In a powerful Lenten message dated 12 February, the Maronite archbishop in Damascus, Syria, Samir Nassar, likens an exhausted Syria to a sinking ship in a powerful storm, recalling the Gospel story of the apostles anguished by the rough seas as Jesus slept.
It seems the cruelty of war in Syria has not been seen in the world since World War II, he writes, adding that \u201cwith the diminishment of violence an economic disaster has overtaken the people. \u2026 950,000 families living with death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore than 200,000 people have disappeared \u2014 among them two bishops and four priests.\u201d It has become a \u201cnightmare for those parents and friends who do not know what has happened to their loved ones,\u201d he writes, adding that \u201c13,000,000 refugees from different areas live in misery and uncertainty,\u201d while another \u201c95,000 people with amputated hands and feet or paralysis\u201d live \u201cin a country which is unable to cope with these problems that are both psychological and medical.\u201d
Archbishop Nassar continues that more than 2.5 million houses have been damaged or destroyed, that \u201cruins\u201d are scattered \u201ceverywhere like dead towns, which have become camps for refugees and the homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe situation is such that the people are choked by blockades and sanctions, thus limiting the help they can receive from outside,\u201d while \u201crampant inflation and COVID-19 are doing the rest.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFaced with these scenes of desolation, little ones and the poor cry out to the Lord as they try to heal their wounds: \u2018Master, don\u2019t you care that we are about to perish?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven if the world forgets Syria,\u201d the archbishop concludes, \u201cthe Lord looks at us and does not let the boat sink,\u201d reminding his readers that Jesus calmed the waters when roused from his sleep. Meanwhile, \u201cthe church in Syria continues on her path and her work in the fields of health and education,\u201d accompanying and supporting the weakest of families.<\/p>\n\n\n