St. Paul, writing to the Christians of Ephesus in the mid-1st century (Ephesians 6:12), said “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood… but against the rulers of the world of this darkness.” Today it is still so…
Monday, August 19, 2024 — Sometimes, the voice of one man may be key to avert great evil. Today, one such voice belongs to a humble Franciscan who has risen to the office of Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. His name is Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
We chose to place Pizzaballa’s photo, in a posture of prayer, on the cover of this issue because Pizzaballa is at the very epicenter of the tragic conflict in the Holy Land which has taken so many lives, and which threatens to take many more.
When the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, 2023, and more than 100 Israelis were taken hostage by Hamas, Pizzaballa raised his voice to say, “Take me in exchange!” He offered himself as a hostage, in order to free all of the other more than 100 prisoners.
This was a gesture that we cannot forget, though it was a gesture that was not accepted. Consider: can anyone even imagine another leader, whether of Israel, or of Iran, or of the United States, offering to become a hostage to save the lives of many unknown to him? For this reason, Pizzaballa stands head and shoulders above the other leaders of our time. He is a man who talks the talk, but also walks the walk. He is a man for others.
Pizzaballa is raising his voice day and night, morning and evening, ceaselessly, in a situation of sorrow, passion, and hatred.
As I write on August 19, the anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima’s 4th apparition in 1917, the global scene is worrying.
While in the Middle East, a wider conflict is now looming between Israel and Iran, and between Israel and Lebanon (following Israel’s assassination of two Palestinian leaders, one in Beirut, and one in Tehran), in Eastern Europe, a wider conflict has evolved this summer in the bitter conflict between Russia and Ukraine (backed by NATO), a conflict which has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Now, Ukraine has invaded Russian territory in the direction of Kursk — the city where the decisive battle in the Second World War II was fought between the Soviet army and the German Wehrmacht.
And there are two large nuclear power plants, observers are warning, that could be harmed in the fighting — one near Kursk in Russia, the other near Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world. The explosion of either could send radioactive fallout over a wide area, and poison large territories, as Chernobyl did when it exploded in 1986. This would be horrific.
Yet, most of us seem to have become numb to such threats. The war in Ukraine has been raging for more than two and a half years. Two and a half years! And for nearly a year in the Holy Land, with the deaths of an estimated 40,000 civilians in Gaza, which has been almost leveled. Pope Francis and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa, continue to insist that a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas be declared “immediately,” and yet… their words fall on deaf ears.
For this reason, we have placed Patriarch Pizzaballa on the cover of our magazine, as a “good shepherd,” willing to lay his life down for his sheep — even for those not of his flock. We do this to remind all of us of the urgent need to pray and act for peace in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, and throughout the world. We also recall Our Lady of Fatima’s consoling promise: “In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph. The Holy Father will consecrate Russia to me, and she shall be converted, and a period of peace will be granted to the world.”
Conflict continues in the Church, as well, epitomized in recent weeks by the case of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. In late June, when our last issue went to press, the former Apostolic Nuncio had been accused of the crime of schism by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF). On July 4, the Vatican found him “guilty of the reserved delict of schism,” which includes a penalty of automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication.
For his part, Archbishop Viganò maintains his innocence and claims he is being unjustly persecuted by Pope Francis. “If today Bergoglio is putting me on trial to condemn and excommunicate me,” he said in a homily released on July 7 (reprinted in this issue), “it is precisely because he makes a public profession that he belongs to another religion and that he presides over another church — his church, the synodal church — from which I am ‘expelled’ because I am a Catholic and, indeed, a stranger to it.”
In light of this episode, we should all redouble our prayers for the salvation of Pope Francis and Archbishop Viganò, recalling this verse from the Book of Psalms: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Ps. 133:1).
In closing, our thoughts return to the Holy Land, and to a great saint, St. Charbel Makhlouf (May 8, 1828 to December 24, 1898). He was a Maronite monk and priest in Lebanon. He spent his last 23 years living as a solitary hermit and was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1977. He is known among Lebanese Christians for his miraculous healings in answer to prayers said at his tomb, and for his ability to unite Christians and Muslims. He is the Patron Saint of Lebanon.
Here are some words of wisdom attributed to St. Charbel: “Do not sell your souls in the markets of this world. Your souls are very valuable. Whatever price the world may pay you, it is too low a price compared to your souls’ true value. Do not sell your souls because the world cannot pay you the true price. The true price is paid only by the Blood of Christ, fully paid on the Cross.
“The kingdom of God is not a goal but a journey that you can realize in yourself by the power of the Holy Spirit. Step by step, day by day, in the small details that fill the moments of your life, second after second. Meditation is to look at things as they are, not as you imagine them in your mind, or as you want them to be.
“Begin nothing on earth unless it has its end in heaven; do not walk on a path that does not lead to heaven. The ignorant man clings to the dust until he becomes dust; the wise and prudent man clings to heaven until he reaches heaven.
“You cannot lift people higher than yourself, but if Christ is in you, you can go up and draw them to you. When you climb high, pull your brothers towards you. Christ raised you when He was lifted up, so raise your brothers, as you are raised through the power of Christ. As you are drawn towards Christ, you will draw people around you.”
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