The last three words

This was taken from a local newspaper. Echoing the words of the martyred Sister Leonella, one of the three executed Catholics, Dominggus da Silva, shouted "Father, forgive them!"

Kesaksian eksekusi TIBO CS
Witnessing the execution of Tibo & friends

Tibo: Jangan Ada Dendam
Ditembus Peluru, Dominggus Teriak "Ya Bapaku, Ampunilah Mereka"
Tibo: Do not contemplate revenge. Dominggus: "Father, Forgive Them"

PALU - Sungguh mengenaskan sekaligus mengharukan! Detik-detik akhir Tibo cs menjemput ajal di ujung bedil eksekusi mati pada Jumat (22/9) pukul 01:35 WITA lalu, ternyata menyimpan kisah mengharukan. Uskup Manado Mgr Yoseph Suwatan MSC kepada koran ini tadi malam menuturkan sejumlah kisah terakhir ketiga terpidana mati itu, masing-masing Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu dan Dominggus da Silva.

Both hideous and heart-wrenching, the last moments of Tibo and friends before the death squad last Friday (September 22) 0135 (Central Indonesian time—GMT+8) hid a moving tale. The Bishop of Manado, Mgr Yoseph Suwatan MSC, recalled the last moments of the three death-penalty convicts; Fabianus Tibo, Marinus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva.

"Saya mau kisahkan ini dengan tujuan agar masyarakat mengetahui persis bahwa mereka bertiga sudah sangat siap batin," tutur Suwatan yang juga pemimpin umat Katolik hingga ke wilayah Sulteng dan Gorontalo itu.

"I'd like to tell this story so that people know that the three of them were prepared and ready [to face the squad]", said Bishop Suwatan.

"Yang tak kalah penting," lanjut Suwatan yang jelang eksekusi intens mendampingi Tibo cs itu, "Saya mau meluruskan banyaknya isu yang menyebutkan kalau Om Tibo dan teman-temannya itu dianiaya atau malah mati lebih dulu sebelum dieksekusi. Itu isu tidak benar," tegasnya. Sebab, berdasarkan laporan resmi yang diterima pihaknya, ketiganya sebelum diekskusi diperlakukan baik hingga ditembak mati. "Meski yang kami sesalkan adalah prosedur pemakaman Dominggus serta jelang eksekusi jenazah mereka tak diijinkan dimisakan sesuai tradisi gereja," tutur Uskup.

"Equally important, was for me to address the rumors that the three of them were tortured, or died before the execution. The rumor was not true," Bishop explained. He accompanied the three of them in the period before the execution. "We regret the funeral procedure and they were not accorded the rights to requiem mass according the Church's tradition."

Menyinggung kisah terkait detik-detik akhir ketiganya, Suwatan dengan nada bergetar menyatakan kalau, baik Tibo, Marinus dan Dominggus, punya cerita menyentuh. Tibo misalnya. Ketika mengikuti Misa khusus yang digelar di Lapas Palu pada pukul 11:00 wita, sekalian menanti eksekusi malam, berulangkali memeluk istri dan anak-anaknya. Dengan nada bijak dan tanpa tekanan, kisah Suwatan, Tibo berpesan panjang lebar, "Jangan ada dendam setelah eksekusi papa. Biarkan papa pergi dengan tenang dan damai. Papa sudah sangat siap. Sudah begini jalan hidup papa. Mari diimani saja," tutur Suwatan mengutip kisah ketiganya.

The Bishop recalled that all three convicted men had a story to tell. During the mass at 11:00 (AM?), Tibo repeatedly embraced his wife and children. In a wise and neutral tone, Tibo reportedly told them, "Do not contemplate revenge after papa's execution. Let papa go in quiet and peace. Papa is really ready. This is papa's path in life. Let us simply reflect about it."

Perayaan Misa khusus dipenjara dipimpin langsung tiga pastor dari Manado yang bertugas di Palu. Yakni, Pastor Melky Toreh MSC dan Pastor Jemmy Tumbelaka MSC.
Usai misa dan ditinggal keluarga, ketiga terpidana mati, memilih berada di ruangan mereka. Ketiganya secara khusuk memilih berdoa dan terus berdoa serta bernyanyi. Ini dilakukan hingga menjelang sore. Yang menyedihkan, kisah Suwatan, menjelang persiapan eksekusi sore, suasana Lembaga Pemasyarakatan diwarnai isak tangis dari para petugas Lapas. "Semua minta maaf kepada Om Tibo, Dominggus dan Marinus," kisahnya. Saat itu, ketiganya menolak tawaran makan malam. "Kecuali minta dibuatkan gorengan buah sukun campur gula aren."

In the prison, the extraordinary mass was celebrated by three priests from Manado who were on duty in Palu: Fr Melky Toreh MSC and Fr Jemmy Tumbelaka MSC. After their family left after the mass, the three chose to remain their rooms. [Another source mentioned that in the afternoon, Fr Jemmy was supposed to come back to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation.] All chose to pray and sing. Towards the execution, the prison guards and officers were in tears and apologized to the three. All of them refused dinner, except for some breadfruit fried in batter (a local delicacy).

Setelah itu? Ketiganya kian khusuk berdoa hingga kemudian dijemput petugas. "Saat itu, Marinus mendadak minta sisir dan parfum." Ketika ditanya kenapa harus berpakaian rapi. Marinus dengan tenang menjawab. "Ya, saya ini orang Katolik. Saya harus rapi dan harum karena sedikit lagi mau menghadap Tuhan saya." Sedangkan Dominggus, sebelum naik ke kendaraan yang akan membawa mereka dieksekusi, mendadak turun dari mobil dan menemui salah seorang pegawai Lapas yang ternyata berteman baik dengannya. "Heh, kau lihat baik-baik ya kau punya anak. Kau harus rawat dia," kisah Suwatan. Dominggus ternyata selama bertahun-tahun tinggal di Lapas dekat dengan anak-anak para pegawai Lapas.

After that, all three remained in prayers until the guards came for them. Marinus suddenly requested for a comb and some perfume. When asked, he answered, "I am a Catholic. I have to look presentable and smell good to face my God." Dominggus, after getting on the vehicle that would take them to the execution site, came down to leave a message to one of the Lapas prison officers to take good care of his (the officer's) child.

TERIAK AMPUNI
Sementara, sumber lain koran ini di Polda Sulteng di Palu menyebutkan, jelang
dieksekusi, ketiga terpidana tidak langsung menempati posisi penembakan. Sebaliknya, mereka ditanya apakah akan ditembak dengan berdiri atau duduk. "Mereka serempak menjawab memilih ditembak saat duduk saja," tutur sumber. Uskup Suwatan membenarkan keterangan sumber ini. "Memang benar saat sebelum ditembak, mereka memilih duduk saat ditanya petugas," kata Uskup. Lalu, saat mata ketiganya akan ditutup, mendadak Marinus menolak, "Saya ingin mata tetap terbuka. Ijinkan saya menyaksikan langsung." Permintaan Marinus dikabulkan. Sedangkan Tibo dan Dominggus tetap ditutup matanya.

Another source in Palu mentioned that the three were asked whether they wanted to face the squad standing up or sitting down. All chose to remain seated. When they were about to be blindfolded, Marinus refused and asked for permission to witness his own execution. His wish was granted while the other two remained blindfolded.

Tepat pukul 01:50 WITA, bunyi bedil dari tim eksekutor terdengar. Hanya dalam hitungan detik, begitu prosesi maut selesai, tiga anggota tim dokter yang sudah berada di lokasi, salah satunya adalah dokter asal Langowan, Minahasa yang bertugas di Palu, langsung diminta untuk memeriksa mereka. "Menurut dokter perempuan itu yang asal Langowan kepada saya, eksekusi ketiganya memang sesuai. Ketiganya langsung diproses dan otopsi," tambah Uskup. Sementara, sumber lain di lokasi kejadian mengisahkan bahwa saat peluru maut itu menancap di tubuh ketiganya, tubuh ketiganya tersentak dan kepala mereka sempat terangkat lalu lunglai, ambruk, tewas. Berbeda dengan Tibo dan Marinus yang tampak tenang dan diam. Tapi, suara yang diperkirakan dari Dominggus sempat berkata setengah berteriak, "Ya Bapa Ampunilah mereka!"

At exactly 0150 Central Indonesian time (GMT+8), the gunfire went off. In a few seconds, the death procession complete, three doctors on site were asked to examine the bodies. Bishop elaborated that the doctor reported that the execution went smoothly. All three were immediately processed and autopsied. When the bullets hit the three of them, they recoiled and hunched forward. While Tibo and Marinus looked quiet, Dominggus was heard shouting: "Father, forgive them."

More here (in Bahasa). The comments written on some of these pages are no less inflammatory than many found on St blogs. Requiescat in pacem

Supporting il Papa

I thought it should be obvious... being Catholics, of course we support our Pope!

Been away from the blogs for a while.. missed this round of cheerleading!

Faith and Reason

I had encountered the topic of "Faith and Reason" in the last year or so, and read more than one book that highlighted the role of reason in the development of Christianity.

It is therefore timely for our shrewd and intellectual Pope to warn at Regensburg of the danger of de-rationalization of faith (leading to fideism, one of the by-products of the so-called "Reformation"). The pope made two points about the malady that the modern world faces from the separation of faith and reason:
1. "only the kind of certainty resulting from the interplay of mathematical and empirical elements can be considered scientific", and
2. "[it] excludes the question of God, making it appear an unscientific or pre-scientific question."

The part that offends a large part of the Muslim world, ironically, was a quote that illustrated exactly the absence of reason in faith, as the Byzantine Emperor (and also, the Pope) saw it: the view of a transcendent God in a particular school of thought in Islam justifies (and explains the tendency for) violent (irrational) means to spread the faith. If God does not honor reason, then it follows that nothing need to be rational (and nothing could be irrational) when it comes to matters of faith. This article dug up the history of reason within Islam—I could understand why, in Islam's history, advocates of reason was suppressed (perhaps out of fear of rationalism?): Islam has no equivalent of the Church's Magisterium to guard against potential heresies.

UPDATE: John L. Allen Jr. cautions against sound-biting an intellectual German professor's discourse and sees the pope's speech as an invitation to a frank dialog with Islam.

Goodbye ;~)

I never got around to naming my servers. Last night we completed migration from the last of the old Linux servers (named 189.. after the last triplet of its IP, how impersonal!) and this morning I found myself shutting down the server and doing an "rm -rf *" on my home directory as well as on the application directories.

[antonia@189 /home/antonia/]$ rm -rf *

Two weeks ago, we 'gave up' another Linux server (193, yet another impersonal name). Ahh.. to say goodbye to good and faithful servants is heart-rending :)

Misunderstood

Misquoted and misunderstood? This weekend, the Vatican issued some statement that don't appease anyone: he was "sorry" over "the reactions"; some people say he shouldn't have 'apologized', some say he wasn't 'sorry enough'.

This is the original text (English translation) of the 'controversial' speech. Read it and this for yourself.

Some pictures of anti-Pope BXVI from around the world:

In London

In Somalia, a nun was stabbed in reaction to his speech

In West Bank, (even) non-Catholic churches were arsoned

In Pakistan (or India?), his effigy was burnt

Pray for our dear Pope!

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

(This post took forever to write)

It's been a busy week coming back after my short trips with my family. Today is also my sister's first day at work, and my attempt to bring her along to Mass worked today (Deo gratias!), under the excuse that it'd be good for her to start a new endeavor in her life by first praying and offering it up to God.

Having encountered the 'crucified Jesus' reflection recently, I recall reading about the finding of the True Cross by St Helena some years back, and more recently, about the wood of the Cross being of the same tree from which the forbidden fruit came, in the garden of Eden, and in today's homily, about how the Roman emperor Heraclius could only carry the Cross when he shed his royal vestment for simple garb.

Veneration of the Cross is a practice I encountered only when I came to Singapore; having been baptized only after a few years of my stay here. Although this veneration (and in general, adoration of relics) is not a practice considered latria, that is worship due to God alone, it took many Good Fridays and a few Feasts of the Holy Cross (and many, many people's prayers for me, I'm sure!) before I could appreciate the marvel with which the Church honors the cross. Today, an insight came to me before veneration: that this is the Cross through which Jesus surrendered His will; how He must have embraced and kissed the Cross as the instrument to deliver His total love!

In today's readings, Christ, died and lifted on the Cross, is compared to the healing serpent that Moses raised in the desert. In the Cross lies the bold mystery of salvation: of God who loves us so much that He sends His Son, who emptied Himself by dying through a instrument of torture. That same instrument of torture is Christianity's symbol of victory today. God could have sent lightning and thunderbolt to carry out justice, but no, He sacrificed His son on the cross instead... The Cross, that sweet Cross, always reminds me of His mercy.

How privileged we are to join Jesus, by emulating Him in carrying our own crosses (however slight they may be...)!

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you because by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Remembering 9-11

It's been five years since the monstrous tragedy happened. Peggy Noonan of Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal, wrote this beautiful tribute that recalls the victims and what's essential.

May God have mercy on us.

Nativity of our Lady

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), wrote a beautiful commentary commemorating our Lady's birth:

Rejoice, Adam, our father, and above all you, Eve, our mother. You were parents to all of us and at the same time our murderers. You who doomed us to death even before we were born, be comforted now. One of your daughters – and what a daughter! – will comfort you… So come, Eve, run to Mary. May the mother run to the daughter. The daughter will answer for her mother and will wipe away her fault… For the human race will now be raised up by a woman.

What did Adam say in times past? “The woman whom you put here with me – she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” (Gen 3:12) Those were nasty words, which increased his fault rather than wiping it away. But divine Wisdom triumphed over so much malice. After vainly trying to give birth to the opportunity to forgive by questioning Adam, God now finds that opportunity in the treasure of his inexhaustible goodness. He gives the first woman a substitute, a wise woman in the place of the one who was foolish, a woman who is as humble as the other was proud.

Instead of the fruit of the tree of death, she offers to humankind the bread of life. She replaces this bitter and poisonous nourishment with the sweetness of an eternal food. So Adam, change your unjust accusation to an expression of gratitude and say: “Lord, this woman whom you gave me offered me the fruit of the tree of life. I ate of it; its flavor was sweeter than honey from the comb (Ps 19:11), because by means of this fruit, you gave me back life.” So that is why the angel was sent to a virgin. Oh admirable Virgin, worthy of all honors! Woman whom we must venerate infinitely among all women, you repair the fault of our first parents, you give life back to all their descendants.

Happy Birthday, our dear mother!