Beloved sisters and brothers in our Lord, Jesus Christ,
Our beloved Shepherd, Pope Francis has cordially invited the whole Catholic Church during this year’s Lenten period to pray and fast for peace in South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo. How blessed are we among the suffering people of the world that the Holy Father could committedly call world prayer intention towards us. We humbly and gratefully accept this Holy offer from our beloved Pope, by committing ourselves to fast and pray for peace in our troubled land plus the entirely suffering nations.
On behalf of the Catholic Faithful and all the people of Sudan and South Sudan I would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Pope Francis for His love and kind attention toward us. Since day one of our conflicts of war, Pope Francis has demonstrated continuous prayers, support and advocating for stability and peace in South Sudan including Sudan.
This prophetic expression of Pope has strong positive impacts on our spirituality and identity as Catholics, by feeling consoled in the heart of our war miseries or hopelessness. The importance of peace in South Sudan is the takeaway message that provides food for thought for all of us the Sudanese and South Sudanese. It stresses the importance of peace as it is very important since the country is yet grappling with civil wars.
This gesture openly recognizes the Holy Father as a man of peace and we are convinced that he has helped our cause and continue to do so. We are truly; touched by Pope’s kind-heartedness we are sure that God will listen to the Pope’s prayers for his people.
Pope Francis’ persistence on getting things right for South Sudan, he relentlessly speaks of the need for healing and reconciliation in this newly established country that is working to overcome deeply-rooted divisions and build national unity. He speaks out to us during this Lenten period as he highlights the precious value provided by our cultural diversity and principally directing us the bishops to take serious responsibility to help foster healing and communion at every level. Pope Francis reminds us the bishops, priests, religious and lay faithful that a good shepherd must constantly be present to his flock.
Lent, which begins today, Ash Wednesday is a time that calls all of us Christians to a deeper reflection on our lives, not only to repentance and reconciliation. The Gospel we preach is above all a message of healing, reconciliation and peace. In his Lenten Message for 2018, Pope Francis speaks of some of the destructives events which are obviously applicable to the causes of the conflict in South Sudan and Sudan:
a) False prophets: “They can appear as “snake charmers”, who manipulate human emotions in order to enslave others and lead them where they would have them go. They appeal to our vanity, our trust in appearances, but in the end they only make fools of us. That is why each of us is called to peer into our heart to see if we are falling prey to the lies of these false prophets”. We have them here and indeed being misled or misleading others.
b) A cold heart: “We might well ask ourselves how it happens that charity can turn cold within us. What are the signs that indicate that our love is beginning to cool? More than anything else, what destroys charity is greed for money, “the root of all evil” (1 Tim6:10). The rejection of God and his peace soon follows; we prefer our own desolation rather than the comfort found in his word and the sacraments.[3] All this leads to violence against anyone we think is a threat to our own “certainties” So many of us are cold heart to the pains of South Sudan.
c) What are we to do, Pope Francis asks? “Perhaps we see, deep within ourselves and all about us, the signs I have just described. But the Church, our Mother and Teacher, along with the often bitter medicine of the truth, offers us in the Lenten season the soothing remedy of prayer, almsgiving and fasting. By devoting more time to prayer, we enable our hearts to root out our secret lies and forms of self-deception,[5] and then to find the consolation God offers. He is our Father and he wants us to live life well”
Our country needs a certain kind of unity, one that will lead us to healing through genuine repentance. Unity does not mean a society free of conflict, but rather a society where all people can enjoy freedom and experience love and compassion.
If we are truly a nation ‘under God,’ as we say we are, and then God’s perspective rather than our own self-interest will animate both our national life and our being in the world. Otherwise we should better confess that we are not believers in God.
It is also a time to re-examine ourselves and our faith as children of God. As we pause from our usual day-to-day tasks this Lent, let us reflect on the life of Christ, on the values He had embraced us as a human being, His selflessness and His will to resist worldly temptations – to inspire us to do good and influence others to be messengers of God's words.
In times such as these, I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos, some kind of light in the darkness. The answers do not come easy. But we can take solace knowing that even the darkest space can be brightened by a single light, and even the most terrible despair can be illuminated by a single ray of hope.
Forgiveness takes practice, honesty, open-mindedness and a willingness (even if it is a weary willingness) to try. It isn't easy. Perhaps you have already tried to forgive someone and just couldn't do it. Perhaps you have forgiven and the person did not show remorse or change his or her behaviour or own up to his or her offences – and you find yourself unforgiving all over again.
The only way to experience healing and peace is to forgive. Until we can forgive, we remain locked in our pain and locked out of the possibility of experiencing healing and freedom, locked out of the possibility of being at peace.
Some suggestions as to how to honour the call of the Holy Father:
1- We are all asked to launch this Lenten Prayer and Fast for peace February 18th 2018.
2- Forms of prayers are recommended such Holy Eucharist, devotional prayers. Adorations, novenas, retreat, etc.
3- Works of charity, pilgrimage prayers at sacred shrines, solidarity, almsgiving as Pope directs “what I possess is never mine alone” Help out the needy in any form!
4- Fasting from all types of things which could divert our attention away from peace works, As the Pope recommends Fasting as a means; “Fast weakens our tendency to violence; it allows us to experience what the destitute and the starving have to endure. Fasting revives our desire to obey God, who alone is capable of satisfying our hunger.
5- The Holy Father called for the first week of Lent for this particular prayer, but I propose for us as South Sudanese and Sudanese to use this Lenten season of 40 days, fasting and praying for peace in our countries.
Finally, let us not confine ourselves to its mere rituals. Let us build a close and deep relationship with Our Lord, experience a deep change in our inner lives and dedicate ourselves to the service of our brethren so that we could share with the Lord the real experience of Easter. In our case, our Easter must be true peace in our hearts, with our neighbors and our nations.
So as we prepare to respond to Christ’s call to draw even closer to him this Lenten Season, in order to be filled with Easter Joy and empowered to build his Kingdom of Truth, Justice and Peace, let us recall those words of wisdom from the Book of Sirach: Stretch forth your hand to the poor, so that your blessing may be complete. (Sirach 7:32)
In Communion,
+ Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio &
President of Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference
Curia, Yambio, February 13, 2018
South Sudan
