Is this the last Christmas in Jerusalem?

In view of this year’s developments in the Arab world, we need to understand the crisis that Christians are facing in the Middle East. First: Let us go back to the roots of Christianity. How were the early Christians able to spread Christ’s message with power from the Holy Land to the Roman world and eastbound to India? The Church was born in Jerusalem and so too was the Council of the Apostles held. Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Council opened the Church to the Gentiles and, by the same Spirit, 1900 years later Vatican II Council opened the Catholic Church to other Christians in the world. While the Apostles were one, today’s Apostolic Churches are not. Christians in the Middle East suffer because of divisions mainly between Catholic Christians and Orthodox Christians. As we approach the year 2012 and in this Christmas, let’s pray for an Ecumenical Council convoked by the Pope that would invite Catholic and Orthodox bishops to participate and therefore seek to unite all Catholics and Orthodox of the world. In the 50^th anniversary of the opening of Vatican II, this step would not only protect Christians in the East from violent fundamentalism but also Christians in the West from atheism. And, above all, it would resound the prayers of the early Christians “Come O Lord” (Revelation 22: 20). Second: To preserve Christian presence in the Middle East and guarantee their human rights to freely practice their religion, let’s recall the message of the Holy Father on January 1^st this year in which he asked for the protection of Christians in the Middle East. Since then he implored us many times to support those poor and suffering Christians in the region. Charity demands us to help them financially and spiritually.

As evidence for the demand of helping those needy people, recent findings in anthropology point to the development of reciprocity since the earliest human tribal societies. Reciprocity entails trade of goods for the benefit of my nation and yours. It results in collaboration of economies for the survival of all. Anthropologists found evidence too for self-sacrifice for the survival of the community which reminds us of the sacrifices that love requires. Total selfless love springs from Christ alone “who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”(Phil 2: 6-11). It is in this spirit that the early Christians shared everything (Acts 2: 44).

While many Christians dedicate much of their time and money in charitable works, the world needs more of them and their charity to spread the good news of Christ. This reminds us that we must do like the widow whom Christ praised. She was not praised for how much she gave but for how much of her survival need she gave. It is the free response to God’s grace, which is love, that matters. Everyone can generously support the above causes by giving from his heart in spite of the global economic crisis. In Jerusalem started Christ’s mission; and to Jerusalem He must come back. Every time, we sacrifice for our suffering brothers in the lands that carried the first Christian mission to the world, we share in the Christian hope of blessing on the Day of the Lord by the Judge and God of all. And while Christmas is here, it is not enough for Christians to worship Christ in their Churches. We must worship him too in our actions of good will towards the least of His brothers.