The commentary below is by Rev. Father Ibrahim Faltas, OFM, an Egyptian Franciscan Friar who was the Custodian of the Holy Land from 2016 to 2022. Published in Italian yesterday by Vatican News, there is currently no official English translation. What follows is an unofficial, AI-rendered, English translation of our own.¹

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The Sorrowful Ways of Gaza

A reflection on the Easter mystery in the Holy Land, on humanity’s conscience, and on the need for resurrection for those suffering the consequences of war

JERUSALEM (Ibrahim Faltas, OFM) — In Jerusalem, the Easter rites begin on the Friday before Palm Sunday, commemorating the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Every stone of the Holy City recalls the passion and death of Our Lord: the path of the Via Dolorosa is marked by the living presence of Christ, by the suffering of his mother, the apostles, and those who followed him with trust, facing persecutions and oppressions. The celebration of the praising people is increasingly denied to local Christians who cannot meet in the holy places in communion of faith. The week begins that commemorates painful but salvific events: the disappointment of betrayal and an unjust trial, the atrocious passion, death on the cross next to two thieves, in the presence of a mother who loses her beloved son and welcomes another to continue spreading the message of love. Under that cross and from that cross, the mission of the Church is born: from bread broken and shared, from Christ’s suffering and death, we have received salvation.

Immersed in the Easter mystery

We are immersed in the Easter mystery, and it is not easy to understand what is happening less than a hundred kilometers from the Holy City, which is holy for all who inhabit this land. One cannot justify the aggression and oppression that push towards violence when the reason of love that excludes hatred should prevail: these are not words of circumstance, they are the “laws” to which believers of every religion should adhere through faith and with the only possible interpretation, good. For more than eighteen months, the world has seen what is happening in Gaza but does not look and does not find the possibility of stopping the death and suffering of more than two million people.

Inhuman actions

For too long, we have been helplessly witnessing inhuman actions in the indifference of those who see the profits of war and allow the fire that destroys people and hospitals, but do not see, pretend not to see, and permit inhuman ways of death that exceed, in number and atrocity, the unreasonable law of vengeance. Who justifies violence, who causes death, who constructs war plans, who does not help life and prevents aid and relief, can they still define themselves as responsibly capable of governing and changing the history of humanity for the better? We have seen images and heard painful stories. We have seen people pushed upward by instruments of death built and marketed by other people. We have seen people die of hunger, thirst, lack of care, heat, cold because other people allowed it. Is this the conscience of the new humanity, is this the human community that reaches the moon and does not save its fellow man?

Like Mary

These are long and dark times that record death and despair: one does not remedy the errors of the past by nullifying the logic of power. One does not defeat the silence that envelops hatred, one does not demand justice with the voice of truth. Many mothers and fathers suffer like Mary for the loss of their children, too many children have lost the love and protection of mothers and fathers, surviving in pain. In this Holy Week, let us travel with our hearts along the sorrowful ways of Gaza, let us travel them with the hope of peace and with the certainty of the Risen Christ. Let us defeat fear and darkness with the light of resurrection so that we can fully live the holy Easter proclaiming before the empty tomb: “He is not here! He is no longer here, Christ has gone to Gaza!” The Risen One is the hope of life for the Christians of Gaza: let us pray that they may remain witnesses of faith along the sorrowful ways of their land.

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