For much of us, tomorrow is All Hallow's Eve. Kids will be getting dressed up, eagerly anticipating the one night of the year parents completely relax the candy rules. But for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, it will be the 14th anniversary of the tragic massacre at the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Deliverance in Baghdad. ISIS stormed a Sunday Mass, killing 58 Iraqi Christians (including the 2 priests holding Mass) and wounding over 100 others. These families and individuals, our brethren in Christ, paid the ultimate price for their faith. The Cause for Beatification of these martyrs has been opened: The Servants of God, Thayr Saidālla Abdāl and 47 Companions (clergy & laity, including 4 children, one of whom was an unborn child). Please lift up your prayers for their swift beatification and the community that suffered the attack, while continuing to pray for all persecuted Christians. May their stories bolster your own faith and resolve to stand up for truth.
Pic: Iraqi Christians carry the coffin of a relative who was killed along with dozens of other worshippers at the Our Lady of Salvation church in central Baghdad (11/1/2010). Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images