Middle Eastern Youths Meet With Bishop of Nazareth
ROME, AUGUST 20 (ZENIT.org).- «Good gracious! How well they pray,» remarked a surprised parish volunteer named Claudio last Friday, at the end of a catechesis in Rome's Church of Ss. Fabian and Venancius.
The catechesis, led by Bishop Jacinto Boulos Marcuzzo of Nazareth, was attended by some 100 Lebanese, as well as youths from Egypt, Syria, and the Holy Land. The topic was peace, and the discussions similar to Bishop Marcuzzo's catechesis in St. Clement's Church for young people from the Holy Land, Palestine, and Israel, and in St. Cecilia's for an Arab group.
The youths' questions reflected their interest and enormous difficulties. A young Lebanese woman said: «The Church asks us to help; we have confidence in the Church, what can we do?» «We are all called to imitate Christ, each one in his own way,» Bishop Marcuzzo responded.
«What can we do when daily reality makes violence necessary to survive?» another Lebanese woman queried. «This is not always a valid answer; you must nourish your conscience, to the point of discerning whether martyrdom is necessary,» the Bishop answered.
A young woman from Sudan asked: «The Word was made flesh, embracing each person's life. How can the need for unity be reconciled with globalization?» «If you lives in an absolutist sense, from an individualistic stance, conflict is born, but if Christ's presence is acknowledged, everything participates in the harmony of creation,» Bishop Marcuzzo said.
We asked Claude, 27, of southern Lebanon, to identify the main hope inspired by this Jubilee. «After so many years of war, what do you expect it to be? Peace, peace,» he answered seriously.
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