ONE WORLD RELIGION WATCH: Some the Bible, others the Quran... Together they pray in a center for elders in Lebanon
These are senior citizens of the villages of Kefraya in Lebanon.
Many of them go days without visits from anyone and others are living
alone because their children left to build a future. Therefore, for them
to come to this meeting in the center of the Order of Malta is the
highlight of their week.
SR. JOSÉPHINE BOU NASSAR
Religious from Charité de Besançon
"The
goal is to make them come with a smile and make them leave with a
smile. When you see how they arrive and how they leave, surely the Lord
is happy with what we do here and He gives us strength to do even more."
Each
action they take, even if it is small, sends a powerful message. All
elders, Christians and Muslims alike, start their day by praying
together. Some say the prayers of the others and vice versa. Today they
ask that people are able to live together in peace and that arms be
silenced.
"Our
towns are made up of Christians and Muslims and we live together and
share everything: feast days, sadness, everything... Thanks be to God."
"Christians and Muslims cannot live without each other. We cannot live without them and they cannot live without us."
SR. JOSÉPHINE BOU NASSAR
Religious from Charité de Besançon
"We
put all those prayers in the Lord's hands. He welcomes them. We are
very happy that they pray together, that they sing together to the Lord.
I am sure that the Lord is very happy to see us this way, praying all
together."
Sr. Joséphine has been
working at this center for the past three years. She says that she is
happy to accompany and give joy to these elders who, above all, need to
be heard.
For the elderly, both Muslims and
Christians, it is a type of remedy for their solitude. It is all due to
the community, their joined prayers and these special moments.
"We
come here, sit down, dance and sing, and they prepare our food. Then
they accompany us to our home. I am very happy to come here."
"I
have been coming to this center for five years and I am very happy,
because they love us very much and respect us a lot. The friends we have
here love us very much."
As Francis says, the elderly contain the collective memory of the
community, especially for those who go in search of their roots.
Examples like this from Lebanon once again reveal that grandparents are
the ones who give the best lessons and, in a Middle East that is almost
completely shattered, their lessons are ones of peace and coexistence.
