By Oliver Maksan
The Holy Year of Mercy
that was solemnly inaugurated by Pope Francis in Rome Dec. 8, 2015—on the Feast
of the Immaculate Conception—is being hailed with joy by Catholics throughout
the Arab world – from Morocco to Iraq. International Catholic charity Aid to
the Church in Need (ACN) gathered impressions from across the Middle East.
Father Dankha Issa is a Chaldean monk in Alqosh. Last summer, hundreds of
Christian refugees found refuge in the city after their villages were seized by
jihadists. The ancient, exclusively Christian city is situated in the northern
part of Iraq. As the crow flies, only about 10 miles separate the monastery of
the Virgin in the Corn Field from the front line ISIS-held territory.
“We are very thankful to Our Holy Father that he has proclaimed a Holy Year
of Mercy. It is a time of grace for us,” the priest told ACN. He himself had
been forced to flee Mosul in June of 2014 after it fell to ISIS, or Daesh, as the terrorist organization is
known in Arabic.
Father Issa said: “This Jubilee gives us new hope. Let us hope that this
year will extinguish the fires of hate and bring peace.”
“In this year our attention is particularly drawn to how merciful God is with
us sinners. God forgives us. But this also means that we have to forgive each
other. Even the people of Daesh, who
have done so many evil things to us.”
“After all, as a Christian you also have to love your enemies. This is
almost humanly impossible. But it is easier through faith. God is capable of
everything.”
“Of course we hope that God will open and soften the hearts of the people of Daesh so that they cease their murderous
doings. Let us pray that he will dispel the hate and violence in their hearts
and let love take hold.”
The priest’s monastery wants to make it possible for the refugees to
experience the mercy of God over the course of the year. “We will continue to
support them with food and the like. However, we especially want to pray
together, above all the rosary.”
“This is what makes it possible for us suffering limbs of the Body of
Christ to become one with the universal Church and the Pope.”
In Lebanon, Father Raymond Abdo wants to use the Holy Year as an opportunity to
come up with a Christian response to the persecution of Christians in the
Middle East.
“The people who persecute Christians have to come into contact with Jesus
Christ. Mercy thus means not allowing ourselves to hate these people,” the
Carmelite from the northern city of Tripoli said.
He added: “We need the courage to pray for them and to love them. Because
when they persecute Christians, they do not know what they are doing. This is
what Jesus did on the cross.”
“The Church in the Middle East plays a role in many institutions that are
visited by non-Christians. We have to love these people and show the mercy of
the Gospels to them by example. Jesus did this with the Gentiles.”
In the school in which the priest teaches, 65 percent of the students are
Muslim. “Respecting the Muslim students in the same way we respect the
Christian students: this is what mercy means to me,” he said.
The Year of Mercy is also receiving attention in Gaza. There are only about
1300 Christians. The number of Catholics is hardly higher than 160.
Father Mario da Silva is pastor for the Catholic parish of the Holy Family.
The Brazilian religious from the Argentine Institute of the Incarnate Word
(IVE) has been living in Gaza City for several years. During this time he has
witnessed several wars.
“This Holy Year is a big chance,” he told ACN, adding: “We Christians can
re-learn what the mercy of God means. This includes re-thinking the reality of
sin.”
“We are dependent upon the forgiveness of God. This is an opportunity to
find out something new about the sacrament of penance.”
“From the first moment I arrived in Gaza, of course I felt the hatred that
the people harbor because of Israeli politics. This hatred is rooted in the
injustice the people here experience every day.”
“It may be less pronounced among the Christians because forgiveness belongs
to our faith. But of course they also know this feeling. That is only human.”
“The wars, the destruction, the high unemployment rate that also affects
the Christians: all this eats away at the people.”
“However, as a priest I do not feel it is my first priority to change the
political situation. That is not in our hands, even though the Church of course
draws attention to injustice as such. However, what we can do is to help
convert our hearts.”
In Egypt, Father Beshoi has been the priest in Azareia, a Christian town in
Upper Egypt near Asyut. The Coptic Catholic cleric wants to make the sacrament
of penance more accessible to his parishioners again, saying: “We need the
forgiveness of God.”
“Here, there are a lot of cases of revenge because of insults to family
honor. These are often caused by something trivial. But the situations often
escalate until there are casualties.
“And that happens here—even though only Christians live in our town. But they
have assimilated to the Islamic culture that surrounds us. In Islam, God is
only seen as a lawmaker who metes out punishment when His commandments are not
heeded. However, I want to change this mentality.”
“I want to show God to my brothers and sisters as a merciful Father who
forgives us. However, this is also why we have to forgive each other. Thus, the
Year of Mercy has come at just the right moment for me.”
There are a lot of problems, especially among the adolescents in the town.
The pastor said: “Many take drugs because they feel unloved or misunderstood. I
want to show them that God loves them and is waiting for them with open arms.”
“I know that God can work miracles in the souls. Just recently, an almost
60-year-old man came to me for confession: for the first time in his life! I
hope that I will see many such small miracles over the course of this year!”
The Holy Year is also being celebrated at the outermost Western edge of the
Arab world. Admittedly, there are hardly any Catholics living in Morocco and
the vast majority of these are foreigners. However, the small local Catholic
community takes an active part in the life of the World Church.
A good example are the Sisters of the Carmelite convent of Tangiers. “We
embrace the Holy Year with pleasure and gratitude. It is a great grace that we
want to experience together with the entire church.”
“With all of our poverty and weakness and in recognizing our sinfulness, we
are on our way to the Father, whose embrace we have need of,” Sister Maria
Virtudes told ACN. The Spanish nun is the prioress of her community.
The Sisters began the Jubilee with a prayer vigil. The Sister said: “We
prayed to the Lord who is present in the Eucharist. In doing so, we took turns
in singing the hymn that was composed for the Holy Year and held long moments
of silent worship.””
“As we did this, we were, together with the Immaculate Virgin, in communion
with the entire Church.”
With pictures of Carmlelite Sisters in
Tangiers, Morocco (© ACN)
Editor’s Notes:
Directly under the
Holy Father, Aid to the Church in Need supports
the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need.
ACN is a Catholic charity - helping to bring Christ to the world through
prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Father Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul
II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity,” the organization is now at work
in over 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including
providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church
buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since
the initiative’s launch in 1979, 43 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed
worldwide.
For more information contact Michael Varenne at
michael@churchinneed.org or call
718-609-0939 or fax718-609-0938. Aid to the Church in Need, 725 Leonard Street,
PO Box 220384, Brooklyn, NY 11222-0384. www.churchinneed.org
.jpg){kind=link}