Jerusalem: A Message for Our Time of Fasting

Jerusalem - Image: VFJ

A Jerusalem Voice for Justice - an ecumenical witness for equality and a just peace in Palestine/Israel - have issued the following message for the beginning of Ramadan and Lent.

In these days, Christians begin their Lenten fast, which leads us to Holy Week and the glorious celebration of Easter. Our Muslim brothers and sisters also initiate their fast of the month of Ramadan. This means that we are all, Christians and Muslims, fasting together, each in our own way and according to our own beliefs. For us all, this period of fasting is a time of repentance and a return to the divine embrace. It is a spiritual journey that we experience in all its splendour and spirituality.

We seize the opportunity of this simultaneous fasting to emphasise together the spiritual, human, and moral values that unite us as believers in our God, Creator of heaven and earth. God is love, and God calls us to love our neighbor. We must live this love among ourselves, for the love that binds and unites us is our strength in defending our presence, our history, our holy sites, and the just cause of our people. We enter this Lenten/Ramadan season while our people endure a terrible ordeal, unceasing pain and sorrow, especially in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, which is surrounded by a separation wall and military checkpoints on all sides.

During this season, we raise our prayers pleading that God will remove these injustices suffered by our Palestinian people. Although faced with the cruelty we witness, we do recognise that there is a merciful, compassionate, and caring God to whom we turn in our pain, sorrow, and suffering. Let us pray together, Christians and Muslims, for all humanity and for the entire world, where we observe, in many places, a turning away from the noble spiritual and human values and principles we share.

During this season, let us call to mind every person who is suffering, tormented, and hungry. We remember those most in need, expressing our love for our fellow human beings, especially those who require an urgent helping hand. Christians and Muslims are fasting, and our fast is a message of love and fraternity, a reaffirmation of the values of faith, truth, justice, and true love that bind us together in this land, a land in which we live together, a land which also dwells in our hearts and souls.

We send our best wishes to all Christians and Muslims on the occasion of this season of fasting, accompanied by our prayers and supplications that the Lord God may have mercy on us, be compassionate towards us, and protect our land, our holy city, our holy sites, and, most of all, our Palestinian people. The Jerusalem we speak of, and the Palestine we defend, are not merely holy sites and inanimate stones; they are people. What is the value of stones without people? What is the value of holy sites without people? We want our holy sites to be vibrantly alive. We demand that our Palestinian people be able to access their holy places, especially during these sacred and holy times.

May our fast be accepted, accompanied by acts of love, mercy, solidarity, prayer, and supplication for the vulnerable, the oppressed, and the suffering, and for the prevention of war and its consequences, especially in this blessed part of the world.

Signatories:

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah (emeritus)

Greek Orthodox Archbishop Attallah Hanna

Lutheran Bishop of Jordan and the Holy Land Munib Younan (emeritus)

Mr. Yusef Daher Ms. Sawsan Bitar Mr. Samuel Munayer

Ms. Dina Nasser Mr. John Munayer Ms. Sandra Khoury

Rev. David Neuhaus SJ Rev. Frans Bouwen MAfr Rev. Firas Abdrabbo

Mr. Sami El-Yusef Rev. Alessandro Barchi Mr. Rafi Ghattas

and other members