1. I wish you a
holy Easter. Christ is risen. Indeed he is risen and he is the source of our
strength, joy and renewed hope.
This morning, we stand before the glorious tomb of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, as we do every year on Easter day. At this tomb, we offer
the same sacrifice offered by Jesus on the Cross. On this feast day, we feel
joy and sorrow in our heart; joy to celebrate the mystery of God, and sorrow as
we experience the evil present in our land. Of Both these realities we make the
matter of our sacrifice. We offer to God his own gifts, his love and mercy, and
the fruits of the evil which is in us, hatred, demolition, humiliation, and
killing. All these, we offer to the Almighty, and ask Him to transform them all
into a new life, a new vision and new hearts, as says the Prophet: “I shall
give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of
stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put my
spirit in you, and make you keep my laws” (Ez 36:26-27). The leaders of
this land are indeed not observing the laws of God, but visions of death rising
from within themselves. They have killed the love of God in their heart and in
the heart of their own people.
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2. We celebrate in
this day the pascal mystery, which means the transition of the Eternal Word of
God made flesh from death to life. We celebrate His triumph over death and the
new life he won for us all. Indeed, the evil which is in us had been buried
with him, and we are from now on capable of liberating ourselves from our sins,
as says the Apostle: “You have been buried with him by your baptism; by
which, too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power
of God who raised him from the dead” (Col 2,12). Raised with him, we look
to the high: “Since you have been raised up to be with Christ, you must look
for the things that are above,” (Col 3:1). And with us looking above we try
to put the new life on our earth, in the routine of our daily life, as well as
in our trials, in the violent death and the deadly hatred.
Brothers and
sisters, the struggle between our two peoples should be first a struggle of
each one of us with himself, so that each one liberates himself from the evil
which is in him, from death, oppression and the absence of God in him, so that
he may look to things above, and see the justice of God and the new life which
he offers to each one of us.
3. We ask God to
shorten these days of trial. However they could still be long. Therefore our
message is an invitation to patience, to strength and perseverance, until the
trials are over. May the grace of the Resurrection renew our relations with God
and with every human being. Each one of you has a role to play in the struggle,
in order to put in it a new life and a new strength that of the spirit. In this
struggle, the dignity of the human being is violated; the human life has no
more any value. Peace is stuck in a dead end alley. Only those who have the
power to put an end to injustice, which for many years dominate over both
peoples, the Palestinian and Israeli people, can open it. To do away with the
oppression, to give back freedom and land to this people, is the only way to
get out from the circle of death, violence, hatred and inhumanity. It is time
that the Israeli leaders understand this, and with the help of the
international community, take the necessary measures for a true security,
instead of the present measures which lead only to death. Violence in these
last days, has been another unnecessary moment of suffering, which only made
peace still harder to reach.
Easter
is the transition from death to life, from bondage to freedom, from the
servitude of men to the adoration of God. This is the significance of the
Exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt with Mosses. This is the significance of
the Resurrection. And this is the need of our land, to go through the desert of
hatred and death, the desert of injustice and oppression of one of the two peoples,
in order to attain a respectable life and security for both. Therefore the
leaders should cease to say “terrorism” and justify the permanence of death and
growing hatred. They rather have to see the truth and confess that somewhere
there is evil, and this evil is the oppression of one people, his deprivation
from his freedom and his land. When this evil comes to an end, soon death and
hatred will disappear, and our land will come back to be holy, and all,
Israelis and Palestinians will reenter the Promised Land, where milk and honey
flow, no more bloodshed and hatred, but the milk and honey of justice and
reconciliation.
4. Christ is
risen. Indeed he is risen. In these days in which death is our daily companion
and in which humiliations are the normal way of dealing for the strong with the
weak, we are in need of a new life. And we believe firmly that all,
Palestinians and Israelis, are capable of welcoming this new life. We, who
believe in the strength and the glory of the Resurrection, our role is to keep
our hope alive, as says St Peter in his first epistle: “God, in his great
mercy, has given us a new birth into a living hope through the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead” (1Pt 1:3)
5. I would like on
this occasion to express our gratitude to all the Churches of the world, first
of all to our Holy Father Pope John Paul II, the various catholic Churches, and
the World Council of Churches representing Orthodox and Protestant Churches,
for their continuing support and accompaniment in our trial, as they try to
speak and to act for justice and peace. I would also like to mention pacifist
groups and NGOs who came these days for the same purpose. We feel that this
world Christian presence in the struggle is a redeeming presence which can help
both peoples to reach justice, security and dignity. Their voice and their
action is a support to our humble voice and action. We bear in our hearts the
love of God for all his children. Christians, Moslems and Jews are all equally
loved by God, by us and by all the Churches. It is in this spirit that we speak
and act in order to resist to the forces of death and hatred in our land.
Christ is risen.
Indeed he is risen. Lord, give a new life to your land which you had made holy
by your presence. In our hearts all, put your justice, your love and your
peace. Amen.
+Michel
Sabbah, Patriarch