Posted on 07/19/2015 4:10:00 PM PDT by markomalley
“The parish is not yet directly under threat, but some of our neighbours risk their lives every day. Most of the jihadists who attack us do not even speak Arabic. They all come from faraway countries and have little to do with the Syrian revolution.” 43-year-old Fr. Ibrahim Alsabagh, has been serving as a parish priest in Aleppo since October. He was born in Damascus, completed his studies in Rome and then returned to Syria “to be with his people”. Internet and telephone lines are working one minute and are down then next in the city that has suffered the most devastation in the ongoing conflict. Water and electricity are a luxury. And yet this determined Franciscan friar continues to live there, helping anyone and everyone, Christians and Muslims alike, caught in a mire that spares no one.
Fr. Ibrahim, how can you live in a place like Aleppo, a city worn out by the violence of this absurd war?
“The number one thing that keeps me going is God’s will, as I have perceived it in my life. Once I made a pact with the Lord, when I received a clear calling to follow Him. I said to Him: “Lord, life with you is quite difficult, but without you it is impossible. I cannot live apart from you.” Then, when I realised that my vocation was to heal others, families, as a priest I asked for me to stay where I am, with my family, so I could dedicate myself entirely to others. I was 19 when it happened to me, but it is something I always hold close to my heart. Looking after His family, His people: this is His will and I am perfectly prepared to do this, to go to any part of the world where I am certain it is He who is sending me, through His representatives, the superiors who ask me whether I am willing to go. So, when I was asked to go to Aleppo, I did not feel fear, even though I knew I would have a heavy cross to carry being here.”
Are you afraid now?
“Every day. But my fears are overcome by the grace of the Lord, who acts and so often leads us to do things we never imagined we could do. Even now I am here, I feel like a father, a gentleness inside and I say to myself: “I am not usually this kind, this loving! I don’t have the strength to love this much!” This realisation makes me aware of the grace that is behind it and comes from Him. When we give ourselves up to Him, we are no longer ourselves, it is He who dwells in us, as St. Paul says.”
In an abandoned place like Aleppo, how do you manage to live in communion with the universal Church?
“After my last visit to Italy, I saw that we are present in your prayers and in the prayers of priests and many consecrated people who hold prayer vigils for us. We have a communication problem: we often have electricity cuts and feel isolated because it seems we are cut off from the rest of the world, but I try to listen to what the Pope has to say everyday, to live in communion with the Church of Rome.”
What do you ask from us, Christians of the West?
“First of all, to continue praying for the Middle East and for the Christians of Syria and Aleppo in particular, because praying is a sign of faith in the intelligence of the Lord and also tangible proof of the profound communion that exists between us. We are in need of everything here, sometimes we cannot even say what it is we are in need of. When humanitarian aid comes we are able to do a great deal to support the people who live here. Do not forget about that generosity St. Paul spoke of. He was constantly organising special collections for Christians in Jerusalem who were in great difficulty. He urged people to release the charity in their hearts by offering concrete help to other Churches in difficulty. We shall continue to await Providence and we are certain that He will never cease to amaze us.”
To support the work of Fr. Ibrahim and the Franciscans of the Custody of the Holy Land, please visit the website www.proterrasancta.org
bookmarked
God bless him and others like him who are fighting on the front lines of the spiritual battle with Satan. I fear we will all be on those front lines before long.
Come soon, Lord Jesus.
“Most of the jihadists who attack us do not even speak Arabic.” (meaning they are not Syrian)
VERY INTERESTING, but not all that surprising.
Yes, I thought that was a key point.
What heroes they are, the Christians in Syria, and also in Iraq. To hear of their sufferings is beyond understanding. And yet they are steadfast, and also charitable, always helping others.
It is starting to happen in the west.
Lord Jesus, protect Your flock.
Now concerning virgins I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful. I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be. Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife. But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you. But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
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