The miracle of peace

My family and I plus some friends are planning a pilgrimage to the Holy Land – primarily Israel, of course, plus Jordan and hopefully Egypt – later this year or early next year to fulfill our lifelong dream of walking where Jesus Christ walked, of visiting the sites where He performed miracles, as well as seeing some of the wonders of the Holy Land.

Sadly, with what is happening between Israel and Hamas, our plans are on hold. I know our aborted travel plans are a very small, insignificant disruption and I may sound terribly selfish to be moaning about it, but the truth is that any action of war has far, far ranging consequences. It touches lives directly, indirectly; intentionally and unintentionally; within the immediate area of conflict, in the communities and countries around it, and even far, far away.

The current state of aggression stems from a long simmering conflict. I have tried to read as much as I can in terms of chronology and analyses of the situation between Israel and Palestine and Hamas; of seized territories and questioned settlements; of the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock in old Jerusalem (the focal point of what would have been our visit). To say that it is a very complicated situation is stating the super obvious and a gross understatement; one can even say that the conflict has its very root in ancient times, between Isaac and Ishmael, sons of Abraham.

But for simple, ordinary folk like me, there is simply a deep yearning for peace. From that very land came the Prince of Peace, but that land is probably the most conflicted place on earth. In that land thousands of years ago love was born, became human and real, but now it is hatred that sends rockets lighting up the night sky, bombs raining down on cities and villages and guns killing innocent people.

Leaders in the region have said this will be a long war; let us all join in prayer that it will not be so; that, like the miracle of love and peace that happened thousands of years ago in that very land, a new miracle of love and peace will happen today. Peace. Shalom. Salaam. – Angelina G. Tan, Quezon City