The Blood
of the Children Mixed with the Blood of Christ (Damascus, Syria)
Holy Tuesday April 15, 2014 witnesses the
blood of 55 children mingles with the Blood of Christ on the interminable Way of the Cross in Syria. A bloody
scene stained pure red soil Damascus.
A shell fell on Monday morning in the
courtyard of a school at 7:50 A.M., turning the area into mourning and sowing
fear in the hearts and eyes of families already distressed by the assassination
of Father Franz one week earlier.
Everyone ran to carry these little ones to
St Louis hospital, the nearest place where the struggling Daughters of Charity
and the medical staff treat the wounded to save the lives of these angels
caught up in senseless violence that strikes Syria in this fourth year. The
emergency room was crammed; some students were transferred to other hospitals.
Some of these children will become disabled for life bearing the signs of
hatred on their bodies.
What an introduction to Holy Week, the sufferings of Christ are printed in the
bodies of the innocent children of Damascus. Just as the Holy Innocents, the
infant Martyrs of Bethlehem, these children invoke the justice of Heaven.
The blood of these children, in this land
already flowing with blood and watered by the thousands of martyrs of 1860[1]
fortifies the Biblical Faith that saw
the arrival of Christianity even before St. Paul was converted and baptized.
These innocent victims confirm the testimony of our heroic faithful who rely on
your very welcome friendship and spiritual support.
Tertullian in the second century said: “The
blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians.”
+ Samir Nassar
Maronite Archbishop of Damascus
Easter 2014. (2)
[1] Martyrs of 1890 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Druze%E2%80%93Maronite_conflict