Page 57 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola
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May Our Christmas Remembrance
Be Inclusive 24 December 2023
“ As Christmas 2023 approached, I was concerned that homilists would unwittingly
transmit antisemitic messages by using the war in Gaza as a focus for their preaching with a one-sided focus on Palestinian suffering, at
the expense of Israeli and Jewish suffering. I ” wrote this piece to draw attention to the plight
of Israelis and especially the hostages. It was shared on social media.
Homily Prompts for Remembering Israelis in Our Hearts and Prayers This Christmas
As Christian homilists finetune their Christmas messages for 2023, words and images highlighting the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, and in Bethlehem in the West Bank too, loom front and centre, along with prayers for peace in the troubled Holy Land. One poignant image circulating Christian networks is the figure of the Christ-child lying in a manger of concrete rubble. As a depiction of the Christmas crib, it is indeed a powerful image.
There is no doubt that Palestinians, including Christian brothers and sisters in Gaza and the West Bank, along with
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