James Foley - a Symbol, a Hero

If you were of James Foley's family, he would be much more than a hero or a symbol.  He would be your son, brother, grandson, much loved and much missed but assured in the knowledge that he is now with God. 

For the world, or to be more precisely, for me, he has become a symbol, a hero and this has happened only in the last ten days.  I have to be honest and say that James Foley never came onto my radar until the shocking news hit the world that he had been murdered in a barbarous way at the hands of extremists in Iraq and Syria. 

Much has been said of him since his tragic end by Pope and President, by family and Church.  He has left his mark but did it have to be in this way?  No, and it isn't. 

I say this because I am now reading about a man whom I see was committed to his profession, committed to the cause of getting the news out for the sake of the Syrian people.  I know him now as a man who deeply loved his family and God.  He  showed a great spirituality.  I know him as a man of faith.  All of this was who he was already before any barbarian did such a inhuman thing to him.  It is this side - his life story and commitment, the living James Foley - that should be remembered and that was the wish of his parents.  As I heard his mother speak outside church, I heard a woman of faith, asking not for retribution but that we pary for love and peace in the world.  Such faith!

This faith was shared by her son.  A witness to that is a message he got out, while imprisoned, to his family.  I want to share just one paragraph of his message shared by his family.  It so touched me.  It speaks for itself. 

"I know you are thinking of me and praying for me.  And I am so thankful.  I feel you all especially when I pray.  I pray for you to stay strong and believe.  I really feel I can touch you even in this darkness when I pray."