Martyrs of Tibhirine - Prayer

Martyrs of Tibhirine icon written by Fr Dobromir Dimitrov

The Beatification of the Martyrs of Tibhirine will take place tomorrow, 8 December, in Oran, Algeria. These were seven Trappist monks of the Monastery of Notre Dame de l'Atlas near Medea, Algeria, who were murdered in 1996 by the members of the Armed Islamic Group.

The monks' story was treated in the film 'Of Gods and Men' which won the grand prize at its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

Fr Robin Gibbons has written the following prayer, taken from the Last Testament of Fr Christian, the Abbot of Tibhirine.

Christ our true God, lover of humankind and giver of life, the martyrs of Tibhirine shared in your merciful compassion, and won the crown of glory, by giving their lives totally for you and others in thankful love.

May they who knew the "friend of the final moment" help us to reconcile ourselves with you and learn like them to forgive others from our hearts.

May we, like them, find ourselves shining with your glory, the fruit of your Passion, filled with the Gift of the Spirit, whose secret joy will always be to establish communion and to refashion your likeness in us, delighting in the differences that make each of us unique.

And at our end, through the intercession of your martyrs, grant that we shall find each other, as happy "good thieves" in Paradise, united as one with our friends of yesterday and today, along with our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters and our families-the hundred-fold granted as you have promised!

Amen

Martyrs of Tibhirine icon by Fr Dobromir Dimitrov and text published with permission.

For more information see: www.iconstation.com

See also: ICN 2 December 2010 - Of Gods and Men - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/17250