JERUSALEM, MARCH 21, 2008 (Zenit.org).-
Here is the 2008 Easter message from the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem,
Archbishop Michel Sabbah. The message was released Monday.
Archbishop Sabbah is retiring, after having turned 75 on Wednesday.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is risen. Indeed He is risen!
I wish you all a Happy Easter full of God’s grace. This will be my last Easter
with you as I reach the age of 75 and retire. Yet, and as I have said in my
last pastoral letter, I shall remain with you in my prayers and shall continue
to accompany you in your happy moments and grievances. I shall work with every
seeker of justice and peace until all the inhabitants of this land will live
in security and tranquility, in the presence of God Almighty, merciful and
full of love to all his creatures. For the sake of all our faithful in our
Churches of Jerusalem, and all believers from all religions in this land,
Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Baha’is, I shall pray, and extend my love
to all.
Christ is risen. Indeed he is risen! I pray and ask God to fill your hearts
with the joy and hope of the Resurrection. We all live in a holy Land, the
land of Revelation, Redemption and reconciliation between the peoples and
reconciliation with God, the compassionate and forgiving. Unfortunately, this
land remains a land of bloodshed, ignoring its own vocation and incapable of
accepting it.
We have witnessed in the past few weeks the tragedy of over one million people
in Gaza Strip and over one hundred martyrs who fell there; we also witnessed
the victims of the Jewish religious school in Jerusalem; and we still witness
every day Israeli incursions in the Palestinian cities and the killing of many
Palestinians despite agreements with the Palestinian Authority. We can still
hear the voices of anger following the killing of the four young men in their
homes in Bethlehem a few days ago. All of these incidents form a chain of
inhumane and futile violence, regardless of the party behind it. Facts on the
ground prove that violence has failed to achieve the desired security. It
remains an inhumane violence and an aggression against the human dignity of
the one who is killed and the one who kills.
Of course, this is not the new life that we celebrate with every Easter. The
states, the individuals, Israelis and Palestinians, after more than one
century of conflict must understand that armies don’t protect their peoples
anymore, but expose them to more violence, fear and insecurity, because the
weak and the oppressed have also their power that challenges the strong of
this world. It is high time to learn the lessons of history and engage in the
path of God; it is high time for every people and individual to accept the
vocation entrusted by God to them, which is to build societies and not
demolish them. Violence destroys and never builds. We are all capable of
building because God granted us part of his goodness and power so we can
uphold human societies that respect individuals and in which they must vi3ew
each other as brothers and as God’s creatures, equal in dignity, rights and
duties. Violence can never be a way towards this. God created us and urged us
to be perfect and holy as He is perfect and Holy. (cf Mt 5:48).
Despite this, there are hundreds of thousands in both the Palestinian and
Israeli societies who send an outcry: peace… peace. And they are ready to make
‘peace now’. But we see also extremists on both sides who are prisoners of
their own ideologies and call in the name of God to kill their brothers, while
God tells them all: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. We are in need
of leaders who can make peace because this is the sole path to put an end to
extremism and to start the true way towards security and tranquility. To say
that peace is a risk that we cannot take means to keep all of us in the cycle
of death and violence. The leaders have to choose between two paths: either
peace or increasing extremism and insecurity. We need leaders who are ready to
offer their lives for the sake of peace not leaders who issue orders to kill
and assassinate and send others to kill or to get killed.
Christ is risen. Indeed he is risen! Amidst the difficult conditions which are
worsening every day in our land and in the region, - we remember the death of
the Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq and the lives of all Iraqis who have been
living a daily tragedy since the declaration of war on Iraq. Amidst these
difficult times, we celebrate Easter in Jerusalem and we tell you, brothers
and sisters and all of you, men and women of good will: don’t feel weak in
front of the death forces working within our ranks. Saint Paul said: "You did
not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear" (Romans 15:8), but you
received the spirit of God to be strong, with the same strength of God and His
love.
We celebrate the feast of the glorious Resurrection, which is the triumph of
Jesus Christ over death and sin. God grants this power to every human being so
that he can prevail over evil within his soul and the evil surrounding him. He
grants us all the power to transform hatred and death into trust and love and
life that was gifted to us through the Resurrection.
We believe in God and we believe that God is good and His goodness will one
day defeat the evil of people who claim that they want to build and maintain
security, while their actions transform security into a mirage. It is high
time to take new security measures that respect the human being and bring him
closer to peace rather than death.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is my last Easter Message as a Patriarch of
the Holy Land. I have said earlier and I repeat: I shall continue to pray and
walk with you on the difficult path of peace and justice, and on the path of
sanctity that God requires from anyone who wants to live and rule this land. I
wish everyone a Happy and Holy Easter and a new life full of the spirit and
grace of God.
Christ is risen. Indeed He is risen!
+ Michel Sabbah, Patriarch
Jerusalem – March 17, 2008