Martyred by the Gospel

One Sunday morning during Mass, a full church in a
suburban parish was surprised to see two men enter,
both covered from head to toe in black and carrying
submachine guns.

One of the men shouted:

"Anyone willing to take a bullet for Christ remain
where you are!"

Immediately, most in the choir fled toward the side
door...

The deacon acted quickly to herd the children, who
were assembling for their Liturgy of the Word, out the
nearest exit...

One lector, who had been standing at the ambo,
scurried across the Sanctuary to safety...

Some known Special Ministers of Holy Communion, who
were sitting near the front of the church, ducked out
the chapel exit...

Many of the ushers, who were standing in the back of
the church, immediately turned and fled out the main
doors, while a couple of them helped the elderly out
the doorway leading to the grotto...

There was utter chaos as people bumped against
kneelers and each other to scramble out of the pews,
both across the width of the church and up the aisles.
Out of the approximately 2,000 in church only moments
before...

20 remained.

The man who had spoken took off his hood...

He looked at the priest,
now standing in front of the celebrant's chair, frozen
in place and facing toward the intruders,
and said:

"Okay father, we got rid of all the hypocrites for you
. . . Now you can begin your mass."

And the two men turned and walked out.