Well, we can at least say that dictators take care of their own. Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and his family are in Moscow with a grant of asylum from another butcher Putin. Good thing, because he likely would have been torn apart as was his palace. As Syrians were celebrating and dancing in the streets, the world wonders what will replace him.
Revolutions often have terrible consequences. Loyalists to the Crown were often tarred and feathered, their property destroyed after our own Revolution. And, of course, we all know stories of the Reign of Terror that engulfed France after 1789. Let’s hope that Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the nom de guerre for Ahmed al-Sharaa holds to his promise of non-retribution and tolerance for all faiths as he said he would do.
The videos of persons released from prisons are stunning: literally thousands released, women and children, brutally tortured, one man held in solitary so long unable to remember even his own name. We see streams of Syrians returning. Let’s hope that the promise of peace is kept. Advent can break into our lives in many ways.
Prayer for the Day
In this Second Week of Advent, we come to you, O God,
With the hope that peace can reign in our hearts and the world;
So often peace seems elusive in a world full of violence,
But with your help we know it is possible to achieve it.
May we not forget your promise of peace, O Holy One,
Even as we seek to overcome the violence around us.
In the name of the One who is your peace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience
Thomas Merton, monk, writer, theologian (1915-1968)
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
Eleanor Roosevelt, from a 1951 radio broadcast (1884-1962)
Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for God speaks peace to the people,
To the faithful, to those who turn to God in their hearts.
Surely salvation is at hand for those who fear God,
That God’s glory may reign in our land.
Psalm 85: 8-9