{"id":9790,"date":"2015-06-26T11:00:38","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=9790"},"modified":"2015-06-26T11:00:38","modified_gmt":"2015-06-26T11:00:38","slug":"i-entrust-it-all-to-the-grace-of-god-father-ziad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/06\/26\/i-entrust-it-all-to-the-grace-of-god-father-ziad\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI entrust it all to the grace of God\u201d- Father Ziad"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>Homs, Syria\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 23 Jun. 2015<\/p>\n<p>For years, Father Ziad has been helping refugees in Syria \u2013 Now he is leaving the country \u2013 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do anything without the support of aid organisations such as <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong>,\u201d he said in parting.<\/p>\n<p>By Oliver Maksan<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, there probably is not a more dangerous or arduous job that the Jesuit order could have assigned: for years the Syrian Jesuit Ziad Hilal has been helping the victims of the war in Syria. From Homs, a city that has long been the focus of fierce battles between the Syrian government and the insurgents, he has been organising humanitarian aid for refugees through the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). Large parts of the city have completely been destroyed. One of Father Ziad\u2019s fellow monks, a Dutch Jesuit by the name of Father Frans van der Lugt, was murdered \u00a0rebels in 2014. \u201cWe already began providing aid to war refugees in 2011,\u201d Father Ziad said. \u201cUnfortunately, we haven\u2019t run out of work since.\u201d After all, the priest continued, the people usually arrive with only one suitcase. \u201cThey have lost everything and are thus dependent for all of their needs. We make sure they have a flat, food, clothing and hygiene items.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The latest wave of refugees is coming from Aleppo. Hundreds of thousands of people are still living in what was once a metropolis of millions in the northern part of Syria, among them tens of thousands of Christians. However, a growing number of them are leaving the city because of fighting between the government and the rebels. \u201cAt the moment we are taking care of about 300 Christian families from Aleppo. They have found refuge in our centres in Marmarita, Tartus and other places. However, we are expecting even more refugees from there.\u201d The difficulty, according to Father Ziad, is finding suitable housing for them. \u201cThe towns are overflowing. Demand is great. After all, most of the people have nothing. They also don\u2019t have jobs. And so we pay the rent for them. But unfortunately, there are those who exploit the emergency situation. Christians included.\u201d Father Ziad knows of cases in which Christian landlords demand grossly overpriced rents. \u201cWe even had a landlord who evicted a refugee family because another could pay him more. War also brings out the worst in people.\u201d However, there are also other examples, Father Ziad continued. \u201cA lady offered us a building that we could use to house refugees at no cost. Another man made us a similar offer. Thankfully, there are also people of good will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the government troops were defeated in Idlib and other places this spring, rebel groups, including such extremist militia organisations as al-Nusra, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, began to advance. Father Ziad emphasised that all Syrians, no matter whether they are Muslim or Christian, are suffering from the war. \u201cBut as a minority, the Christians are of course vulnerable. Then there are the jihadist groups, from which the Christians feel especially threatened.\u201d Incidents such as the kidnapping of the Syrian-Catholic monk Jacques Mourad have also given rise to a feeling of insecurity about the future. Father Jacques was kidnapped by unknown persons at the end of May. \u201cThis hit the Christian community hard. After all, Father Jacques is not just anyone. He is a symbol for the people. From the very start he helped the refugees and worked towards reconciliation,\u201d Father Ziad said. \u201cOf course, not everyone likes this.\u201d The Jesuit then said that the kidnapping once again made him realise just how precarious the situation in Syria is for priests. \u201cThe kidnappers of Father Jacques may have also thought about me or another cleric. Before, I never left the house by myself. Now, I absolutely never venture out alone. I always take one or two friends with me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At this point, the question may arise why one would expose oneself to such danger. Father Ziad\u2019s immediate response, \u201cAs a person, but especially as a Christian and priest, it is my duty to help people in need. That is what our Lord Jesus Christ instructs us to do in the Gospel. However, this willingness to serve others in a war as brutal as the one in Syria also has its price. My life has completely changed since 2011. I was not able to continue with the doctoral studies I had begun. I also no longer have time for myself. I can no longer meet with friends and acquaintances. There is just too much work to do. But that is okay. The service is worth it.\u201d Father Ziad said that his prayer life has also completely changed. \u201cBefore the war I prayed a lot by myself. Now I pray a lot more with others and for others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Father Ziad\u2019s superiors have now decided that it is time for him to take on new responsibilities. At the end of the month he will thus be first heading to London, then on to Dublin to continue with the standard training of the Jesuit order. \u201cI am leaving Syria with peace in my heart. I know that our team will continue the work. It is not dependent on me.\u201d Father Ziad said that this has become increasingly clear to him as the years have gone by. \u201cI would not have been able to do anything without my colleagues. And without the support of aid organisations such as <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong> and others we would not have had anything to give to the people in need. For this I am exceedingly grateful to my colleagues from the refugee service, my team and the nuns of the Most Holy Redeemer, who all supported me in Homs. And of course to the benefactors. In the end you realise that you were nothing more than a simple organiser. This makes you humble.\u201d Ultimately, according to Father Ziad, it all comes from the hand of God. \u201cGod is the Giver of all good things. We just pass it on. In my opinion this is the spirituality of all Christian aid work. And so I entrust our refugee work entirely to the grace of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trust in God is also the message he wants to leave behind for Syria\u2019s despairing Christians. \u201cI emphasised this in each of my sermons: God loves us. He will not forsake us. You have to have faith, even when the situation is bad. This is what I call out to the Christians of Syria: have faith. The country needs you. And this is not my opinion alone. The Holy Father Francis has emphasised this repeatedly. The former UN special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, also once told me in Geneva that Syria needs its Christians. We are the ones who can bring about reconciliation. We are the agents of peace. And he is right: that is our job as Christians. We are on the side of peace and reconciliation.\u201d Father Ziad then said that this is what he always tried to live through his work. \u201cWe serve everyone, be they Christians, be they Muslims. We serve Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Oliver Maksan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/photo-19.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9794 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/photo-19-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"photo-1\" width=\"414\" height=\"311\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/photo-3001.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-9837 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/photo-3001-684x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Belgium, Brussels 25.06.2013 Fr. Ziad Hilal, SJ fr From Homs in\" width=\"231\" height=\"346\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Homs, Syria\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 23 Jun. 2015 For years, Father Ziad has been helping refugees in Syria \u2013 Now he is leaving the country \u2013 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do anything without the support of aid organisations such as Aid to the Church in Need,\u201d he said in parting. By Oliver Maksan At the moment,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cI entrust it all to the grace of God\u201d- Father Ziad - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/06\/26\/i-entrust-it-all-to-the-grace-of-god-father-ziad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cI entrust it all to the grace of God\u201d- Father Ziad - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Homs, Syria\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 23 Jun. 2015 For years, Father Ziad has been helping refugees in Syria \u2013 Now he is leaving the country \u2013 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do anything without the support of aid organisations such as Aid to the Church in Need,\u201d he said in parting. 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