Sr Mona Dheim
“Go to the peripheries” said Pope Francis… And so we left, carrying the joy of the announcement and of salvation to our brothers, injured by violence and struggles and to their families who have endured the atrocity of the war in a direct or indirect manner.
Convinced that life conquers fear and brings forth hope, we have resumed our mission in the villages of Hauran. Some committed lay persons are helping us: university students, teachers and young mothers. They are all endowed and stimulated by an apostolic spirit and especially by the duty to fulfil the basic needs: security, the joy of living and the company of the parents, friends and companions who abandoned the country, towards faraway lands !
With them we serve in six of the ten villages, because four of our centres have been destroyed during the struggles and the Christian inhabitants have been removed from the villages. We hope that this nightmare will come to an end and that the day will come when everybody will be able to return home and build their houses again. In this moment of respite in the region of Hauran, the cradle of Christianity, St. Paul’s shelter and point of departure towards the “nations”, the inhabitants shake off the dust of the war and rediscover the joy of living while being relieved from their challenges.
Yes, a “small remnant” refuses to depart towards the unknown. They defy the events and settle in their land and in their faith, while drawing energy from the words of Christ: “fear not, I am with you”.
We are glad to see the children filling the centres with their cheerful cries and songs. With them, we look at the future with hope as we pray that true and lasting peace may reign in our country and throughout the world ! For this year our motto is: “Jesus our joy and our life”
