Feast of St. Francis

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Francis of Assisi ... but with heavy hearts. Our communities in Syria are under fire, christians under our care are being kidnapped and the church has to pay ransom for their release. All perpetrators are from the rebel side. We received news from the friars in Syria who say they consumed all the sacred hosts in their churches for fear of desecration by the invading forces. Very sad. Landmines explode along the road, preventing people from fleeing. Snipers shoot at people in the streets. Everyone is in danger ... of being shot dead, blown up or dying of hunger.

And the situation here is not any better. Tensions in the Dome of the Rock plaza yesterday and today. Several clashes between arabs and israeli soldiers. Several arrests were made. I haven't seen my friend Mahmoud today ... I hope he isn't one of those arrested.  http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=286679  Arab shop-keepers have been telling me this morning not to go out tomorrow Friday because the muslims have vowed to retaliate during prayer times. It's a retaliation against the provocation of jews entering the mosque area these few days for the feast of Sukkot - they always try to symbolically destroy the golden dome mosque and rebuild the jewish Temple; also to retaliate against the vandalism done by jews on our Last Supper church; the muslims hold Jesus as a great prophet.

I wonder what St. Francis would say to all this ....