Message from Bishop Stephen D. Parkes, Diocese of Savannah:
October 14, 2023
Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
As you are well aware, the crisis in the Middle East is escalating. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, +Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa, has called for a day of Prayer and Fasting on Tuesday, October 17. This is a link to his website which includes more information: https://www.lpj.org/posts/a-day-of-fasting-and-prayer.html . Below is a graphic from the USCCB social media page as well. Thank you for sharing this information as you deem appropriate for your parish community. As there are multiple crises taking place on the world stage at this time, we pray for an end to injustices and also for peaceful resolutions to all of these situations.
In Christ,
+Stephen
3 comments:
I'm in.
I pray for the destruction of Hamas. I don’t recall the Church praying for peaceful solutions with Hitler once war broke out.
I have not forgotten the following from Father Zuhlsdorf: When President Obama announced Usama Bin Laden's death:
https://wdtprs.com/2011/05/usama-bin-laden-rest-in-well-whatever/
"I am bit concerned at the cameras on the young people jumping around like IDIOTS whooping and hollering because someone was killed. I would rather see Americans welcome this news with a quiet nod of the head than with squealing in the streets. (cf Proverbs 24:17)."
"It seems to me that his death isn’t something to strut about as if it were a gold medal win at the Olympics."
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Proverbs 24:17
"Do not rejoice when your enemies fall, and when they stumble, do not let your heart exult,"
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All of the above has led me to the following:
The vile, unacceptable war that Hamas launched last weekend upon Israel will not advance the cause of Palestinians. Israel's powerful response/war in return will ensure that the hatred between the two sides in question will continue.
Rather than war, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, has offered a holy response:
That is "fasting, abstinence, and prayer."
"Let us organize prayer times with Eucharistic adoration and with the recitation of the Rosary to Our Blessed Virgin Mary."
"Once again we find ourselves in the midst of a political and military crisis. We have suddenly been catapulted into a sea of unprecedented violence. The hatred, which we have unfortunately already been experiencing for too long, will increase even more, and the ensuing spiral of violence will create more destruction.'
"Everything seems to speak of death...we must unite collectively in prayer, to deliver to God the Father our thirst for peace, justice, and reconciliation."
I pray for the day that mankind outlaws war.
Vatican II: "It is our clear duty, therefore, to strain every muscle in working for the time when all war can be completely outlawed by international consent."
Pax.
Mark Thomas
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