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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

THE OF THE

GOSPEL FAMILY

Joy for the World Give Hope, Give Joy in a World at War.

GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

CONTENTS PAGE The World in Need..................................................... J F Declan Quinn...............................1 Hope does not put us to shame........................... Fr. Martin Barta..................................2 On the Suffering in Syria, Iraq and in the World......................................................... Pope Francis......................................4 For the Strength to Persevere.............................................................................................6 Faith is Hope............................................................... Pope Benedict...................................8 Rebuilding their Church – the first priority.......................................................................9 How long, O Lord?.............................................................................................................. 10 Authentic Hope.......................................................... Pope Benedict................................ 12 Aleppo in Pictures: Then and now................................................................................. 14 Drowning in Tears................................................................................................................ 18 The Faces of Innocents..................................................................................................... 19 Hearing the hidden Cry of the Innocents........... Pope Francis................................... 20 Practical charity for the Christians of the Middle East........................................................................................... 22 The Holy Gift of Peace............................................. Pope Francis................................... 24 Hope in a Time of Darkness and Despair.......... Randall Smith.................................. 28 The Joy of the Gospel.............................................. Pope Francis................................... 31 The World is Ablaze.................................................. Johannes Freiherr Heereman........ 32

Editor: Jürgen Liminski. Publisher: Kirche in Not / Ostpriesterhilfe, Postfach 1209, 61452 Königstein, Germany.

De licentia competentis auctoritatis ecclesiasticae. Printed in Ireland - ISSN 0252-2535. www.acn-intl.org

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THE WORLD IN NEED A chairde, n preparing for the World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August 2018, Pope Francis has invited families here In Ireland and across the world to reflect on the event theme, The Gospel of the Family: Joy for the World.

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Throughout the world, throughout this Christmas and throughout the year, the joy of families and the joy of family life are under relentless attack from either the hyper-extremism of religious fundamentalists such as what is happening in the greater Middle East or from sneering secularists whose sanctimonious disregard for time-tested truths is threatening to become the unmaking of humanity.

‘The future of humanity passes by way of the family’* wrote St. Pope John Paul II and today Christian families in particular are suffering from hard persecution in far too many countries (see Executive Summary of ACN World Freedom Report 2016) and soft persecution in many more other countries including, sad to say, our own.

It is against this backdrop that we should pray for all families, whether they be broken or otherwise, who this Christmas will suffer from neglect and / or acute deprivation on foot of war, corruption, crime, disease or

poverty. In doing so, let us also pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us and support us as we undertake one or two small random acts of practical charity in favour of poor souls who are suffering great need.

In doing so don’t ever under-estimate the power of prayer and of such random acts of kindness because every good deed that we offer up in service to the Lord is magnified and blessed by Him before returning to us and to the world, one hundredfold.

Because of this during this Advent and coming Christmas season let us pray a little more and do a little more for those who are in need of a lot more of our Christian charity.

Be in no doubt that the world is in great need of our prayers and our practical Charity.

Certainly for my part and with God’s help I will try and pray a little more and do a little more. As the slogan of one supermarket chain goes ‘Every little helps’.

Beir Beannacht

J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire) *John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, para.86

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HOPE DOES NOT PUT US TO SHAME Dear Friends,

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erhaps no other religious feast offers such riches – cultural, artistic, and domestic – in short, such genuinely human riches, as Christmas does.

The sheer impact this event has had and continues to have in history is evident, not least in the fact that our dating of time starts with the birth of Christ.

With Jesus a new era was born. All the books in the world are not enough to describe the new and wonderful reality that was brought to us by the Child of Bethlehem. Hence, in offering our Christmas wishes, we naturally wish to find the most profound and beautiful words to do so.

War is effectively raging on our doorsteps? How are we to feel a sense of joy at all the beautiful things that are connected with Christmas, when millions of people are experiencing the exact opposite?

And yet it is precisely those Christians facing oppression and persecution who by their lives teach us the most profound mystery of Christmas. Against all human hope, and after living as refugees for years, they still cling on doggedly to the hope of returning to their own land. They are not going to be crushed – because, like the shepherds of Bethlehem, they believe in the angel’s message – they believe in the Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

Love never tires of doing good.

But how difficult it is to sincerely wish you a joyful Christmas when the globe is caught up in the turmoil of a world war. Many leaders have said this and Pope Francis re-emphasised it on the way to the World Youth Day: ‘The world is at war. There was the war of ‘14, then that of ‘39–‘45, and now there is this one. Let us not be afraid to say this truth: the world is at war, because it has lost peace!’

Those are powerful words, but words of truth. How are we to celebrate Christmas, the feast of peace, when a Third World 2

In these Christians of the Middle East we see confirmation of the words of St. Paul that ‘suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s

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love has been poured into our hearts’ (Rom 5:3-5).

For this humble and tender love whose banner, so to speak, bears the emblems of the manger, the child and the cross, has the power to withstand all military, political and economic might. Love never tires of doing good, even though our contribution may seem insignificant in comparison with the billions spent on armaments or squandered in material devastation. ear Friends, it is not only the people of Iraq, Syria or in other theatres of war, but all of us who are caught up in a gigantic spiritual battle. And so, in asking you for help, we are not simply trying to prompt fleeting feelings of generosity, inspired by the Christmas spirit. We are asking for your faith, which focused on the Manger of Bethlehem already looks towards the dawning of the new era.

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Only then can we continue to give generously and without wearying, since God never tires of showering His love upon us.

I wish you and all your families a joyful and blessed Christmas.

Father Martin M. Barta, Spiritual Assistant

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ON THE SUFFERING IN SYRIA, IRAQ AND THE WORLD Pope Francis 1

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e must note with great sadness that despite extensive efforts made in a variety of areas, the logic of arms and oppression, hidden interests and violence continues to wreak devastation on these countries and that, even now, we have not been able to put an end to the exasperating suffering and repeated violations of human rights. The dramatic consequences of the crisis are already visible well beyond the borders of the region. This is seen in the grave phenomenon of migration.

Violence begets violence, and we have the impression of being caught up in a spiral of arrogance and inertia from which there is no escape. This evil which grips our will and conscience should challenge us.

Why, even at the cost of untold damage to persons, property and the environment,

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does man continue to pursue abuses of power, revenge and violence? This is the experience of the mysterium iniquitatis, that evil which is present in man and in history and which needs to be redeemed. Destruction for destruction’s sake.

And so, I am reminded of the words of Saint John Paul II: ‘The limit imposed upon evil, of which man is both perpetrator and victim, is ultimately the Divine Mercy’ (Memory and Identity). It is the only limit. Yes, the answer to the drama of evil lies in the mystery of Christ.

Seeing the many suffering faces in Syria, in Iraq and in the neighbouring and distant countries where millions of refugees are 1 Adapted and edited from ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO MEMBERS OF CATHOLIC ORGANIZATIONS SERVING IN IRAQ, SYRIA AND NEIGHBOURING TERRITORIES Clementine Hall, Thursday, 29 September 2016

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forced to seek shelter and protection, the Church beholds the face of her Lord in his Passion.

The work of so many workers in the field, who are committed to helping refugees and to safeguarding their dignity, is certainly a reflection of God’s mercy and, as such, a sign that evil has limits and does not have the last word.

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his is a sign of great hope, for which I wish to thank you, and also the many unnamed people – though not nameless to God – who are praying and interceding in silence for the victims of conflicts, particularly for children and the weak, and who in this way are also supporting your work. In Aleppo, children have to drink polluted water!

Beyond the necessary humanitarian aid, what our brothers and sisters in Syria and Iraq want more than anything else today is peace. And so I will never tire of asking the international community for greater and renewed efforts to achieve peace throughout the Middle East, and of asking not to look the other way.

political responsibility, that they may be able to renounce their own interests in order to achieve the greater good: peace.

Finally, my thoughts turn to the Christian communities of the Middle East who suffer the consequences of violence and look to the future with fear. In the midst of so much darkness, these Churches hold high the lamp of faith, hope and charity.

As they courageously and without discrimination assist all who suffer and work for a peaceful coexistence, Christians in the Middle East today are a clear sign of God’s mercy. They have the admiration, recognition and support of the universal Church.

I entrust these communities and those who work at the service of victims of this crisis to the intercession of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, exemplar of charity and mercy.

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Putting an end to the conflict is also in the hands of men and women: each of us can and must become a peacemaker, because every situation of violence and injustice is a wound to the body of the whole human family.

This request is my daily prayer to God, to inspire the minds and hearts of all who have GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

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FOR THE STRENGTH TO PERSEVERE

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t was Syria’s Christians who translated Aristotle and Plato into Arabic. It was Syria’s Christians who taught philosophy and the natural sciences in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. It was Syria’s Christians who served as the models for Arabic philosophers and so opened up a narrow window of hope – hope that Islam would become more open to reason and peace.

That was over a thousand years ago. In the meantime Christians in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon have suffered greatly. Their witness is stamped upon the history of the region, and as long as they continue to live in the cradle of Christianity their witness will retain its power.

The meaning of this witness is engraved on their very souls. Their homeland is more

Safe in her own home: With her sewing machine Amineh can support her family..

than their place of origin: it is the homeland of the spirit of love and hope.

In paying the rent for Christians expelled from their homes – and now refugees within their own country – we are also giving hope a home. In sending food parcels to tens of thousands of families in Syria and Iraq – parcels that are truly survival packs –

At last a place to call home again: Christians from Mosul.

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we are not just saving individual Christians, but a way of life that holds the promise of peace for the region.

In helping to preserve the Christian presence there, we are providing security for today and confidence for tomorrow. A Middle East without Christians would be a region deprived of its soul, a region cut off from its past.

All these things remain unspoken, but they are in the air in Latakia as Father Issa Abdo and his helpers hand out aid parcels to displaced families – a few kilograms of flour, a couple of pounds of rice, sugar, noodles, cooking oil and milk powder; then another little parcel with soap, toothpaste and shampoo. All treasured items for these families, who could otherwise never afford them.

Each parcel should last for two weeks.

get back on their feet. And no one else is helping to pay for the security of four walls and a roof over their heads.

There are 1,800 of these families in Iraq, and 27,000 in Syria. Their spirit, their way of life, their history lives on in these homes.

Though they may not know it, they carry the ‘household of faith’ (Gal. 6:10) in their hearts. This is the real house for which we are paying the rent.

• Rita fled here from Aleppo with her handicapped son.

Thank you for paying the rent!

When it comes to their rent, we aim to cover six months, for that is the minimum time it will takes them to find work and somehow

THE STATISTICS OF SUFFERING After six years of civil war, three in every four Syrians now live in extreme poverty.

13.5 million – that is how many people depend on help for their survival.

Almost 9 million of them barely have enough to eat.

11 million were driven from their homes or forced to flee.

6.5 million internal refugees in Syria itself.

Estimates by international agencies of the number of those killed range from 250,000 to 470,000. And another 1.9 million have been wounded or traumatised.

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FAITH IS HOPE

Pope Benedict2

‘Hope’, is a key word in Biblical faith, so much so that in several passages the words ‘faith’ and ‘hope’ seem interchangeable.

Thus the Letter to the Hebrews closely links the ‘fullness of faith’ (10:22) to ‘the confession of our hope without wavering’ (10:23). ikewise, when the First Letter of Peter exhorts Christians to be always ready to give an answer concerning the logos, the meaning and the reason, of their hope (cf. 3:15), ‘hope’ is equivalent to ‘faith’.

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We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life with life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions. Paul reminds the Ephesians that before their encounter with Christ they were ‘without hope and without God in the world’ (Eph 2:12).

Of course he knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths.

Notwithstanding their gods, they were ‘without God’ and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. In nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus (How quickly we fall back from nothing to 2 Extracted from Pope Benedict, encyclical Letter ‘Spe Salvi’, Paragraph 2.

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nothing): so says an epitaph of that period.

In this phrase we see in no uncertain terms the point Paul was making.

SPE SALVI SAVEd

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In the same vein he says to the Thessalonians: you Available to read on must not ‘grieve www.acnireland.org as others do who have no hope’ (1 Th 4:13). Here too we see as a distinguishing mark of Christians the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness.

Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. So now we can say: Christianity was not only ‘good news’, the communication of a hitherto unknown content. In our language we would say: the Christian message was not only ‘informative’ but ‘performative’. That means: the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known, it is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.

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REBUILDING THEIR CHURCH – THE FIRST PRIORITY ‘We must not put obstacles in the path of the Merciful Father’, says Pope Francis.

And he adds: ‘Instead we must pray for the gift of a strong faith, so that we can be signs and instruments of mercy.’ he ‘strong faith’ of these Christians from Qusair, near Homs is not in doubt. They are returning to their small, devastated town – and the first thing they want to do is rebuild the church of the Prophet Elijah. It was partially destroyed during the bitter fighting that led to the expulsion of the population.

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Now the IS fighters have been expelled in their turn. The Christians want to return home: to a normal life; to the sound of the church bells; to children going to school; to shopping for their groceries. As little Zeina Kasoha says, ‘Now we‘re back home.

I love our town, and I want to go back to school again here.’ And she asks us not to forget her, or the other children, so that they can continue their education and one day be there for others too.

Her faith has sustained her, as it has others.

Now they want to bring life back to the ghost town of Qusair, starting with their church bells. The sound of the bells has great symbolic importance in the Middle East, It says: We are people of goodwill; this is a place of peace. Christians are a vital part of the religious mixture in the towns and

villages of this region, a binding element… ‘We belong here’, says Father Louis, and he too has big plans.

By rebuilding the church with an adjoining suite of rooms, it could become a catechetical centre. At the same time the sisters will once again have a home, and a parish and community centre will be built.

In their desire for education and their zeal to spread the Gospel message by their peaceful presence, young Zeina, Father Louis and the other returning Christians in Qusair are like so many other Christians in Syria and Iraq. They long to be signs and instruments of mercy. Their hands may be empty, but there is the light of faith in their eyes – and the hope that we will stand by them in rebuilding their society.

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Despite the devastation, there are big plans – to restore this church in Qusair as a centre of peace.

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HOW LONG, O LORD? couple of pairs of scissors, combs, hairclips, a hairdryer – and Gracia can get back to working as a hairdresser and be able to feed her family. An old sewing machine, a bit of material, some shears, thread and binding – and Claudine can get back to her dressmaking and so stop her family from going hungry. It‘s just the little things that are needed. The Good Shepherd Sisters are helping to provide the tools they need. But they too need support and encouragement, for sometimes their strength can also falter.

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How long? asks Sister Lolita of the congregation of Our Lady of the Good Shepherd in Damascus. ‘How long will these henchmen of the devil still be allowed to rampage? Can there ever be peace again in this country, for this savagely beaten and openly bleeding

body that was once the Syrian people?’

People are asking themselves, ‘What have I done? Why has my home been destroyed, my future ruined, my children slaughtered, mutilated or enslaved? How much longer must we endure this suffering?’

Sister Lolita can recall all too many such stories of suffering. Every day she visits families who barely escaped death and who – despite all their hardships – are infinitely grateful to her. Ahmed used to live in Raqqa with his wife and two little girls, Hiba and Selena. He ran a small tailoring business and, thanks to his skilful hands, they managed to make a modestly comfortable living for themselves. Then the barbarians of IS arrived. ‘Indiscriminately shooting, they murdered old and young alike, burned down houses, drove the people from their

Listening and helping to find solutions. Two young mothers tell her their problems.

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had hoped to build their future and not lose it, in which families hoped to see their dreams fulfilled and not disintegrate into daily nightmares, six years when children should have been born and not killed, when young women and men should have married and not been plunged into disaster. How long must we still endure this?’, Sister Lolita asks.

Like the Good Shepherd, Sister Lolita comforts, encourages and consoles.

homes. I grabbed hold of my wife and two daughters and ran for it, hearing shots behind me. Then they hit me in the left leg, and I also felt bullets in my back. I let go of Selena, told her to run to mummy and dragged myself after them.’

They managed to reach their relatives in a nearby village, and continued their journey the next night, finally ending up in Damascus. Ahmed stares ahead, eyes unfocused, forcing back the tears, and says, ‘I am so grateful to God that we have found a place to stay here for my wife and our two little angels.’ His wife strokes his hand, paralysed since that night, and tells Sr. Lolita, ‘You are the shining light of our lives; with you we will overcome everything.’

he has no answer. No one does.

She only knows that she and her fellow religious will keep on helping with the little things and with great love, like the Good Shepherd, so that the littlest and the helpless do not lose all hope. ‘For every soul counts in God‘s eyes, every life matters, every child is a prayer, an appeal from God to us.’ We are helping these sisters, so that they can help others.

It is our responsibility too to make sure that no one gives up hope.

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Traumatised in Damascus: Sister Lydia supports the mothers.

This war has been going on for six years now, writes Sister Lolita, and there is no end in sight. ‘Six years in which young people

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AUTHENTIC HOPE

Pope Benedict3

n what does Christian hope consist?

The essence of the answer is given in the phrase from the Letter to the Ephesians: the Ephesians, before their encounter with Christ, were without hope because they were ‘without God in the world’. To come to know God, the true God, means to receive hope.

At the age of nine, she was kidnapped by slave-traders, beaten till she bled, and sold five times in the slave-markets of Sudan.

Eventually she found herself working as a slave for the mother and the wife of a general, and there she was flogged every day till she bled; as a result of this she bore 144 scars throughout her life.

We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and have grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God. The example of a saint of our time can to some degree help us understand what it means to have a real encounter with this God for the first time.

Finally, in 1882, she was bought by an Italian merchant for the Italian consul Callisto Legnani, who returned to Italy as the Mahdists advanced. Here, after the terrifying ‘masters’ who had owned her up to that point, Bakhita came to know a totally different kind of ‘master’, in Venetian dialect, which she was now learning, she used the name ‘paron’ for the living God, the God of Jesus Christ.

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I am thinking of the African Josephine Bakhita, canonised by Pope John Paul II. She was born around 1869, she herself did not know the precise date, in Darfur in Sudan.

Up to that time she had known only masters who despised and maltreated her, or at best considered her a useful slave. Now, however, she heard that there is a ‘paron’ above all masters, the Lord of all lords, and that this Lord is good, goodness in person.

She came to know that this Lord even knew her, that he had created her, that he actually loved her. She too was loved, and by none other than the supreme ‘Paron’, before whom all other masters are themselves no more than lowly servants.

Sister Josephine Bakhita.

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3 Extracted and adapted from Pope Benedict, encyclical Letter ‘Spe Salvi’, Paragraph 3.

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She was known and loved and she was awaited. What is more, this master had himself accepted the destiny of being flogged and now he was waiting for her ‘at the Father’s right hand’. Now she had ‘hope ,no longer simply the modest hope of finding masters who would be less cruel, but the great hope: ‘I am definitively loved and whatever happens to me, I am awaited by this Love. And so my life is good.’

Through the knowledge of this hope she was ‘redeemed’, no longer a slave, but a free child of God. She understood what Paul meant when he reminded the Ephesians that previously they were without hope and without God in the world, without hope because without God. Hence, when she was about to be taken back to Sudan, Bakhita refused; she did not wish to be separated again from her ‘Paron’.

On 9 January 1890, she was baptized and confirmed and received her first Holy Communion from the hands of the Patriarch of Venice.

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n 8 December 1896, in Verona, she took her vows in the Congregation of the Canossian Sisters and from that time onwards, besides her work in the sacristy and in the porter’s lodge at the convent, she made several journeys round Italy in order to promote the missions: the liberation that she had received through her encounter with the God of Jesus Christ, she felt she had to extend, it had to be handed on to others, to the greatest possible number of people. The hope born in her which had ‘redeemed’ her she could not keep to herself; this hope had to reach • many, to reach everybody.

CAMPS WITHOUT CHRISTIANS Amost 4.5 million people are living in the refugee camps in Turkey (2.5 million), in Lebanon (1.1 million) and in Jordan (800,000).

Most of the camps are run by the UN. But you will find almost no Christians among these refugees. Instead they seek refuge with relatives, or in Church-run centres.

They feel safer there than in the camps. Most want only to return home. They are being helped and supported by religious sisters and brothers. In southwest Turkey we are helping nearly 100 Christian refugees from Iraq and Syria. In eastern Turkey there are almost 1000 families. To give more details might put their safety at risk.

The religious who are caring for them in Jordan and Turkey sometimes also reach the limits of their physical and spiritual strength. But without their help – and yours – most of the Christian refugees here would have nothing.

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ALEPPO IN PICTURES: THEN AND NOW4

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leppo is an ancient metropolis, and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world; it may have been inhabited since the 6th millennium BC. Such a long history is attributed to its strategic location as a trading centre midway between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia (modern Iraq). It is the largest city in Syria (2016: 1.8 million est.)

Since the Battle of Aleppo started on 19 July 2012, the city has suffered massive destruction, and has been the worst-hit city in the Syrian civil war. Thousands of people have been killed and an estimated 500,000 people have been forced to evacuate. This battle has caused catastrophic destruction to the Old City of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site and has left a harrowing trail of human misery.

4 From Boys will be boys – even in a warzone! By PATRICK LION FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 19:23, 1 September 2016.

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‘Fear fills their hearts – some people die, others flee and everyone lives in fear of the future.’

Sister Annie Demerjian, ACN’s project partner in Aleppo.

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Sheikh Saeed neighbourhood, Aleppo: A group of boys turned a missile crater into a swimming pool.

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PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILY Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in you we contemplate the splendour of true love; to you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that our families too may be places of communionand prayer, authentic schools of the Gospel and small domestic churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth, may families never again experience violence, rejection and division; may all who have been hurt or scandalized find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth, make us once more mindful of the sacredness and inviolability of the family, and its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Graciously hear our prayer.

AMEN Major sponsor

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DROWNING IN TEARS5 he father of Aylan Kurdi, the threeyear-old Syrian boy who died as his family tried to make it to Europe, has condemned world leaders’ failure to end the bloodshed in his home country.

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On 2 September 2015, the harrowing picture of Aylan’s body washed ashore on a beach in Turkey shocked the world. The heartbreaking image of Aylan became a symbol of the migrant crisis, but his father, Abdullah Kurdi, has accused politicians of failing to act.

As well as Aylan, Mr Kurdi lost his elder son, Galip, five, and his wife, Rehab, 35, after their boat capsized.

‘The politicians said after the deaths in my family: “Never again”,’ Mr Kurdi, 41, told German newspaper Bild. ‘Everyone claimed

they wanted to do something because of the photo that touched them so much. But what is happening now? People are still dying.’

Kurdi, now lives in a guarded community in Erbil, Iraq, broke down in tears as he said he saw no reason for living without his family.

‘Now I’m probably safer than I’ve ever been in my life,’ he said. ‘But for what?’

As many as 400,000 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, with thousands more dying in Iraq following the rise of ISIS. More than four million people are estimated to have fled the violence in Syria as refugees, with many of those heading for Europe.

But thousands have died en route, with scores of boats crammed with migrants • capsizing in the Mediterranean.

5 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3768922/Peopledying-doing-Aylan-Kurdi’s-father-condemns-failure-stopSyrian-bloodshed-year-harrowing-picture-son-laying-deadbeach-symbol-Europe-s-migrant-crisis.html#ixzz4JBO9bcep

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THE FACES OF INNOCENTS6 yrian five-year-old Rasal has made it out of her war-torn country with her family and in the autumn of 2016 was staying in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

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Her boat capsised on the Greek shoreline but she made it out alive after a painstaking journey.

‘We were on the boat for a really long time,’ she said. ‘I was hungry and thirsty and the waves were so big, they kept coming over our heads.’

Rasal

Farah

Another five-year-old girl was less fortunate. Farah, from Afghanistan, drowned last October along with her brothers after their boat capsized between Turkey and Greece.

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6 Adapted and edited from OLLIE GILLMAN FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED: 1 September 2016.

NOT A DAY WITHOUT PRAYING FOR YOU ‘ACN and their friends are the only ones to have stood by us since the spring of 2014, when the mass expulsions began. Without you many would have starved.’

Archbishop Warda of Erbil in northern Iraq is not a man to exaggerate. Today he lives among the 12,000 families who were forced to flee from Mosul and the Niniveh Plains. He knows just how immensely grateful these people are, and how greatly they would love to return, sooner rather than later, to their own home towns and villages.

They remember what a comfort and consolation it was to receive your Christmas gifts for their children – the shoes, anoraks and toys. They felt strengthened and supported by your love. ‘Not a day goes by when they don’t pray for you’, he writes. With Bishop Warda they thank you, and ask for your prayers also, that peace may come to the Niniveh Plains.

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HEARING THE HIDDEN CRY OF THE INNOCENTS Pope Francis 7

athered before Jesus crucified, we hear his words ring out also for us: ‘I thirst’ (Jn 19:28). Thirst, more than hunger, is the greatest need of humanity, and also its greatest suffering.

Let us contemplate then the mystery of Almighty God, who in His mercy became poor among men.

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What does the Lord thirst for? Certainly for water, that element essential for life.

But above all for love, that element no less essential for living. He thirsts to give us the living waters of His love, but also to receive our love.

spoiled wine. As the psalmist prophetically lamented: ‘For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink’ (Ps 69:21).

‘Love is not loved’: this reality, according to some accounts, is what upset Saint Francis of Assisi. For love of the suffering Lord, he was not ashamed to cry out and grieve loudly (cf. Fonti Francescane, no. 1413).

This same reality must be in our hearts as we contemplate Christ Crucified, he who thirsts for love. Mother Teresa of Calcutta desired that in the chapel of every community of her sisters the words ‘I thirst’ would be written

The prophet Jeremiah expressed God’s appreciation of our love: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride’ (Jer 2:2). But he also gave voice to divine suffering, when ungrateful man abandoned love – it seems as if the Lord is also speaking these words today – ‘they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns, that can hold no water’ (v. 13).

It is the tragedy of the ‘withered heart’, of love not requited, a tragedy that unfolds again in the Gospel, when in response to Jesus’ thirst man offers him vinegar, 7 VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO ASSISI FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE “THIRST FOR PEACE: FAITHS AND CULTURES IN DIALOGUE” ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER, Assisi, Tuesday, 20 September 2016

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next to the crucifix. Her response was to quench Jesus’ thirst for love on the Cross through service to the poorest of the poor.

The Lord’s thirst is indeed quenched by our compassionate love; he is consoled when, in His name, we bend down to another’s suffering. On the day of judgment they will be called ‘blessed’ who gave drink to those who were thirsty, who offered true gestures of love to those in need: ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40).

Jesus’ words challenge us, they seek a place in our heart and a response that involves our whole life. In His ‘I thirst’ we can hear the voice of the suffering, the hidden cry of the little innocent ones to whom the light of this world is denied, the sorrowful plea of the poor and those most in need of peace.

The victims of war, which sullies people with hate and the earth with arms, plead for peace; our brothers and sisters, who live under the threat of bombs and are forced to leave their homes into the unknown, stripped of everything, plead for peace. They are all brothers and sisters of the Crucified One, the little ones of His Kingdom, the wounded and parched members of His body. They thirst. But they are frequently given, like Jesus, the bitter vinegar of rejection.

Who listens to them? Who bothers responding to them? Far too often they encounter the deafening silence of indif-

ference, the selfishness of those annoyed at being pestered, the coldness of those who silence their cry for help with the same ease with which television channels are changed.

Before Christ Crucified, ‘the power and wisdom of God’ (1 Cor 1:24), we Christians are called to contemplate the mystery of Love not loved and to pour out mercy upon the world.

On the cross, the tree of life, evil was transformed into good; we too, as disciples of the Crucified One, are called to be ‘trees of life’ that absorb the contamination of indifference and restore the pure air of love to the world.

From the side of Christ on the Cross water flowed, that symbol of the Spirit who gives life (cf. Jn 19:34); so that from us, His faithful, compassion may flow forth for all who thirst today.

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ike Mary by the Cross, may the Lord grant us to be united to Him and close to those who suffer.

Drawing near to those living as crucified, and strengthened by the love of Jesus Crucified and Risen, may our harmony and communion deepen even more. ‘For He is our peace’ (Eph 2:14), He who came to preach peace to those near and far (cf. v.

17). May He keep us all in His love and gather us together in unity, that path which we are all on, so that we may be ‘one’ (Jn 17:21) as He desires.

•

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GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

PRACTICAL CHARITY FOR CHRISTIANS OF THE MIDDLE EAST Winter in the mountains of Syria and Iraq can be harsh and cold – even at the lower levels.

For those forced from their homes sheltering here in huts and containers, the price of heating oil is beyond their reach. Yet at the same time, anyone cutting down a tree for firewood faces harsh fines or even imprisonment by the Syrian regime.

There are several thousand families living in the mountain villages of Michrefeh, Rable, Ain Hlaquim and others in the diocese of Latakia, at an altitude of over 2000 feet (700 m). We are helping with winter fuel costs for 600 of these families, especially those with children and elderly members to care for. â‚Ź100 will help one family through the winter. It is a similar situation in Iraq.

Standing together for warmth: You too can help the Christian refugees survive the winter.

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Father Mikael Mourani was 86, Father Paul Khoury is 85. Both men lived a life of hardship and deprivation as priests.

Serving and suffering to the end: Father Paul after his stroke.

When they were born, Syria was still a French protectorate; the Alawite region was an autonomous region. Then the Great War came, followed by regional wars, a dictatorship, and now the civil war. Throughout those years the two men prayed unceasingly. And in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass they united their sufferings with the sufferings of Christ, until they could do so no longer.

Father Mikael ran the race, and died last summer. Father Paul has been laid low by a stroke. But their brother priests, Habib, Elie, Youssef, Ibrahim, Jean, Faez, Issa, Bassam, Tannous, Boulos, Alain, Nidal and all the others in the diocese of Latakia still remember both men in their daily Masses.

ACN is supporting them too, thanks to the Mass stipends of our generous benefac-

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tors – the only income they have. This is also true of their 18 brother priests in the neighbouring diocese of Homs.

And the 10 religious sisters there likewise depend on your support. Their work in the vineyard has become a work in the waste-

land. The war has destroyed every other source of income. €50 can support a priest or a religious sister for a month.

SYRIA

5 Years of War

13.5 Million Syrians

27% Less Population

500k Christians Left

have displaced 6.6 million need some form Syrians and forced of humanitarian 4.8 million to become assistance; almost half refugees abroad. of these are children.

In 2010 it was 24.5 million. 2016 population has dropped to 17.9 million.

They were 1.5 million in 2011, but ISIS terror forced them to flee abroad.

At first there were 200 babies. Carried in the arms of their exhausted mothers.

Many were crying – in hunger or in pain.

Empty stomachs and nappy sores. They were given milk and clean nappies – relief for babies and mothers alike. But that was just the beginning. These were among the most helpless of the war refugees, many of them barely escaping with their lives.

Here, in northern Syria, Maronite Bishop Antoine Chbeir set up a first-aid committee to identify their needs. How many families in need? How many babies? Where to find the nappies? Where to get milk from? Or feeding bottles? Who would pay for it all?

Then more and more people arrived. Soon

Clean and well fed – and mummy and the family are happy too.

there were 650 babies. Their mothers’ arms their only cradle. Now the diocese is crying for help, and not just for one day. €25 will see one baby through one winter month, clean and well fed.

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GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

THE HOLY GIFT OF PEACE

Pope Francis8

e thirst for peace. We desire to witness to peace. And above all, we need to pray for peace, because peace is God’s gift, and it lies with us to plead for it, embrace it, and build it every day with God’s help.

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We cannot remain indifferent. Today the world has a profound thirst for peace. In many countries, people are suffering due to wars which, though often forgotten, are always the cause of suffering and poverty.

‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Mt 5:9).

Many of you have travelled a great distance to reach this holy place. To set out, to come together in order to work for peace: these are not only physical movements, but most of all movements of the soul, concrete spiritual responses so as to overcome what is closed, and become open to God and to our brothers and sisters. God asks this of us, calling us to confront the great sickness of our time: indifference. It is a virus that paralyses, rendering us lethargic and insensitive, a disease that eats away at the very heart of religious fervour, giving rise to a new and deeply sad paganism: the paganism of indifference.

In Lesbos, with our beloved Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, we saw the sorrow of war in the eyes of the refugees, the anguish of peoples thirsting for peace.

I am thinking of the families, whose lives have been shattered; of the children who have known only violence in their lives; of the elderly, forced to leave their homeland.

All of them have a great thirst for peace.

We do not want these tragedies to be forgotten. Rather together we want to give voice to all those who suffer, to all those who have no voice and are not heard. They know well, often better than the powerful, that there is no tomorrow in war, and that the violence of weapons destroys the joy of life.

We do not have weapons. We believe, however, in the meek and humble strength of prayer. On this day, the thirst for peace has become a prayer to God, that wars, terrorism and violence may end.

8 VISIT OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO ASSISI FOR THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR PEACE “THIRST FOR PEACE: FAITHS AND CULTURES IN DIALOGUE” ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER, Assisi, Tuesday, 20 September 2016.

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The peace which we invoke from Assisi is not simply a protest against war, nor is it ‘a result of negotiations, political compromises or economic bargaining. It is the result of prayer’9 We seek in God, who is the source of communion, the clear waters of peace for which humanity thirsts: these waters do not flow from the deserts of pride and personal interests, from the dry earth of profit at any cost and the arms trade.

Our religious traditions are diverse. But our differences are not the cause of conflict and dispute, or a cold distance between us. We have not prayed against one another today, as has unfortunately sometimes occurred in history. Without syncretism or relativism, we have rather prayed side by side and for each other. n this very place Saint John Paul II said: ‘More perhaps than ever before in history, the intrinsic link between an authentic religious attitude and the great good of peace has become evident to all.’10 Continuing the journey which began thirty years ago in Assisi, where the memory of that man of God and of peace who was Saint Francis remains alive, ‘once again, gathered here together, we declare that whoever uses religion to foment violence contradicts religion’s deepest and truest inspiration’11.

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9 John Paul II, Address, Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, 27 October 1986: Insegnamenti IX,2 [1986], 1252.

10 Address, Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, 27 October 1986: Insegnamenti IX,2, 1268).

11 Address to the Representatives of the World Religions, Assisi, 24 January 2002: Insegnamenti XXV,1 [2002], 104.

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GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

We further declare that violence in all its forms does not represent ‘the true nature of religion. It is the antithesis of religion and contributes to its destruction’12 We never tire of repeating that the name of God cannot be used to justify violence. Peace alone is holy. Peace alone is holy, not war!

Today we have pleaded for the holy gift of peace. We have prayed that consciences will be mobilized to defend the sacredness of human life, to promote peace between peoples and to care for creation, our common home.

Prayer and concrete acts of cooperation help us to break free from the logic of conflict and to reject the rebellious attitudes of those who know only how to protest and be angry.

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rayer and the desire to work together commit us to a true peace is:

not the calm of one who avoids difficulties and turns away, if his personal interests are not at risk; not the cynicism of one who washes his hands of any problem that is not his; not the virtual approach of one who judges everything and everyone using a computer keyboard, without opening his eyes to the needs of his brothers and sisters, and dirtying his hands for those in need.

12 Benedict XVI, Address at the Day of Reflection, Dialogue and Prayer for Peace and Justice in the World, Assisi, 27 October 2011: Insegnamenti VII,2 [2011], 512.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN THE WORLD

Religious FReedom in the WoRld ExEcutivE Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Available to read online now at www.acnireland.org ACN Religious Freedom Report 2016-UK-FOR PRINT-final.indd 1

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Our path leads us to immersing ourselves in situations and giving first place to those who suffer; to taking on conflicts and healing them from within; to following ways of goodness with consistency, rejecting the shortcuts offered by evil; to patiently engaging processes of peace, in good will and with God’s help.

Peace, a thread of hope that unites earth to heaven, a word so simple and difficult at the same time.

Peace means Forgiveness, the fruit of conversion and prayer, that is born from within and that, in God’s name, makes it possible to heal old wounds.

Peace means Welcome, openness to dialogue, the overcoming of closedmindedness, which is not a strategy for safety, but rather a bridge over an empty space.

Peace means Cooperation, a concrete and active exchange with another, who is a gift and not a problem, a brother or sister with whom to build a better world.

Peace denotes Education, a call to learn every day the challenging art of communion, to acquire a culture of encounter, purifying the conscience of every temptation to violence and stubbornness which are contrary to the name of God and human dignity.

We who are here together and in peace believe and hope in a fraternal world. We

desire that men and women of different religions may everywhere gather and promote harmony, especially where there is conflict.

Our future consists in living together. For this reason we are called to free ourselves from the heavy burdens of distrust, fundamentalism and hate. elievers should be artisans of peace in their prayers to God and in their actions for humanity! As religious leaders, we are duty bound to be strong bridges of dialogue, creative mediators of peace. We turn to those who hold the greatest responsibility in the service of peoples, to the leaders of nations, so that they may not tire of seeking and promoting ways of peace, looking beyond self-serving interests and those of the moment: may they not remain deaf to God’s appeal to their consciences, to the cry of the poor for peace and to the healthy expectations of younger generations.

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Pope John Paul II said: ‘Peace is a workshop, open to all and not just to specialists, savants and strategists. Peace is a universal responsibility’13.

Sisters and brothers, let us assume this responsibility, reaffirming today our ‘yes’ to being, together, builders of the peace that God wishes for us and for which humanity thirsts.

• 13 Address, Lower Piazza of the Basilica of Saint Francis, 27 October 1986: l.c., 1269

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GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

HOPE IN A TIME OF DARKNESS AND DESPAIR Randall Smith 14

t is the season of hope. Not if you’ve been listening to the daily news, of course, but it is if you’ve been going to Mass and listening to the readings. We’ve been showered daily with hope-filled readings from the prophets — mostly Jeremiah, Isaiah, or Zechariah. There’s been a lot of the ‘wolf being a guest of the lamb’ sort of thing; promises of ‘rich food and choice wines’ (indeed, ‘juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines’); the deaf will hear and the blind will see; God will wipe away tears from every face.

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With these, we’ve heard about making the lofty mountains low and filling in the valleys; promises about making the parched land exult and the steppe rejoice and bloom with abundant flowers; about turning the desert into marshland and the dry ground into springs of water; and a whole lot about

IRAQ

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people singing and shouting for joy, being glad and exulting. These are the readings we get every year at about this time. It’s Advent, and the Church thinks it is a good time to remind us that we’re to be a people ‘looking forward’ to something – something very good.

Notably however all these very hopeful exclamations were made by men with good reason to view their times as not at all hopeful – whose historical situation was, to put it mildly, less than optimal. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Zechariah all foresaw or experienced the utter defeat of Judah at the hands of her enemies and the exile of her people to an alien land.

14 https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2015/12/23/hope-in-a-time-ofdarkness-and-despair/ Randall Smith is the Scanlan Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas

Without external help, Christianity may disappear from its cradle.

The situation of Christians in Iraq has significantly deteriorated:

1% of Iraq’s population was Christian in 2015

8-10 Families leave Iraq

10% of Iraq’s population was Christian in 2003.

every day, according to local Church sources

Aid to the Church in Need

119 Attacked Churches between 2004 and 2008. 45 in Baghdad, 64 in Mosul, 8 in Kirkuk and 1 in Ramadi.

YEAR OF MERCY

All of them could see there was slavery and hardship in the future of a people who believed that nothing could defeat them since they were God’s ‘chosen,’ and He had given them the ‘Promised Land.’ And yet, there they were, on the verge of the abyss, looking over the edge, feeling the earth starting to give way beneath their feet. It would a long, hard fall. But in spite of it all, they were singing God’s praises and promising a bright future. Were they out of their minds? We don’t think so now, but it wouldn’t have been a bad bet at the time.

What is the ground of our hope? According to Thomas Aquinas, the motive or formal object of hope is God’s infinite power. We can hope because we believe that ‘for God all things are possible.’ r. Benedict Ashley remarks in his wonderful book Living the Truth in Love that ‘God’s mercy and promises would not be grounds for hope if God were powerless to fulfil his promises.’

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Despair suggests Ashley, can be defined as ‘the deliberate acceptance of the thought that even God cannot save us from disaster.’ Accepting this thought is to give in to what could be called ‘the illusion of the powerlessness of God.’

what is broken. The forces of evil in the world and within us cannot be conquered.

Christian hope is the hope you have when there is no hope. In East Coker, T. S. Eliot bids his soul to: . . .be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.

Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

When the present is dark and the future darker, as it was for the prophets whose words of hope and joy we read in this season of Advent, it is at these times especially when we are called to walk by faith, Fr. Benedict Ashley. O.P.

You have probably experienced the power of the illusion – the voices inside you that insist: God is not present in my suffering.

He can’t ‘make straight’ what is crooked.

He can’t ‘right’ what is ‘wrong.’ He can’t fix GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

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GIVE HOPE, GIVE JOY - IN A WORLD AT WAR

not by sight – faith: the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.

‘It would be a great mistake, however,’ Fr. Ashley wisely warns, ‘to judge that every person who seems without hope has committed this grievous sin of despair.

A very common pathological mental condition is what is called depression, which can have many causes, genetic, hormonal, or the result of severe shocks such as the death of loved ones or the traumas of wartime combat... When a person is suffering from mental pathology or simply grieving over tragic losses, or suffering under the heavy burdens of life and sickness, as Job was, their temptations to despair are spiritual trials not sins.

Do you not know or have you not heard?

The LORD is the eternal God, Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint nor grow weary. . . .

He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound.

Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. (Is 40:28-31)

One has only to read the Psalms to see how those who truly love God and hope in him, nevertheless complain to him, and find hope very hard.’

In these trials, we become purified of every other motive except confidence in God’s almighty power: ‘Trust in the LORD forever!’ we read in Isaiah 26:4, ‘for the LORD is an eternal Rock.’ The word ‘trust’ here in the Septuagint is the Greek word for ‘hope.’ He is a strong rock; He cannot be overcome.

And in that, we find hope to go forward, even in the midst of great trials and tribulations and during times of darkness.

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THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL Pope Francis15 he Joy of the gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus.

Those who accept His offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness and loneliness. With Christ joy is constantly born anew.

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The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor.

God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of His love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades.

This is a very real danger for believers too.

Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ.

I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day.

14 Adapted from paragraphs 1 to 3, Apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since ‘no one is excluded from the j o y brought by the Lord’. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realise that He is already there, waiting for us with open arms.

Now is the time to say to Jesus: ‘Lord, I have let myself be deceived; in a thousand ways I have shunned your love, yet here I am once more, to renew my covenant with you. I need you. Save me once again, Lord, take me once more into your redeeming embrace’.

How good it feels to come back to Him whenever we are lost! Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy. Christ, who told us to forgive one another ‘seventy times seven’ (Mt 18:22) has given us His example: He has forgiven us seventy times seven. Time and time again He bears us on His shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love.

With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, He makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew. Let us not flee from the resurrection of Jesus, let us never give up, come what will. May nothing inspire more than His life, which impels us onwards! •

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THE WORLD IS ABLAZE Dear Friends,

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hen the Mother of God appeared a hundred years ago to the three shepherd children in Fatima the world was ablaze with war.

Our Lady warned the children and told them, ‘Pray the Rosary daily for an end to the war and for peace in the world’.

They did so. Again today the world is ablaze; Pope Francis even speaks of a ‘Third World War’.

Our Lady’s warning still applies today, and it applies to us. We plan to organise a pilgrimage to Fatima to mark this hundredth anniversary, and I hereby warmly invite you to join us. It will be on 13th September 2017.

Prayer is undoubtedly the surest way of bringing an end to war. But we can also help, even now, with other types of gifts to bind up wounds and make good the damage that this war has inflicted, particularly on the Christians of the Middle East. This is the goal of the special initiatives we are undertaking in the run-up to Christmas.

We are calling for prayer and practical charity – both are necessary, for suffering Christians and for the conversion of the world. With these thoughts in mind, I wish you all a holy and blessed Christmas.

Johannes Freiherr Heereman, Executive President of ACN International

WHERE TO SEND YOUR CONTRIBUTION FOR THE CHURCH IN NEED Please use the Freepost envelope.

Aid to the Church in Need,

(01) 837 7516

info@acnireland.org

If you give by standing order, or have sent a donation recently, please accept our sincere thanks. This MIRROR is for your interest and information.

www.acnireland.org

Registered Charity Numbers: (RoI) 9492 (NI) XR96620.

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IBAN IE32 BOFI 9005 7890 6993 28 BIC BOFI IE2D

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FOR THE CHILDREN...

...THANK YOU

For the children in Aleppo The enclosed money is for Christmas parcels for the children and families in Aleppo. It is what we would normally give for our grandchildren, who are already well and truly spoiled. With the agreement of their parents, we are happy to be able to send it to you instead. May God bless your work!

AMDG

Grandparents in France Marvelling at your devotion The aid given by ACN for persecuted and suffering Christians is a marvellous work of charity and of social and missionary commitment. I marvel at the energy and strength of devotion with which ACN works among the people. I will continue to pray for your apostolate.

A bishop in Austria Not a day longer After reading your ACN annual report, I couldn’t wait any longer to send you my small contribution. Please use it however you think best, since I feel so helpless in the face of the many difficulties and problems faced by our brothers and sisters, simply for being Christians. I pray to the Lord for them every day, and for this world which continues to reject and persecute Him to this day.

A benefactress in Portugal Grassroots access to the needy Thank God for your wonderful ministries!

You are one of the few charities that we trust to use wisely every dollar we donate, and that has grassroots access to the most needy in the Middle-East.

A benefactress in Canada

Dear Friends, As a result of your prayers, yours contributions and the works of our project partner throughout the World and the greater Middle East such as Sr. Lolita in Damascus and Fr. Louis in Qusair, we are able to help millions of poor souls live lives of some dignity in the face of great evil.

Thank you for joining with us in our efforts to be God’s presence, His Missionaries of Hope and of Joy as daily we struggle to carry the divine light of God’s Face into the darkest corners of our broken world.

Be assured that God does not forget those who do not forget Him. In Christ,

J F Declan Quinn Director, Aid to the Church in Need (Ire)

WE ARE CALLED TO BE MISSIONARIES OF JOY

LOVE NEVER TIRESOF DOING GOOD. ACN Spiritual Assistant

‘Today in the Middle East… many of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus.’

‘We do not have weapons. We believe, however, in the meek and humble strength of prayer.

Peace is not simply a protest against war, nor is it a result of negotiations, political compromises or economic bargaining.

It is the result of prayer.’

Pope Francis, World Day of Prayer for Peace, Assisi, 20 September 2016.

Children in Damascus.

THE MIRROR IS AVAILABLE TO READ AT ACNIRELAND.ORG

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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

Aid to the Church in Need

MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

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MIRROR GIVE JOY, GIVE HOPE

Cuan Mhuire 1966-2016

Miracles do Happen Prayer makes Miracles

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Being God’s Mercy in the home

Being God’s Mercy

Holding up Jesus to the World The Medicine of Mercy