Man found innocent after his death by capital punishment

He stood, not defiant, but resolute as the court read his sentence all those years ago. Capital punishment. Barbaric for any civilized society; murder carried out by the very state that forbids the crime of any of its citizens. 

His stoicism carried throughout the trial, where he faced a plethora of charges, all of them false accusations. He was innocent, but he spoke not a single word in his defense. Neither did he have an attorney to cross examine the witnesses brought to the stand by the room full of prosecutors, led by the chief prosecutor himself, a man known for his command of the law and his observance of every one of its precepts. 

Even the judge, who eventually handed down his sentence, murmured on the record about the lopsided trial. 

His mother was there. She was there when the jailers brought him before the court, his face clearly beaten and his body coiled and limping from a fresh beating by the guards. No one cared about the injustice of police brutality because nearly everyone in that room hated him, believing he had committed crimes so offensive to their existence, they wanted him dead and snickered about the corruption of the police who broke the law so that he could suffer before his sentence.

A few years after her son’s death, a man chronicling the events spoke to her about that day. She recalled his birth and his upbringing. They were poor, but they managed. He was a generous boy who grew into a man who did things for others no one else would do for them. He tended to outcasts – people  who those in their town considered to be traitors, trouble makers, prisoners, dirty immigrants, and useless to society. These images of his life streamed through the veil of tears as she watched her son face his accusers.

His father watched the trial from afar. None of this was a surprise to him. He knew this would happen to his son despite the good things he did for so many who were marginalized and condemned by society’s rigid rules and all the hypocrisy that entailed. He knew this because he knew from the moment his son began to call out that hypocrisy and the corruption of very powerful and connected people, those people would use their influence and stir up the emotions of a people looking for someone to blame for the very problems the powerful fomented. 

Indeed, many of these people took the stand and testified against him, lying and perjuring themselves without consequence. But what was more telling was that not a single person testified for him. Every person this man helped and nearly all his friends abandoned him, too afraid to be stained by his infamy.

They knew he was innocent, and they said nothing.

They saw his poor mother’s unbearable sorrow and they did nothing. And despite their betrayal, she would later say, she didn’t know how to do anything but to love them and to care for them. Because, that’s what her son wanted and lived his entire life doing.

At his execution, among his last words were a whisper to his father not to be upset with everyone who advocated his death and betrayed his friendship. “Forgive them,” he asked his dad. The old man didn’t say a word. He walked away in anguish as his son died, blaming it all on him. Every crime. Every hurt. Every lie. Every indulgence. Every insult against the father uttered by everyone else who led and watched his son to his death, the father placed that burden all on his son because his son chose not to defend himself. He chose to die for everyone else, no matter how guilty everyone else was.

On his instrument of death, the state inscribed and placed a sign above his lifeless body, “Iesvs Nazarenes Rex Ivdæorvm.” INRI

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He was falsely accused of committing all the crimes we are guilty of. And He didn’t say a word in His defense so that He could take the punishment, pay for our crimes, settle our debts to His Father, and rip open the gates of eternal life for us, the unworthy. 

If you are the Prodigal Son, the lost sheep, the doubting Thomas, the Peter who denied Him … the sinner yearning to fill the void inside … Jesus Christ calls you home to His church. He invites you to enter this season of renewal, Lent. Below is the schedule of Masses throughout the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa and the Archdiocese of Agana for Ash Wednesday, which is on February 14, 2024. Most parish priests are available to hear your Confession 30 minutes before every Mass. If you’re unsure when you show up, just find one of the busy bodies helping to prepare for the Mass, and they will gladly help you.

For the offenses we have committed against God, against ourselves, and against each other by our thoughts and our words, by what we have done and what we have failed to do, I hope and pray you find solace and comfort in this season of unconditional love, repentance, and renewal of faith.

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ARCHDIOCESE OF AGAÑA

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS SCHEDULES

Feb. 14, 2024

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DULCE NOMBRE DE MARIA CATHEDRAL-BASILICA, HAGATÑA

6 a.m., 12:10 p.m. and 6 p.m.

All Masses will be celebrated in the main church.

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OUR LADY OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT CHURCH, AGANA HTS.

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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NIÑO PERDIDO Y SAGRADA FAMILIA CHURCH, ASAN

11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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SAN VICENTE/SAN ROQUE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BARRIGADA

6 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 6 p.m.

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OUR LADY OF PEACE AND SAFE JOURNEY CHURCH, CHALAN PAGO

6:30 a.m.

12 Noon – WORD & Ashes

5:30 p.m.

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SANTA BARBARA CATHOLIC CHURCH, DEDEDO

6 a.m., 8 a.m., 12:15 p.m., and 5:30 p.m.

In upper church.

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ST. ANDREW KIM CHURCH, DEDEDO

7 p.m.

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OUR LADY OF MT. CARMEL CHURCH, HÅGAT

7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN DIONISIO CATHOLIC CHURCH, HUMÅTAK

7 p.m.

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ST. JOSEPH CATHOLIC CHURCH, INALÅHAN

6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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OUR LADY OF PURIFICATION, MA’INA

5 p.m.

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SAN DIMAS & OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY CHURCH, MALESSO

6 a.m.  and 5 p.m.

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SAN ISIDRO CATHOLIC CHURCH, MALOJLOJ

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SANTA TERESITA CATHOLIC CHURCH, MANGILAO

6 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

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NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LAS AGUAS CHURCH, MONGMONG

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN JUAN BAUTISTA CATHOLIC CHURCH, ORDOT

6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY CATHOLIC CHURCH, PITI

12 noon and 6 p.m.

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OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE CATHOLIC CHURCH, SANTA RITA-SUMAI

6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

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ST. JUDE THADDEUS CATHOLIC CHURCH, SINAJANA

6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN MIGUEL CHURCH, TALO’FO’FO’

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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ST. ANTHONY CATHOLIC CHURCH,

CO-PATRON ST. VICTOR, TAMUNING

6 a.m., 9 a.m. (School), 12:10 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

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IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY CATHOLIC CHURCH, TOTO

6:00 a.m.

5:30 p.m. Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and Mass

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BLESSED DIEGO LUIS DE SAN VITORES CHURCH, TUMON

6:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SANTA BERNADITA CATHOLIC CHURCH, AGAFA GUMAS, YIGO

6 a.m.  and 6 p.m.

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OUR LADY OF LOURDES CATHOLIC CHURCH, YIGO

6 a.m., 12:10 p.m., 5 p.m., 7 p.m.

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ST. FRANCIS CATHOLIC CHURCH, YONA

6:30 a.m., 9 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

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UNIVERSITY OF GUAM CALVO FIELD HOUSE, MANGILAO

Confession — 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet – 12 p.m.

Mass – 12:30 p.m.

Organized by the Archdiocese Office of Youth, Young Adults, and Campus Ministry in cooperation with Pacific Students for Christ Organization and UOG Student Government Association

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Compiled by Tony C. Diaz

Director of Communication, [email protected] (671) 562-0065

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DIOCESE OF CHALAN KANOA

ASH WEDNESDAY MASS SCHEDULES

FEBRUARY 14, 2024

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OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL CATHEDRAL

6 a.m., 11:45 a.m., and 6 p.m.

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SAN JOSE PARISH SAIPAN

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN VICENTE FERRER PARISH

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN ROQUE PARISH

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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NUESTRA SENORA BITHEN DELOS REMEDIOS PARISH

6 p.m.

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SANTA SOLEDAD PARISH

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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ST. PAUL CHONG HA-SANG PARISH

7:30 p.m.

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KRISTO RAI PARISH

6 a.m., 12 p.m., and 6 p.m.

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ST. JUDE PARISH

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN JOSE PARISH TINIAN

6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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SAN FRANCISCO DE BORJA PARISH

5 p.m.

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SAN ISIDRO LABRADOR PARISH

6 p.m.

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CHCC HOSPITAL CHAPEL

11 a.m.