Aleppo parish priest: Christmas shines through the darkness of war and poverty
Fr Bahjat Karakach, pastor at St Francis of Assisi church, compares houses, “chilly, dark places”, to the manger where Jesus was born, where children suffer and parents are helpless. The "light of faith" can breathe new life into a dying nation. Christian NGO holds tombola for children and the poor.
Aleppo (AsiaNews) – In Aleppo, the houses where Christmas was celebrated are like “chilly, dark places reminiscent of the manger where Christ was born” where “children suffer while their parents feel completely helpless,” said Fr Bahjat Karakach, parish priest at St Francis of Assisi church.
His thoughts are in a letter, sent to AsiaNews for information, in which he looks at a country that seems to be “taking its last breaths [. . .] with no signs of improvement.”
His words confirm a reality marked by conflict and international sanctions that have turned into a “poverty bomb” that drives children to rummage through rubbish to survive.
Today about 90 per cent of Syria’s population is poor, living on less two dollars or less a day, according to official data, but the situation on the ground could be far worse.
More than 6.5 million children in the Arab country need urgent humanitarian assistance, the highest figure since the start of the war in March 2011. An entire generation is struggling every day to survive. In addition, another 12.4 million experience food insecurity every day, according to the United Nations.
“After having suffered a mad war for ten years, a war that sowed fear and destruction, we still find ourselves facing much worse conditions today,” writes Fr Bahjat Karakach. This includes “cold, poverty, lack of electricity and oil for heat, scarcity of gas for cooking, deterioration of the local currency, and a strict economic embargo”.
This affects “the poorest section of the population,” that is “the people who couldn't escape war, the people who didn't ride the ocean waves in hopes of starting a new life or rather face their demise. They escaped death to face a slower one.”
Still, for the clergyman, there is more than the problems; in the darkness of the manger, the baby Jesus is a sign of hope.
The good news is that “we shall not lose hope as the Gospel promised us through Saint John: ‘The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it’ (Jn 1:5). There is still a light stronger than the darkness of evil: it is the light of faith which gives the strength to thousands of people to keep holding on and to live by the Gospel every single day.”
The feast of Christmas teaches us that God “became flesh, a man we can hear, see and touch”. He is “the reason why many bear the torch to light up the darkness”.
A sign of hope are the donations from those who do not surrender to despair, who intercede for their neighbours, a “suffering people”, and serve. These acts make those who perform them like the Three Wise Men who “brought gifts to the infant Jesus”.
Like the Magi, “you have shown a wonderful compassion for our children. Like them, you show us your proximity, your friendship, and your concern for our pain. Make every effort to ensure our survival and the ability to maintain hope, even if you don't have the ability to travel great distances like the Magi did.”
In ending his letter, Fr Bahjat Karakach writes: “From Aleppo, which lies in darkness, and from the heart of its families that shiver from excruciating cold. We wish the whole world to be filled with the light and warmth of the Saviour.”
One of the initiatives launched this Christmas by Christian organisations and associations is the tombola by SOS Chrétiens d'Orient, on 14 December, and which will end with the final draw on 22 January.
Hundreds of tickets have been sold so far, the proceeds of which will be used to give a gift to children and the poor, especially the elderly, but above all strengthen the bond with a community too long relegated to the margins and forgotten amid its suffering.
.png)
