‘What, you have returned the unpaid shirt? You are Christians, aren’t you?’

‘Yes’, we replied,’ but this has nothing to do with it.’

‘Oh, yes, it does’, one of them said, ‘only a Christian can do something like that!’

The testimony of a Muslim woman: ‘only a Christian can do something like that!’

A recent event, which I describe as it was also told to me.

A boy went to a shop and bought 5 shirts, but when he arrived home, he realised that the cashier had only registered the price for 4 out of the 5 shirts. At first, he was happy that he had tricked the cashier, but then his conscience started reprimanding him and he went for confession. The coincidence was that I also needed to go to the same shop and I told him to get the extra (unpaid) shirt to see what can be done about it…to solve the issue somehow: either to pay it, or to bring it back. We went directly to the cashier (where there were two Turkish women). We explained the situation and they asked us:  ‘What, you have returned the unpaid shirt? You are Christians, aren’t you?’ ‘Yes’, we replied, ‘but this has nothing to do with it.’ ‘Oh, yes, it does,’ one of them said, ‘only a Christian can do something like that!’

We have to give testimony, before the world that we are Christians, our lives need to shine! This should be our attitude: to carry the seal of Christianity inside us; this should be our way of being. A saint once gave a very relevant answer to his torturer’s question: ‘Is your name really a Christian?’ The saint asked: ‘How do you call this object on the table?’ The torturer: ‘A bottle.’ ‘So, as you cannot name the bottle a chair or otherwise, I cannot call myself anything else than what I am: a Christian. And if I am to die because I am called a Christian, behead me quickly, so you can finish as soon as you can with me.’