Dialogue

Dear Friends,

 In the light of the Resurrection, the announce of peace from our Lord, His breath of reconciliation, in his body, the Lamb always slaughtered, and in the fertile wound of his heart, as we kiss his tortured hands and feet, we come to you to assure you that by the grace of God we stay strong in faith, comforted by hope and passionate with love during this tragic period of deep fermentation in our Arabic homeland and in this Muslim world which is our great concern in the name of the Church.

“المسيح عيسى ابن مريم اغفر لي أنا الخاطىء وارحمنا”

“Christ, Isa Son of Mary, forgive me, the sinner, and have mercy on us”

The Prayer of the Heart, also known as the Prayer of the Name of Jesus, can be traced back to the early Christian communities. According to St. Paul, we should “pray without ceasing” (Thessalonians 5: 17).

My comments presented here are based upon the reflections given by the Monastic Community of Deir Mar Musa el-Habashi in Syria to the Lineamentaprepared for Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, which I consider still to be important, even after publication of theInstrumentum Laboris, I present them here, together with the text I wrote on the basis of my impressions of the latter, after our discussions in London. I would wish to stress here that the Lineamenta and the Instrumentum Laboris are both full of interesting insights. However, our role here is not simply to reiterate them, but rather to state what we think is either missing or insufficiently emphasised. Our approach is always intended to be constructive, even when critiquing the documents.

Television highlighted the decision of John Paul II to take off his shoes before stepping into the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. He wearily crossed the nave whose vaults are still held up by the columns of the Cathedral of John the Baptist. Then, in silence, he collected his thoughts in prayer, near the memorial where the relics of the Precursor are kept. Only the small papal entourage entered the mosque.

È stato il mezzo televiso quello che ha permesso di valorizzare appieno la decisione di Giovanni Paolo II di togliersi le scarpe per visitare la Grande Moschea degli Omayyadi a Damasco. Traversata faticosamente la navata, le cui volte sono ancora sostenute dalle colonne dell’antica Cattedrale di Giovanni Battista, il Papa si è finalmente potuto raccogliere in silenzio, in preghiera, presso il memoriale in cui si conservano le reliquie del Precursore.

لم يكن فقط لخدمة العلاقة الإسلاميـّة المسيحيّة على الصعيدين المتوسّطيّ والعولمي أننا وجدنا من المناسب أن نعود إلى مسألة النّبوءة إنّ النّبوة وفعل الإيمان يشكّلان وجهين لحقيقة واحدة وهي الإمكانيّة والمقدرة على استقبال حضور اللّه-الشّخص ومبادرته في أعماق القلب وقمّة الشّخص في شركة الرّوح.