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In the last couple of days, Indonesia’s second largest city, Surabaya has witnessed 2 suicide attacks – bombings on three churches on Sunday killed at least 11 and injured dozens and then on Monday, a suicide mission at a police headquarters left several people hurt. It’s said that this once tolerant Muslim majority nation has seen a rise in Islamist militancy and while women have been involved in terrorist cells, parents and children from the same family carrying out suicide attacks, is rare. We should be shocked but not really surprised. While most of us can’t imagine a greater pain than losing a child, or understand the psychological state of parents determined to end their children’s lives as well as kill others, it’s also sadly true that your child can become your biggest weapon in conflict – in the narrative of revenge, a child is the most effective perpetrator as well as the most poignant victim. For a long time, children have been used to fight for political and ideological causes and its said there are presently some 300,000 boys and girls serving as combatants or involved in global conflicts; in battlefields as human shields, as snipers or used by terrorist organisations. Children are easy to recruit and their actions as well as their deaths keeps the media focused on the political cause. With so many conflicts now in a permanent state, where there’s little education, stability or hope, it’s easy for children to become the victims of societal and political failures, increasingly susceptible to the rhetoric and ambition of martyrdom. As the head of MI5 Director General Andrew Parker warns of Islamic State’s aspirations to commit "devastating" and "more complex" attacks in Europe, we should be aware that killings may well rise at a time when millions of Muslims around the world prepare for the first week of Ramadhan, the month of fasting. For most the value of this month doesn’t lie in hunger and self- denial but in the hope of a spiritual renaissance; in essence it’s a time of atonement, a time of deeper thought and reflection about ourselves, our relationship with one another and most importantly our relationship with God. Yet it’s precisely the heightened awareness of all things holy that makes this month special for those for whom geopolitical causes become sacred missions. Despite so much violence everywhere including the deaths on the Gaza border, over the next few weeks most families will turn to peaceful reflection and hospitality. Faith has the potential to bring out the worst but also the best in us. Like so many others, I hope that each sunset prayer marks a day blessed with acts of charity and self-giving.