Incredible bravery! Baghdad Catholics returned to their Church for Mass, a week after 51 worshippers had been slain there

From a report by The New York Times
BAGHDAD — To get to Mass at Our Lady of Salvation Church on Sunday, worshipers had to pass through a blockade of police trucks, past armed sentries on the rooftop, and through a security checkpoint where they were frisked for weapons and explosives. Some came in mourning black, many in tears, most in a spirit of quiet defiance.

Worshipers and others showing solidarity gathered at Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad on Sunday, where the names of victims were displayed in the sanctuary and outlined in candles.

“This gives us more strength,” said Sama Wadie, 32, a teacher, his hand wrapped in a bandage. “We’re not afraid of death because Jesus died for us. Of course we cry, but they’re tears of happiness, because we die for God.”
One week ago Our Lady of Salvation, a Syrian Catholic church, was the scene of the worst attack on Iraqi Christians since the American-led invasion in 2003. Gunmen in explosive suicide vests jumped the church’s security wall and took more than 100 worshipers hostage, identifying themselves as members of the Islamic State of Iraq, a Qaeda-linked terrorist group. It began a night of bloodshed in which 51 worshipers and two priests were killed. The terrorist group promised more attacks, declaring Christians everywhere “legitimate targets.”
On Sunday the congregation filed into a sanctuary riddled with bullet holes, with bloodstains on the 30-foot-high ceiling from the blast of a suicide vest that left six ornate crystal chandeliers eerily undamaged. In place of the scarred pews was a giant cross on the floor outlined in candles and filled with 51 sheets of paper, each bearing the name of one of the dead. Photographs of the two priests were placed around the church.

For many in the crowd of more than 150, it was their first time back since the massacre. Husan Sabah, 20, said he had been afraid to come. “I’m terrified now, seeing blood on the walls,” he said, adding that he had recurrent nightmares in the past week. During the attack, Mr. Sabah said, he hid inside a cabinet holding a small child, waiting for the attackers to discover him or explode a bomb that would kill him. His brother was shot in the chest, but survived.
On Sunday he returned, Mr. Sabah said, because he was unable to finish his prayers the previous week. “We have to finish them,” he said.
Now, Mr. Sabah wants to leave Iraq. “In my neighborhood they all hate me,” he said. “When you see people on the streets, they say, ‘Why are you still here? You should leave.’ Every day I hear of people leaving.”

For Nagam Riyadh, 26, who had a bandage around her knee after being wounded in the assault, its horror only strengthened her faith. On Sunday she sat by an arrangement of candles, the same spot from where she had watched one of the church’s priests die. “We forgive them,” she said. “We’re not afraid. They gave us blood and we give them forgiveness.”
Hap-tip to Luke Coppen.