Pope Francis expresses closeness
to ‘martyred land of Syria’
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| File photo of heavily-damagedArmenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs in Raqqa, Syria.- AFP |
Pope Francis sends a letter to the Franciscans stationed in
Syria, saying the Church sees Jesus’ suffering in the trials and poverty of the
Syrian people.
By Devin Watkins
In a letter sent to Franciscan friars in Syria, Pope Francis
expressed his closeness to the “martyred land of Syria.”
“I wish to share in your sufferings and tell you that I am
close to you and to the Christian communities which are so tried by the pain experienced
in their faith in Christ Jesus.”
The Pope’s letter was addressed to Fathers Hanna Jallouf and
Louai Bsharat, OFM.
Pope Francis reflected on the great suffering, poverty, and
pain that Jesus experiences in the Syrian people. “It is Jesus! This is a
mystery. It is our Christian mystery. In you and in the inhabitants of our
beloved Syria, we see Jesus suffering.”
Martyrdom
Pope Francis compared their sufferings to martyrdom.
“Nothing more than martyrdom can mark the Christian’s way of participating in
humanity’s salvation history.”
He said martyrs advance the Kingdom of God and “sow
Christians for the future.”
Calling them “the true glory of the Church and our hope”,
the Holy Father said the witness of martyrs is “a warning not to get lost even
in the midst of the storm.”
“Not a few times the sea of life has a storm awaiting us,
but out of the existential waves we receive an unexpected sign of salvation:
Mary, the Mother of the Lord, looking in astonishment and silence at the
innocent, crucified Son who fills life and salvation with meaning.”
Pain into hope
Pope Francis assured the Franciscan friars stationed in
Syria that he remembers them constantly during Mass and prays that their
“unspeakable pain” may be transformed into divine hope.
He then quoted Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “What will
separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: ‘For
your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be
slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly
through him who loved us.”
Finally, Pope Francis prayed that the Virgin Mary guard the
Franciscans in Syria “under her Cloak of Grace” and that she intercede for them
to receive “the gift of perseverance.”
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