The Deacon's Bench
Details, via Crux:
Thousands of Syrian Christian children, led by their bishops and patriarchs, are coming together to pray for peace, and Pope Francis is asking other children from around the world to join them.
“Next Wednesday, June 1, marking the International Day for Protection of Children, the Christian community of Syria, be it Catholic and Orthodox, will live together a special prayer for peace, which will have the children as the protagonists,” Pope Francis on Sunday.
“Syrian children invite the children of the world to join their prayer for peace,” he added during the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square, surrounded by thousands of deacons who were in Rome to celebrate a jubilee event as part of the Holy Year of Mercy.
On Wednesday, thousands of children will take to the streets of the cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Tartus and Marmita, to attempt to overcome the fear and uncertainty which are products of years of bloody civil war in Syria.
According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since the beginning of the conflict in Syria five years ago, an estimated 14,000 children have been killed.
Each day, seven lives are cut short as a direct fallout of the fighting. These numbers don’t take into account those who died of starvation, for lack of access to medicine or trying to reach Europe.
I preached about the plight of Syrian children on Trinity Sunday—and the particular witness they are offering to our troubled world:
The love of God has been poured into their hearts. And they are showing how that love is lived.
And we have a share in it. The same Trinity that was there for the people of Homs is with us here and now—in word, in spirit, in sacrament.
Reflecting on all this, I think those images from Syria should make all of us pause. We take so much for granted. People grumble about getting in and out of the parking lot between Masses. They complain about having to go to church every week. They whine about having to sit through boring homilies from the deacon.
This weekend, though, step back. Take a moment to remember those men, women and children in Syria. Especially those children. Remember what they go through to do what we’re doing right now.
And remember what draws them to a half-ruined church on a rubble-strewn street week after week after week. It is more than faith.
It is an extravagant, boundless love, the love of the Most Holy Trinity—and the love of the people and their steadfast trust in God.
The people of Homs are saying to the world: in spite of everything, we have hope. We believe God is with us. We believe he stands with us, even in the rubble of our lives.
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