last European
hostage was released Daniel was a 25 year old Danish photographer who had
spent the last year of captivity with Jim's last year in captivity with him
and he kindly memorized a letter from Jim to all of us those were his last
words to us Jim spoke about how kind and generous Jim had been to him throughout
his captivity and how he had consoled him Daniel said Jim was pure goodness
perhaps too good Jim's letter through Daniel was such an
answer to prayer though because I knew for sure that God was being so close to
Jimmy I knew he couldn't be that good without God
that summer I went to Paris the second time to ask for advice for the then
released French hostages I was so encouraged by their support and the
leads I obtained in France and Denmark until my husband John called me to say
that we had received an email another email from Jim's captives captors
threatening to kill him but I was in denial and hopeful that at least the
captors were in touch I foolishly thought that if we offered the captors
the money pledged by our generous friends they would release Jim I totally
underestimated the hatred of Jim's captors the witness of these returning
Western hostages is portrayed very poignant Lee in the documentary Jim the
James Foley story that was a film that one of Jim's friends insisted on doing
it was through long conversations with the men who would share Jim's last year
on earth that I came to understand a bit about how God had sustained him
throughout the darkness of his imprisonment torture and starvation I'm
so grateful for those men who shared that time with him when I returned home
in mid July I was exhausted from travel and fear I remember I remember going to
our adoration Chapel and just falling on my knees and totally surrendering Jim to
God I did not want to give up my will for Jim to come home to us I really
didn't I had resisted but I finally knew it was time I had to surrender him I
didn't know what else to do I struggled to let Jim go but I knew I
had to entrust him to God you know I felt a lingering fear that God might
have a different plan for Jim than I but I also felt astray
range peace that God would take care of him I was reassured in prayer that God
would in fact set him free well two weeks later Jim was brutally
and publicly murdered for being an American journalist and a Christian
though we had been warned I was in shock total disbelief you know as the reality
sunk in I felt a surge of anger I was angry at Isis at our government and all
those who had refused their help I felt such a horrible bitterness rising within
me I struggled to catch my breath to accept what had happened to Jim Lord
this is not what I meant when I surrendered to him not at all how could
this be I staggered under the weight of this loss sorry I really didn't know if
I could go on but I remember praying so hard not to become bitter and praying
for the grace to be forgiving and to be merciful well that was when the legions
of angels descended on us first our four beloved children and family flew home
then friends and colleagues came laden with food and warm hugs flowers plants
thousands of cards from all over the world poured in our post lady would live
us leave us buckets of mail for the next year we received a 50 pound hand-carved
wooden cross from Texas multiple hand-painted portraits of Jim hundreds
of mass cards and rosaries so many beautiful children's drawings books
filled with hope all this love helped me to feel God's presence again
MSc piece I felt when I surrendered Jim returned I knew then I'm sorry for sure
that God had free Jim and the only way possible he could no longer be starved
or tortured or beaten he was truly free you know the Stations
of the Cross have shown me how good God and His goodness Stoops to model for us
how to endure our sufferings and walk in faith Jesus was whipped and scourge
crowned with thorns like our Jim who was starved and tortured throughout his
captivity but also like us when we feel throbbing pain of loss or illness Jesus
carries the heavy cross of our sinfulness like each of us trying to
shoulder what happens to us in life like family's suffering in refugee camps
starved and robbed of their homes or loved ones Jesus meets his ever faithful
mother Mary's example of trust and God has helped me because she continued to
walk in faith even though she did me not have understood like me why her son had
to suffer in this way but she trusted she walked in faith which is what I'm
called to do God sustained her and used her to model for all of us how do we do
or our days of stark suffering that touch all of us in some ways even Jesus
in his humanity needed Simon's help in the fifth station like Jim needed our
help needed our prayer like our suffering of brothers and sisters need
all of us the 6th and 8th station revealed the mercy of others witnessing
Christ's suffering like Jim experiencing the Bercy of being held with such good
men like us when we're generous to those suffering around us you know the Lord
even models failure for us which most of us have experienced by falling under the
weight of the cross not once but three times just like Jim when he was first
kidnapped or like me when all my efforts to help Jim failed like all of us when
we try really hard but still come up short you know when we feel tempted to
give up to just bear the image of the Lord following under the weight of our
sins can also reveal the way we fail to love I've been selfish or arrogant then
Jesus models the stripping away of his clothing his dignity his reputation like
Jim when he was stripped away of everything and treated like an animal
like any of us when we're stripped of our family or health job or our home and
finally Christ is crucified and dies for us like Jim Jesus was finally freed from
his ordeal by death during these two years of Jim's captivity and murder
there have been moments of despair but my faith in God's presence with Jim and
in our myths has given me a deep abiding hope I believe Jesus submitted to all
his earthly suffering to give us a powerful example of how to walk in faith
and hope amid the worst of circumstances to assure us that he is powerfully
present in a very personal way if we but ask and notice it continues to be a
struggle for me to slow down long enough to pray
to quiet myself to notice the beauty around me as sister Grace so beautifully
mentioned you know the just the glory of God around the sunshine outside the
beauty of the people sitting with us at the table all signs of God's abiding
love in the midst of our lives you know we have a choice when we suffer we can
choose to grow bitter or we can choose God's loving mercy to teach us how to
forgive forgiveness is a process but the choice is always ours
do we continue the cycle of vengeance violence and hatred or do we pray for
the grace to resist bitterness as seek mercy and forgiveness Jesus quoted
isaiah 61:1 2:9 when he said he came to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim
Liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind Jim's life challenges
me as an American to care about the hundreds of other Americans who are held
captive around the world today and to care about the courageous journalists
who bring us world news and to want to inspire all of us to be people of moral
courage and compassion Jim would have wanted something positive to result from
his death I do not want him to have suffered and died in vain and that is
why we established the James Foley legacy foundation to inspire moral
courage one person at a time I believe moral courage is the light of
Christ within each of us that light that lights our paths that empowers us with
compassion and commitment to others and gives us to curb the courage to do
what is loving and christ-like in a world that often wants to do the
opposite our Lord is counting on each of us to protect and nurture that love of
Christ within ourselves to make it vibrant in our families in our community
Jesus lights the way he's the lamp to our feet if we but dare to follow he
challenges me every day and I'm sure he challenges each of you to fan that flame
of faith and hope within each of us and to carry his light into the world god
bless you all thank you for listening thank you
you
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