Ishtartv.com - fides.org

Tuesday, 13 December 2022

Baghdad (Agenzia Fides) - At the beginning of the third week of Advent, the Chaldean Patriarchate invites all baptized Chaldeans around the world in the days leading up to Christmas to a three-day fast for peace in Iraq and around the world.

The "special fast" is for peace on December 21, 22 and 23 and is intended to prepare the way for the joyful proclamation of the birth of Jesus. "Christmas", reminds the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako in the invitation, "is not celebrated in memory of the past two thousand years ago". Because faith can recognize the presence of the Lord who is alive and works among us, "with love and mercy".

The "special" fast - continues the message - can also be accompanied by concrete support to be given to the needy families of Christian refugees who have been expelled from the previous reception center, which they are forced to leave by order of the local authorities. The 130 refugee families, as reported by Fides (see Fides, 12/12/2022), are to be accommodated in the restored buildings of the former Chaldean seminary in Dora, a suburb south of Baghdad.

The days of "special fasting" for peace," added Cardinal Sako, "could be days of prayer and penance, abstinence from eating meat, fish and alcohol, and also renunciation of vicious behaviors and attitudes such as slander, lies, envy, pride and greed, and instead of doing works of charity, such as those carried out thanks to the donation of 50 million Iraqi dinars (over 32,000 euros) made available by the Chaldean Archdiocese of Baghdad in support of initiatives benefiting the families most in need.

Following the Angelus prayer last Sunday, December 11, during which he blessed the statues of the Child Jesus that children had brought to St. Peter's Square to place in the Christmas cribs at home, Pope Francis invited "in front of the manger to pray that the Lord's Christmas may bring the light of peace to the children of the whole world, especially to those who are forced to live through the terrible and dark days of the war, this war in Ukraine that is destroying so many lives, so many lives and so many children".