An island of peace and joy before the outbreak of violence and extremism

A few days ago, on Thursday May 6, 2021, before the beginning of the terrible wave of violence we’re experiencing in these days, the Jerusalem Hebrew-speaking Catholic community participated in an interreligious prayer organized by the Zion community, around the topic of “Arvut” (word that covers a variety of meanings, and whose closest translation is “mutual responsibility"). It was attended by leaders from the three monotheistic religions (Rabba Tamar, Sheikh Ihab, Sheikha Ibtisam, Father Rafic, Father Alberto, Father Benny). This event, which took place in the David Tower complex, offered us an island of peace and joy before the outbreak of violence and extremism in Jerusalem and in all the holy Land. A special musical ensemble accompanied that evening with inspiring songs and music.

Here is a summary of Father Rafic's words regarding the "Arvut":

"Instead of defining this complex word, I prefer to approach it through five expressions that reflect different aspects of it: responsibility / solidarity / fraternity / care for the other / sharpening the senses.

Responsibility: in the modern world, we are increasingly aware that our personal actions affect not only the small circle around us (family, close neighbors, neighborhood ...) but ever wider circles: the way I eat, drink, pollute, use the media, deliver messages to others, have serious consequences on many ... I can easily influence a person who lives thousands of kms away from me, for the better for the worse.

Solidarity, a word derived from "solid", something that is connected altogether, like a body. Again, today we are increasingly aware that humanity is one body. The book of Genesis already hints at it in the story of Adam and Eve (the father of humanity and the mother of all the living) which tells us that we all are one big family. Also, in the New Testament, the apostle Paul uses the metaphor of the body and explains that when one organ in the body suffers, the whole body suffers. I cannot ignore somebody who is suffering close to me, and imagine that things will go well for me ...

Brotherhood: In Christianity, we traditionally emphasized the bond of brotherhood between those who are baptized, those whose ties of faith transform them into brothers because, through faith and baptism, they were born again as sons of God. Today, Pope Francis is increasingly emphasizing the universal brotherhood, based on our common human nature. The bond of brotherhood is a bond we are called to create between us, by deciding to care for each other in a spirit of love and mercy, as in the parable of the "Good Samaritan" (Luke, chapter 10)

Caring: It is the opposite of indifference and omission. We always say at the beginning of the Mass: "I confess … that I have sinned in thought, word; in what I have done and in what I have failed to do." Caring is expressed through "deeds", not just through feelings or statements ...

Sharpening the senses: Nowadays we are increasingly aware of what is happening around us. At the same time the huge mass of information received by us dulls our senses ... Therefore, we need to sharpen our senses in order to be increasingly able to discern between important and less important, between what is essential and what is marginal. Otherwise, our spirit of responsibility risks to be blurred and we could become careless.

We pray that, in this Holy Land, we may rediscover that we all, children of Adam of Eve, children of Abraham, belong to the same family, and that our destinies are intertwined. Our different characters, origins, religions and life stories, do not mean that we are a threat to one another; on the contrary, we are called to be responsible for one another and to support each other.