#ecomartyrdom

[givemearmstopraywith]

I have to accept this. I am now committed to the struggle for the cause of poor and defenseless farmers, an oppressed people caught in the clutches of the large estates. If I am silent, who will defend them? Who will struggle on their behalf? At least I have nothing to lose. I have no wife, children, not even wealth; no one will grieve for me. Other than one person: my mother, who other than me has no one else. Poor. Widow. But you are there to care for her. Not even fear will stop me. It is time to accept this. I die for a just cause. Now I want you to understand this: everything that is happening is a logical consequence that results from my work in the struggle and the defense of the poor, for the sake of the Gospel that has led me to accept even the ultimate consequences. My life is worth nothing in light of the deaths of so many farmers who are parents—assassinated, violated, and forced off of their lands. Leaving women and children abandoned, without care, without food and without a home. It is time to stand up and make a difference! I die for a just cause.

Father Josimo Morais Tavares, ecomartyr (1953-1986), quoted by Elizabeth Gandolfo in Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common Home

#josimo morais tavares #liberation theology #ecotheology #ecomartyrdom #p #quotes