CHRISTIAN MASSACRE IN GAZA: a call to prayer
If you confess that you belong to the body of Christ, and if you believe the Scripture that teaches, “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Corinthians 12:26), then this call to prayer is for you — for your fellowship, your gathering, your community meeting freely in places where death and destruction are not the daily norm. This moment is not for spectators; it is for the body. It is for those who understand that Christian solidarity is not an idea but a responsibility.
WILL YOU PRAY
We just received the following news from Dr Yohanna Katanacho from Jerusalam:
Israelis have opened fire on Gaza’s Christians.
The Palestinian Christian Community laments the killing of two Christian women, Mary Hafez Abu Daoud and her daughter Maysa Abu Daoud, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment building in Gaza. Their relatives and faith communities in Gaza, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and worldwide are crying out to God for mercy and cease of the spilling of innocent blood. Please pray with us and do everything Christ wants you to do in order to change this oppressive situation. Christians in the Holy Land are going through one of their darkest seasons and your input is needed even if it is offering a cup of water!! Lord have mercy and accept our tears. Give us a mouth to speak on behalf of the oppressed innocent people. Help us to be merciful, loving, and fill us with hope for a different future.
We also continue to pray for the more than 80,000 other Palestinians who have lost their lives since 7 October 2023
This follows on previous attacks, most notorious was the one 2 years ago:
Following heavy bombardment overnight of the area around Holy Family Latin parish in Gaza City, dozens are reported dead, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, and reports continue to arrive that shooting by Israeli snipers continues during these hours.
A statement released by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem confirmed that an Israeli sniper murdered two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish where the majority of Christian families have taken refuge since the start of the war.
Samar, the Christian woman killed at the Holy Family Parish while attempting to aid her mother, Nahida, who had just been shot by an Israeli sniper
The victims are Nahida and her daughter Samar who were shot and killed as they walked to the Sister’s Convent. “One was killed as she tried to carry the other to safety,” the statement said.
Seven more people were reportedly also shot and wounded as they tried to protect those inside the church compound. The Patriarchate’s statement noted, “No warning was given, no notification was provided. They were shot in cold blood inside the premises of the Parish, where there are no belligerents.”
The statement also revealed that a rocket fired from an Israeli Defense Forces tank during the morning targeted and struck the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, destroying the building’s generator – its only source of electricity – while a massive fire damaged the house.
“The Convent is home to over 54 disabled persons and is part of the church compound, which was signalled as a place of worship since the beginning of the war,” it said.
The building was subsequently targeted by two more rockets rendering the home inhabitable: “The 54 disabled persons are currently displaced and without access to the respirators that some of them need to survive.”
Three other people were also wounded inside the church compound during the night attacks, while solar panels and water tanks, which are indispensable for the survival of the community, were destroyed.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem concluded expressing closeness and condolences to the families “affected by this senseless tragedy.”
It says it is in prayer with the whole Christian community, and at the same time expresses a lack of comprehension for “how such an attack could be carried out, even more so as the whole Church prepares for Christmas.”
PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, Man of Sorrows, THE One who wept at the grave of Lazarus, we come to You carrying the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Gaza.
Lord, You see Nahida and Samar — mother and daughter — whose lives were taken while seeking refuge in Your house. You see the wounded, the terrified, the displaced, the disabled, the elderly, the children — all bearing the weight of violence they did not choose. You see the church compound marked as a sanctuary, yet struck as a target. You see the fear, the smoke, the shattered walls, the broken bodies, and the trembling hearts.
Have mercy, Lord. Let Your compassion fall like rain upon Gaza’s Christians. Let Your protection surround them like a wall of fire. Let Your comfort hold them like a mother holds her child.
We pray for the 54 disabled persons now without shelter, without electricity, without respirators. We pray for the priests, the sisters, the families, the children hiding in darkness. We pray for the Patriarchate, for every pastor, every believer, every trembling soul.
Lord, break the power of violence. Restrain the hands that shed innocent blood. Expose injustice. Interrupt destruction. And let Your peace — Your costly, crucified peace — enter where human peace has failed.
Teach us to suffer with those who suffer. Teach us to pray as though our own lives depended on it. Teach us to love as though You Yourself were standing in front of us wounded and asking for mercy.
Amen.
SOURCE: Two women killed in Israeli attack on Holy Family parish in Gaza – Vatican News