Fearful Times in Iraq / Syria / Israel / Gaza and Ukraine

The Arabic letter N - for Nazarene - being used to mark the homes of Christians in Iraq and Syria

If you visited Facebook or Yahoo or Bing on Friday afternoon, you would see all kinds of stories trending - about celebrities, and movies and TV shows. You would have to look very hard to find any discussion at all about what we might say is the most important, most harrowing story of the week—quite possibly, the most historically significant story of this year.
That is: the obliteration of Christianity from Iraq.
The world is only now waking up to a horror that is unfolding before our eyes. Mainstream media coverage has been scant. Our government has been largely silent. But attention must be paid. The gospel we hear this Sunday is about a pearl of great price – the kingdom of God. Some of our brothers and sisters seeking that pearl are paying the ultimate price. They are paying for it with their lives.
In the city of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, the church bells have fallen silent. For the first time in 1600 years, there are no Christian church services, no Masses, no liturgies. Crosses have been ripped from churches. The cathedral has been turned in to a mosque. A monastery has been raided, looted, overtaken; the monks have been expelled, taking only the clothes on their backs. In a video that is, frankly, incredible, the ancient tomb of the prophet Jonah—one of the holiest sites in the region—was bombed and destroyed.

Men, women and children are literally running for their lives, fleeing to safer places to the north. In some towns, ISIS – the Islamist extremist group now dominating the country—has cut off water supplies and electricity. They have confiscated medicine. If they catch people trying to flee, they take everything they have – passports, medicine, wedding rings. The edict has gone forth: convert to Islam, or pay an outrageous tax that no one can afford. If you do not pay, you will be killed. It’s not an idle threat. Some people are being crucified.
And it is happening for one reason only: because they are Christian.
Seventy years ago, men and women fought a war to stop genocide in Europe. Now it has returned, in another place, targeting another group, going by another name. One Catholic archbishop has called it, bluntly, “religious cleansing.” 
The first Christians were baptized in Iraq nearly 20 centuries ago. Some speak the same language that Christ himself spoke, Aramaic. Now they are being crushed under the heel of evil.
Last week, during his general audience, Pope Francis led a moment of silence to pray for the people of Iraq. The Chaldean Catholic patriarch Louis Sako wrote an open letter, saying that for the first time in his history, Mosul is completely empty of Christians, and warning that the country is facing — quote – “a humanitarian, cultural and historical disaster.”

Some are trying to stop it—including Muslims. Last week, professor Mahmoud Al Asali at the University of Mosul spoke out against the reign of terror being inflicted on Christians, saying he believes it goes against the Muslim commandments. For his courage, he was killed.  And yet, even now, other voices are continuing to be raised.
Friday, Jordan’s Prince El Hassan – himself a descendant of Muhammad – called for an end to violence in the name of religion in a statement that was signed by several religious and secular leaders. He wrote: “We cannot stand idly by and watch as the lives of the most vulnerable, our women and our children, are destroyed in the name of religion.”  Last Sunday, in Baghdad, both Muslims and Christians gathered in the St. George Chaldean Church to pray together—and to weep together. Some Muslims carried signs: “I’m Iraqi, I’m Christian” – a powerful show of solidarity.

In Mosul, members of ISIS have been marking Christian homes with the Arabic letter “N,” which stands for “Nazarene” – meaning Christian. It is reminiscent of the Star of David that marked Jews in Nazi Germany. But now, that “N” has swept social media and is even being seen on tee shirts. The message: no matter what our belief or our nationality, we are all Christians. We are all Iraqis. We stand together in defiance of genocide, of persecution, of hate.

If there is any consolation here, it is this: Our brothers and sisters in the Middle East are not facing this alone.  Neither are we.
Many in the media may be ignoring this onslaught. We cannot.
We hold in our hearts our own pearl of great price: a pearl of faith and hope. Pearls, of course, are not created in a vacuum. They are born from friction, hardship. Out of that comes a miracle: a jewel of profound simplicity and humbling beauty, giving off radiance and light.
Let us offer that pearl in prayer to the Holy Family: for Joseph and Mary know only too well the tears that are being shed, the desperation that is being felt. The Holy Family has known their terror, spoken their language, and have been refugees, fleeing from tyrants.   
Let us pray for Peace!