ABSTRACT
Sometimes the events happening in countries far away from our own can seem distant and peripheral to our ecclesial and daily life. Though the Christian community is made up of different churches, some ‘in communion’ with each other, we tend to live within the boundaries of our country and exist within our particular culture and milieu. However, because the church is a community and we are united ‘in Christ’ some happenings that affect our brothers and sisters can, either through personal contact or particular links, have a deeper impact on us. We should be aware and interested in the Christian family throughout the world especially in particular events and people. In their Easter messages since the millennium, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem have continually called for a responsible involvement of churches throughout the world in trying to reconcile the different parties. Writing in 2006 they asserted:
We would greet our Sisters and Brothers across the world, wishing all of you a truly Blessed Easter, you too are called to be witnesses to the risen Jesus. You bear with us the responsibility of reconciliation in this Holy Land based on truth, justice, and equality among peoples and persons. We are grateful for all your efforts and solidarity. But we ask you to stop a while with us, in this Holy week, before the mystery of love contained in this Holy Season and ask yourselves, did you do all you could to bring back justice and human dignity to those human beings and believers living around these Holy Places: the place of the roots of your faith and the place of the Redemption of the world?1
