Brothers and Sisters
Mr. President Yaser Arafat
1. This year again, we came to
Bethlehem, in this venerable basilica in order to pray. We adore the Most- High
while we meditate the mystery of the Nativity of his Eternal Word made man. The
one that the world cannot contain, a cave welcomed him and a Virgin conceived
him. He came, prince of peace, to bestow peace upon all human person, peace
with God, peace with oneself and with all his brothers and sisters, without
distinction of race, religion or color. He is the Lord Savior of all.
This holy night brings us at a
time before the mystery of God’s love and before the mystery of our land’s
sufferings. In our land indeed God wanted to manifest to all of us His mercy
and love. And we must acknowledge that we were until today incapable to be
fully conscious of the mystery of God’s love in our land, as we were incapable
to recognize and to accept ourselves mutually as brothers and sisters
Mr. the President Yaser Arafat, for you too we pray in this holy night
as we came to pray with your people. You would have wanted to be present with
us, but the increasing confusion in the truth of this earth and in the manner
to deal with the human person prevented it. We ask God to grant you wisdom and
courage, during the siege that is imposed upon you, so that you may pursue your
difficult task in the research of justice and peace.
2. Brothers and sisters
The mystery of the Incarnation leads us to the depths of the mystery of
God and the way with which He deals with men. God loved us, created us and
entrusted to us this land in order to construct it and to make it a dwelling
for God’s love. St John says : «We have recognized the love that God
has for us, and we have believed » (cf 1Jn 4,16). With this verse, the
apostle introduces us in the authentic significance of Christmas. He
says : ‘we recognized the love and we believed '. He and the other
disciples who lived with Jesus Christ have recognized that Jesus is the Eternal
Word of God who came to save the world. In this, we too we believe, as the
Apostles believed and the successive generations of Christians.
St Jean adds: “God is love. And whoever remains in love remains in
God and God in him…In love there is no room for fear, perfect love drives our
fear » (1Jn 4,16.18).
Yes, we speak
of love, whereas we live in hard times, facing difficulties, demolitions,
hatred and death. Because we believe in Christmas’ deep significance and in the
difficult love of which the apostle has spoken to us. He also had to live this
commandment, which was new for him and for the other disciples, as well as for
the society of their time. For us, also, this new commandment is difficult, and
puts us in perplexity : how to apply it and to live it, given the death
that is imposed upon us. And we tell you, brothers and sisters: for the
believer nothing is impossible. It is not impossible to love, to love all those
with whom we live, all our brothers and sisters, Moslems, Jews, Druzes and
Christians, and even with the Israeli soldiers who impose upon us siege, curfew
and humiliations…
St Jean says again: “Anyone who says, I love God, and hates his
brother is a liar; since no one who fails to love his brother whom he can see
can love God whom he has not seen » (1Jn 4, 20).
3. Bethlehem is besieged by soldiers from all sides. Similarly are all
Palestinian cities and villages. Christmas comes in difficult times. The gates
of life are closed and not only the gates of the city. And you say, brothers
and sisters, how can we celebrate Christmas and how can we live this difficult
commandment of love? How to join between these two demanding realities: on one
hand, this demanding commandment, and on the other, the reality of our daily
life?
To all those
who put this question, we say: to celebrate Christmas means to pray and to put
ourselves in presence of God and not of men. Secondly, our difficult reality
must not lead us to despair and to its consequences. We believe in God, in His
love; one day, at the moment that He wants, He will inspire those whom He
created and put in this land that is His, love and justice. Meanwhile, we have
to be patient and to resist, the resistance of the spirit facing all
discouragement, the resistance of the spirit facing the temptation not to
believe in man's goodness, and the resistance of the spirit to all bloodshed,
while we persevere in asking our freedom and our dignity.
Brothers and sisters,
put yourselves in the presence of God the Most-High and before the deep mystery
of His love. In Him, in spite of all oppressions of men, you will find strength
and peace. Our daily life is a witnessing to God, to His power and to His
providence. The task of the Christian is to exercise patience, not to weaken
and to escape. We pray, we exercise patience, and we do everything that must be
done to put an end to the occupation and to the sufferings that ensue from it.
In this way, we face all difficulty and even the fast or slow death that is
imposed upon us.
4. As for the
siege of Bethlehem, and the siege imposed upon the Palestinian human person
everywhere, - who, like all human person and like all people in the world, is
precious in God's eyes -, we say that this siege must not remain, for no
pretext at all. Moreover, as measure of security, the experience
has showed that it didn't carry the wanted security.
5. Therefore, we address our message
to the Israeli people and the Israeli authorities, to them we say: to you all,
peace and security. For you also there was bloodshed in your cities and your
streets, and among innocents. However, we tell you that the ways of peace are
not those that you follow. You have power, make it a power of peace and then
you will harvest peace and security. Believe in the peace in this phase of
history after one hundred years of conflict. The Palestinian people wants you
security and peace, as they wants peace for themselves. You say: they go to
violence and terrorism and they want us peace? Yes, it is so. They want peace
for you, and for themselves, and, with the peace; they want their freedom and
the end of the occupation.
We say no to all violence and terrorism, but we also say no to the
oppression that makes it be born. You say: violence and terrorism. It is so.
But we invite you to ask yourself what is the cause of it? You will
perhaps find that the reason is between your hands, and it is the occupation
and the deprivation of a people of his freedom and dignity. We invite you to
open your mind and your heart to see the reasons that give birth to the terror
of which you are afraid. The keys are in your hands. Take away the cause, the
effect will disappear. Cut the tree and its fruit at a time. The tree is the
occupation and the numerous oppressions that accompany it. In your hand, not in
the power of your army, is the capacity to stop all what you say to be violence
and terror. Your military action demolished so many things and crushed the
Palestinian human person; it made at a time war and produced terror; but it
didn't manage to make peace and didn't procure you the wanted security. Your
armies won wars and until today didn't win peace. You need to have a new
leadership that has new visions able to make peace, that cannot only promise
you but can procure you security, while granting to Palestinians their right,
their liberty and their security.
6. We
remember in this holy night the tragedy of this venerable church, few months
ago; and we express our esteem and our love to the Franciscan Fathers and
religious, as well as to the Greek Orthodox and to the Armenian orthodox monks,
during this hard period. We greet their courage, their faith and their love for
all.
We carry in our prayer the
feelings of all the poor of this conflict, the strong and the weak, and all its
victims: the demolished houses, the injured, the dead, the thousands of
Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prisons, those who receive the order to
kill and those who give them. We put them all before God, we ask Him to purify
them and to make them all, yes all, on whatever side they are, capable of love,
justice and peace.
To all our faithful in all parts of our
diocese, Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Cyprus, we ask God to make this feast an
opportunity to renew their faith and their love, as we ask Him to grant them a
new year with abundant blessings.
From Bethlehem to all
Christians of the world, we convey in this holy night, our wishes of peace and
joy. And for all the inhabitants of this land, we ask God Almighty to give us
justice, peace and love. Amen.
+Michel
Sabbah, Patriarch,
Bethlehem–Christmas 2002