Remembering James Foley's Remarkable Faith

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/20/james-foley-faith_n_5695243.html

The Huffington Post | By Antonia Blumberg

Posted: 08/20/2014 3:34 pm EDT Updated: 08/20/2014 5:59 pm EDT


In this Friday, May 27, 2011, file photo, journalist James Foley poses for a photo during an interview with The Associated Press, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) | ASSOCIATED PRESS

James Foley, an American journalist who went missing in Syria in November 2012, died at the hands of Islamic State militants.

Foley's friends and family remember a talented, generous and faithful person who "gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people" and the horrors of war.

His 2012 disappearance marked the second time Foley had been captured in the thick of political and social unrest. The first came in 2011 when Foley was reporting from the middle of the Libyan civil war. Qaddafi loyalists kidnapped him and fellow journalist Clare Morgana Gillis and held them captive for 44 days, during which time, Foley later recounted, he often turned to prayer to maintain hope.

In a letter published on the Marquette University website -- Foley's alma mater -- Foley describes the role prayer played in his life during those days in captivity, his Catholic faith and the only call home his captors allowed him:

I prayed [my mom would] know I was OK. I prayed I could communicate through some cosmic reach of the universe to her.
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.
Clare and I prayed together out loud. It felt energizing to speak our weaknesses and hopes together, as if in a conversation with God, rather than silently and alone.

more at link

[PotatoChip]

1. Faith can be a source of comfort during difficult times.

It appears that James Foley's helped him. I hope it sustained him through all he endured to the very end.

[cbayer]

2. Agree. If it gave him solace and comfort, then it's ok by me.

[brer cat]

3. He was a very courageous man.

I can only hope that his faith sustained him all the way to the end.

[cbayer]

4. I agree. Even though I am not a believer, it makes it somehow

easier to even think about what he went through if there was something he felt he could embrace to obtain comfort.

It doesn't matter whether it is real or not, it was real and very meaningful to him.

[trotsky]

5. It is terrible he was executed by people who also had tremendous faith. n/t

[hrmjustin]

6. And it is a disgrace they do not have the virtue of tolerance.