A MOVING MESSAGE .....

 

In a recent prophetic message to Israel's Jews, Philippine Cardinal Ambo David, one of the voices of Catholicism in Asia, appealed to the "very soul" of the country to end the war in Gaza and not "inflict on another people what you yourselves once endured."
Cardinal David's statement in full:
Appeal to the people of Israel

“Psalm 95:7-11
Oh, if you could hear his voice today!
Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah,
as on the day of Massah in the desert,
where your ancestors tested me;
They tested me when they saw my works.
For forty years I have hated this generation;
I said, “This people has a misguided heart;
he does not know my ways.
Therefore I swore in my anger:
“THEY WILL NEVER ENTER MY REST.”


Dear Israeli citizens, especially the Jews among you,
Shalom!
On this day, I wish to address you with humility, respect, and urgency. You are a people who carry within you the memory of unspeakable suffering, of genocide and ethnic cleansing that once sought to erase you from history. From those ashes, you have risen, keeping alive the cry: “Never again.”
But today, the eyes of the world see a terrible contradiction. Your government's policies in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories have inflicted on another people what you yourselves once endured. Entire families uprooted, homes destroyed, children starved and bombed. Gaza has become a graveyard of innocents. Do you really believe that brute force against a hapless and imprisoned people will guarantee you lasting security?
Security cannot be based on domination, nor peace on oppression. Pursuing a Zionist ideological agenda at the expense of the dignity and survival of another people is not only unjust, but it desecrates your own history, your own Scriptures, and your covenant with the God of justice and mercy.
I appeal to your conscience: do not harden your hearts. Listen today to the voice of the Lord. Do not let your ancestors, who cried out in the ghettos and perished in the concentration camps, turn in their graves as they see their descendants inflicting collective punishment on a people who had nothing to do with their suffering.
I speak especially to your rabbis, to your spiritual leaders, to your prophets among you. Stand before your people and say what needs to be said: “Enough. Stop the war. Stop the occupation. Stop the carnage.”
True faith is not manifested in walls or weapons, but in compassion and justice. True strength is not manifested in annihilation, but in the courage to make peace.
History will remember. Humanity is watching. And the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will hold us all accountable.
For the sake of your children and the children of Gaza, for the sake of the very soul of Israel, may it be today that you hear His voice. May it be today that you say, once and for all: “Never again. To no one.”

As received by email, originally in French, I found the Cardinal's message moving and explicitly powerful in these circumstances, I'm resending it through our blog for all to see and better understand the situation. 

As always, my profound many thanks to all.