Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jerusalem (Fides Service) - “Every feast invites us to reflect on the meaning of our faith. The feast of Easter renews our courage and helps us to face the challenges of life, private and public, as well as the difficulties we meet in the various countries where our dioceses are located: Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and Cyprus. It invites us to renew our faith in God and our confidence in ourselves so that we can better contribute to the building up of our society, in which we are called to love everyone without distinction and beyond all religious or national barriers. The risen Christ, the triumph over death, and the return to life are all telling us: first, God is in our midst”. This is the opening paragraph of an Easter Message released by Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah.
In the message issued in English, French, Spanish and Italian the Patriarch says “Our daily life seems to be very far from this vision of God-with-us, of His love for all, and of the fruits of the Spirit in us. In our daily life, we sometimes have the impression that the life of the Spirit, which produces charity, joy and peace, is an impossible dream, especially in our Holy Land which for many years has been witnessing hate, mutual rejection, and death”. But despite suffering hope is still strong: “We must believe in our capacity to love, all of us, Israelis and Palestinians. We are capable of loving and of making justice for ourselves and for others. We need a new beginning based on new principles and a new perspective on life in this Holy Land”. The message continues with a call: “You, who are killing, stop killing. You, who hate, stop hating… You who do not believe in this language, you also are capable of loving, of living, and of transforming in terms of life and peace the relations between the two peoples in this holy land”.
The Patriarch then wishes “all the inhabitants of this Holy Land, Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Druzes, we wish you an abundance of the Lord’s blessings, expressing the wish that the feast will be a “source of blessing, love and justice for you and for all the inhabitants of the Holy Land.”.
(Agenzia Fides 11/4/2006 righe 24 parole 254)
