Benarkah Pastor Thomas “Tom” Uzhunnalil SDB akan Disalib pada Jumat Agung Ini?

SEJAK berita diculiknya Pastor Thomas Uzhunnali SDB oleh kelompok teroris di Yaman Selatan, langsung merebak luas di jalur medsos bahwa pastor misionaris Salesian asal India ini akan disalib pada hari Jumat Agung tanggal 25 Maret 2016.

Kabar ini sifatnya masih kabur dan tidak ada konfirmasi jelas mengenai kebenaran sas-sus tersebut. Gambar pastor yang melayani para suster Misionaris Cinta Kasih Mother Theresa sudah telanjur tersebar kemana-mana dengan ujud mendoakan dia, kalau-kalau akhirnya betul bahwa pada Jumat Agung ini dia akan disalib.

Yang benar adalah Pastor Tom memang telah diculik kelompok teroris. Ia dinyatakan hilang, tak lama setelah kelompok militan ISIS menyerbu biara Suster-suster Misionaris Cinta Kasih Mother Teresa yang tinggal di Aden, Yaman Selatan, pada tanggal 4 Maret 2016 lalu dan kemudian membunuh keji keempat suster biarawati bersama 12 orang katolik lainnya.

Hingga kini, keberadaan Pastor Tom tidak diketahui pasti. Imam misionaris Salesian ini diketahui berumur 56 tahun, kelahiran Ramapuram dekat Kerala, India. Ia mengikuti jejak pamannya yakni mendiang Pastor Matthew SDB, peletak dasar karya misioner pastor-pastor Salesian di Yaman Selatan.

Pemimpin Umum Kongregasi Iman-iman Salesian (SDB) ikut menyerukan doa agar Pastor Tom segera dibebaskan dan selamat. Meski kabar-kabur mengenai ‘berita’ penyaliban Pastor Tom pada Hari Jumat Agung ini belum jelas dan konfirmasinya tidak pernah ada, namun toh sudah menyulut kekhawatiran banyak pihak, termasuk para imam dan bruder anggota Kongregasi SDB di seluruh dunia.

Kepada semua anggota Salesian di seluruh dunia diserukan agar memanjatkan doa demi pembebasan dan keselatan Pastor Tom di saat-saat “kita harus menemani Yesus berdoa di Taman Getsemani dimana kepedihan dan kesunyian merenda waktu.”

Berikut ini, kami sampaikan teks tertulis yang dirilis oleh Pemimpin Umum Kongregasi SDB menyikapi keberadaan Fr. Tom yang hingga kini tidak diketahui pasti dan karenamya juga tidak jelas nasibnya di kemudian hari.

My dear brother Salesians,
My dear sisters and brothers of the entire Salesian Family throughout the world,
Dear young people in different places of the Salesian world,

I send you my sincere greetings as we draw near to Holy Week and Easter.

The purpose of this appeal is to invite you all wherever you are in the Salesian world, to make this, a time of intense faith and prayer.

And the reason is this:

The pain which we are forced to undergo in so many parts of the world is too much, as so many people of different religions and confessions are suffering a real martyrdom.

In our Church, a large number of Christian men and women are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus.

The latest drama, as we well know, took place in Yemen, where several people were killed four Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa who died as martyrs, and other lay men and women who gave their lives for their faith, simply because they were there at the end, they also were martyrs, mowed down by a senseless violence.

We continue to follow with pain and with great concern, what is happening to our brother Tom, a Salesian of Don Bosco, who disappeared and about whom we have no news.

I also wish to express our closeness and our solidarity to his family while we implore from the Lord a deep peace that he may endure this moment trusting in the Lord Jesus.

Therefore, I invite everyone to spend a very intense moment of prayer on the evening of Holy Thursday, when we join with Jesus in the pain and loneliness of Gethsemane.

I sincerely hope that all our Salesian Family in the world and our young people in different places and at different times will be united in this one prayer: for peace.

We join with Pope Francis, who continually prays for this peace.

Let us implore peace from the Lord, and ask for infinite eternal peace for the martyrs and the extraordinary power of the Risen Lord for all who suffer so much pain and persecution.

Let us also remember our brother Tom.

Thank you for accepting this initiative and may the Lord bless you.

I greet you from my heart.

Sumber: AsiaNews