"I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed. I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused." - James Foley on his Islmaist captivity in Libya.
The first young man murdered by Islamist savages of ISIS(L) was James Foley a Catholic.
The second young man murdered by Islamist savages of ISIS(L) was Steven Sotloff a Jew
Both men exhibited magnificent grace and faith in meeting the similar fate at the hands of a twisted maniac.
You will not hear much to nothing about the religious faith of either man from our American media. Belief in God and commitment to one's religion sends chills up the spines of John Dewey zealots in academia, print and elected office, because it diminishes the need to worship at the altar of the State.
James Foley prayed the rosary - a spiritual exercise that strengthened the sinews of Austria's Don John at Lepanto and twelve years later, Poland's John Sobieski swept the Caliph's 200,000 man Ottoman Army from the walls of Vienna.
The Rosary is not a Steven Spielberg talisman that shoots fire and lightening from the crucifix attached to the beads. Rather, is a meditative escape from the self and that is its power. My Dad carried a metal disc rosary and prayed with it at Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima. He came home with that metal disc rosary and tiny fragments of Japanese ordnance in arms, legs and back, but whole of limb and sound of faith.
The faces of James Foley and Steven Sotloff reflect deeply centered faith formed in each man.
Their calm in face of eternity and their gaze upon Heaven's Gates are the message that back-fored on Jihad John and the Islamist monsters who took their lives but not their immortal souls.
These men of Faith should give all of us the resolve we need.
I am awed by Steve Sotloff and Jim Foley. I am awed by Faith.
