POLITICIANS ARE AFRAID OF PEACE

“You have seen the tragedy of peace in Gaza. Some political leaders are more afraid of peace than of war and play on continuing the conflict instead of solving it. Let’s pray for the politicians who have the fate of the peoples in their hands”. It is the exhortation that the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, made to 1700 young people from the French dioceses that are in the Holy Land in these days for a pilgrimage. During Mass in Bethlehem, the Patriarch spoke of the “permanent challenge” of being a Christian in the Holy Land, telling about such problems as the “worrying economic situation, the urgency of inter-religious dialogue, the emigration of the Christians”. “You are our modern Three Wise Men – Twal said to the French boys and girls –, who have come looking for the King amidst cities divided by walls erected by men, a King so small you need to make an effort to find Him amidst the clang of violence that echoes in this land”. However, Twal added, “in these days you have discovered the beauty and richness of the Christian youth of the Holy Land”, that is, “young people who are proud to be the descendants of the first church of Jerusalem, worthy ambassadors of the Christian Arab culture, the witnesses of a spontaneous love for life and the family, called to follow Christ with our seminary of Beit Jala, which is so full of young people”.

© SIR July 31 2009