Vicar of Aleppo: the hope of the Risen Christ goes beyond the Holy Saturday of the coronavirus
"This year, people are forced to stay at home, on what seems like an endless Holy Saturday where darkness seems to have taken over. Christ is entombed within the darkness of the Holy Sepulcher," says Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo dei Latini, Msgr. Georges Abou Khazen.
The Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo dei Latini, Msgr. Georges Abou Khazen told AsiaNews the story of a novel Holy Week. It is a mixture of the fear of the coronavirus threat and the desire to live the most important moment of the Christian liturgical calendar.
The vicar explains how the faithful want to “come to church, but it is not possible. We celebrate the liturgies behind closed doors and stream them live via the internet, where they have a huge following: thousands of contacts, up to six thousand at a time, thus confirming great participation. Every now and then – he continues – we open churches for confessions and visits of small groups –always keeping their distance.”
Ten years of war, then the coronavirus emergency, presents an invitation to rethink about “our country, our lives and our Church. We must give more value to the domus ecclesiae (domestic church), more strength to the local Church, and put the sacraments at the centre of our faith.”
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