Franciscan Friar Ibrahim Alsabagh says that remembering the June 23
killing of his friend, a Syrian priest, at a Mass in Rome made him feel
“bitter, happy, and a little bit of envy," as well as "how close
martyrdom is."
“My first reaction was of bitterness because I had met him personally
and I know how much good he did,” said Father Alsabagh, a Syrian
Franciscan of the Custody of the Holy Land. “Also because it made me
realize how close martyrdom is.”
“But on the other hand, I also felt joy and a little bit of envy,” he
told CNA July 4, following the memorial Mass for Father François Mourad,
held in Rome.
The evening Mass was celebrated by Bishop Matteo M. Zuppi, an auxiliary
bishop of the Diocese of Rome, at the Church of Saints Fabian and
Venantius.
During the Mass, which was held to pray for the priest and all of the
victims of the conflict, Fr. Alsabagh spoke about the war, the growing
faith of young Christians in Syria and about Fr. Murad’s death.
Initial media reports falsely informed that Fr. Murad was beheaded in an
attack that was recorded on video, showing a group of foreign jihadist
militants beheading two men in Syria.
But Vatican sources later confirmed the 49-year-old was in fact shot
dead in the Christian village of Gassanieh near Jisr Ash-Shughur in
northern Syria, after rebels raided the monastery where he was living.
“There are many news (reports) involving his death, one of them is that
he received a bullet when he was inside the monastery,” Fr. Alsabgh
said.
“Another story is that he was assaulted by a group that wanted to loot
the monastery and that they killed him,” he stated. “This story wasn’t
disseminated immediately by the mass media, and it was later confused
with a movie published in YouTube that shows the beheading of a priest
with other two lay people.”
Fr. Alsabagh stressed the truth was that he was not beheaded but shot in the monastery.
“He was gentle and docile, he was a Franciscan that always aspired to
initiate a monastic path,” he said.“He always helped in our mission, and
we always considered him as one of our brothers.”
Fr. Murad initially wanted to open a monastery close to Aleppo and base its spirituality on Saint Siemon the Stylite.
But Fr. Alsabagh said that because of “many difficulties,” Fr. Murad
went to live in the monastery of Saint Anthony of Padua in Ghassanieh,
which is where he was killed.
“We, Franciscans of the Holy Land, are also always called to testify to
our faith in the Middle East, even to the point of martyrdom,” he
remarked.
Fr. Alsabagh, who was studying for a doctorate in Rome, traveled to one
of the three Franciscan monasteries in Damascus on July 5 “to help and
support his brothers in the mission.”
“I’m returning there to be with my brothers and to live the testimony,”
he said. “There are probably so many dangers; there is no security in
the capital, on the streets, not even in the monastery.”
“One can be killed in any moment but so many people expect our strength,
our bravery, our prayers and our homilies,” he stated. “They expect
words of faith, as well as the sacraments.”
He underscored the Franciscans’ mission in Syria is to be “brothers of
the people, to be with the people, and to serve the (Syrian) people.”
After spending the next two months in Syria, he plans to return to Rome in September to continue his doctorate.
According to him, since the violence began there is “more sensibility regarding the Christian life” in Syria.
“When there is the cross, there is something that moves and pushes you
more; there is a force that springs so much from within to the outside,”
he remarked.
“When one lives in prosperity, there is a big danger and indifference becomes the result,” he added.
“Instead, a little bit of suffering, a little bit of the cross on the
shoulder, helps us open our eyes a bit to the importance of our
Christian vocation and to its beauty.”
Fr. Alsabagh noted suffering “also helps us respond generously to our
Christian vocation, helps us realize that everything passes, that it’s
important to stick closer to Jesus and to be ready at every moment to
give your life for your brothers.”
“I’ve shared this suffering by listening to my family, friends, priests
and brothers,” he said. “It’s made me realize that my martyrdom could
come today or tomorrow, too.”
“We need to do what the Pope says: close this passageway of weapons into Syria,” he affirmed.