The Sunday before Palm Sunday, our village of Taybeh traditionally remembers Christ’s retreat to Efraim (the biblical name for Taybeh). The parishioners of the Latin Patriarch Church of the Redeemer were honored to have His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah officiate the Mass under what were impossible road conditions to reach the church. The roadblocks were many and the entrance to the village was closed with large rocks and piles of dirt in order to keep the Palestinians off of roads that only the Israeli settlers wish to access. The Palestinians should stay caged in and locked up in their towns and villages so the settlers can easily move around. It is such a cruel way to treat humankind.
The Sunday before Palm Sunday, our village of Taybeh traditionally remembers Christ’s retreat to Efraim (the biblical name for Taybeh). The parishioners of the Latin Patriarch Church of the Redeemer were honored to have His Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah officiate the Mass under what were impossible road conditions to reach the church. The roadblocks were many and the entrance to the village was closed with large rocks and piles of dirt in order to keep the Palestinians off of roads that only the Israeli settlers wish to access. The Palestinians should stay caged in and locked up in their towns and villages so the settlers can easily move around. It is such a cruel way to treat humankind.
While delivering his homily, the patriarch admitted he thought about turning around and going back to Jerusalem but the driver asked the patriarch to keep getting in and out of the car as he drove through various holes by the valley and managed to sneak into the village for the Mass. The patriarch told the faithful that during our current tragic situation the final hope we have is God. He urged the local people to be faithful to our country, faithful to our land, faithful to our people and to remember God at all times. Patriarch Sabbah said, above all, we as Christians must be like the example of Christ himself, a builder of peace among all kinds of people in the Holy Land. These special encouraging words were offered to the congregation before the patriarch rushed off to Bethlehem to meet other Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders for a peaceful demonstration and prayer for the Holy Nativity Church. The demonstrators were not allowed to go to the Nativity Church and pray as had been organized by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate for solidarity with the Palestinians suck inside the church.
Fr. Ibrahim Shomali, the parish priest felt it was very important for the patriarch to be with the people of Taybeh during this special day in the village in remembering Christ’s visit to the area more than two thousand years ago. Fr. Ibrahim felt the patriarch could offer encouraging words to the faithful and show support for this small diminishing Christian community. People are currently depressed over the economic situation and stressed with over 50% unemployment, more and more families are becoming poor and people in general are very nervous and anxious about their future. During the three weeks of occupation even rich people could not get money from the banks because they were closed. And people that were working could not receive their monthly salaries as usual due to the Israeli invasion.
Fr. David P. Khoury, the Orthodox priest also agrees that people are suffering. He said: “These were the worst days we have ever had in our whole life. It was horrible what the Israelis have done in Jenin, the massacres…we can’t do anything just evoke God to settle the problem.” Fr. Jack Abed, the Melkite parish priest confirmed that “in our prayer to the Lord, we pray for God to save us from evil…during these days we need to be saved from Sharon but we are just a voice crying in the wilderness and no one’s hearing us.” Actually, I laughed because just the same day President Bush said Sharon is a man of peace but unfortunately he had to demolish 800 homes to get “the terrorists” and make 5,000 people homeless. I tend to think like Fr. Jack and thought about Psalm 140 “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man…keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked…I said unto the Lord, thou art my God; hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord.”
Fr. Ibrahim also confessed how difficult it is to preach the word of God during war times. “You can’t preach Jesus Christ at the moment…everything turns into politics…about the Nativity Church, about where are the Christians in the world…the people just put you in a difficult situation …you can’t deal with it because their questions are real…you can’t say love your enemies easily because people do not accept these words of Christ and they respond that the Israelis are killing us, they are making us hungry, etc., how can we love them? It is not easy to explain loving your enemies …so instead, I say love one another, try to help each other, your families. In the moment we have only God to trust. It depends on God only… even on changing the mentality of President Bush and the American government…that’s it…. it’s up to God.”
The regular Christian services continue in Taybeh with daily Mass at six o’clock and a special silent hour of prayer every Wednesday in adoration of the Holy Sacrament with beautiful music in the church. Christians are trying to live their values and traditions and embrace the faith during these difficult times. Fr. Ibrahim has a routine of individual prayer in the convent every morning to begin his day. “We must pray,” he emphasizes. As he was speaking about prayer I remembered the words I had read that morning in Psalm 57 “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusts in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy winds will I make my refuge, until these calamities be over past.”
Even praying in the Holy Land has become difficult. Deacon Sami, Fr. Ibrahim’s assistant told me how he got stuck in the Beit Sahour Church (one hour away) after he had gone to help out with the Western Easter services during Holy week because in Taybeh all Christians will celebrate Pascha with the Orthodox Calendar. The Israeli army invaded Bethlehem in the middle of Holy week and Deacon Sami could not return home. When the curfew was uplifted for three hours and he tried to leave the area he could not make it to Taybeh nor back to the Beit Sahour Church thus ended up spending one more week at the Beit Jala theological seminary before the Red Cross helped him return to Taybeh recently.
Truly our life is in the hands of the Israeli army concerning everything with schools, work and church. When we are not prisoners in our own homes, we are prisons in whole open areas. It is currently not allowed for Palestinians to travel out of the Tel Aviv airport nor over the bridge to Jordan and these are the only two ways out of the country. Sharon thinks his military aggression will stop suicide bombers but instead he is making average good people think about turning into suicide bombers because of the awful and harsh conditions he imposes on a whole nation. The humiliation is so vast, the frustration is so deep, the injustice is so great and the rage and the anger are so out of control. May our Dear Lord and Savior, show Mercy. “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)
