A Difficult Christmas Season but the Promise of Peace on Earth Is Still with Us

Dear Readers, the world is not as joyful as we would hope at Christmas 2016. • • • The New York Post tells the story of a Nativity scene and Christmas tree in place and children proudly wearing red Santa Claus hats or showing off new toys, mostly plastic guns for small boys -- windows and balconies are festooned with colorful balloons. It's Christmas at the Ankawa camp, home to thousands of Iraqi Christians who have been displaced since the ISIS group seized their towns and villages in the Nineveh plains of northern Iraq in 2014. They still can’t go home even though their towns and villages have been wrested back from the militants by Iraqi forces, because the towns are in ruins, with no water or electricity. The Christians are also haunted by memories of their flight from ISIS. An 80-year-old Victoria Behman Akouma told the NYPost : “I just want to go home. They asked me to convert to Islam, but I told them I will die a Christian and that they can kill me if they want to." She was lucky. After 11 days under ISIS rule, the militants escorted her to the border of the self-ruled Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Of the estimated 1.5 million Christians who lived in Iraq under Saddam Hussein, about 500,000 are left. The ISIS onslaught across northern Iraq in 2014 devastated the unique, ancient communities in Christian-majority town like Karamlis, Bartella and Qaraqosh -- all in the Nineveh plains. The Iraqi offensive launched in October to retake Mosul has recaptured most Christian areas. But so far, the Christians have only gone back for visits, to see homes or attend services in churches that were not as badly damaged and deemed safe. Returning home for good appears a distant prospect. The Reverend Khouri Youssef, 73, a Catholic Chaldean priest from Karamlis, was one of two priests who organized the exit of the town’s estimated 3,000 population in 2014 when ISIS was about to take the town. Now, he somberly speaks of the plight of the town’s people away from home and without hope of returning soon : “They are crammed four families or more to an apartment, with no privacy or space. We miss praying in our churches, sitting outside our homes in the summer evenings, tending our gardens and living in our homes. We bear the wound in our hearts, but life goes on.” • • • There is also the Christmas 2016 story of ISIS barbarians apparently chaining two Turkish soldiers by their necks and attaching fuses to their bodies before burning them alive in northern Syria. A gruesome new video released by the terror group shows the atrocity. Their executioner attacks Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and calls for “destruction to be sowed” in Turkey, according to Al Arabiya. He then presses a button on a small device, and soon, both men are engulfed by flames. ISIS said the latest executions were payback for Ankara’s involvement in a “war against Moslems,” according to RT (Russia Today). • • • On a more hopeful side of Christmas 2016, TheHill published the Christmas letter sent to President-Elect Donald Trump by Vladimir Putin. Trump called it : "A very nice letter from Vladimir Putin; his thoughts are so correct. I hope both sides are able to live up to these thoughts, and we do not have to travel an alternate path." In the letter, Putin emphasized the importance of cooperation between the two countries. Here is TheHill's translation of the letter : "HIS EXCELLENCY DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Washington, DC; Moscow, Kremlin December 15, 2016. Dear Mr. Trump, Please accept my warmest Christmas and New Year greetings. Serious global and regional challenges, which our countries have to face in recent years, show that the relations between Russia and the U.S. remain an important factor in ensuring stability and security of the modern world. I hope that after you assume the position of the President of the United States of America we will be able – by acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner - to take real steps to restore the framework of bilateral cooperation in different areas as well as bring our level of collaboration on the international scene to a qualitatively new level. Please accept my sincere wishes to you and your family of sound health, happiness, wellbeing, success and all the best. Sincerely, V. Putin" • If there really is good in President Putin, who considers himself the protector of the Christian faith, let us pray that President Trump will be able to give that good space to grow for the benefit of people everywhere. • • • And, on Thursday, Ivanka Trump and her family were accosted by Dan Goldstein, a lawyer from Brooklyn, who yelled at her that her father, who has yet to take office, was “ruining the country.” It wasn’t a spontaneous outburst. Goldstein’s husband had tweeted from the JetBlue terminal at JFK Airport that Goldstein was “chasing” Ivanka and her family to “harass” them. "Why is she on our flight? She should be flying private,” Goldstein reportedly shouted when he saw them on the plane and allegedly tried to harass her children as well. Goldstein and his husband were removed from the plane, with Goldstein complaining that he was merely “expressing his opinion.” Lunatic men badgering women on planes in front of their kids apparently is fair play -- if the mother is related to a Republican you don’t like. The Progressive left seems to be trying to turn the whole country into a liberal safe space -- safe for them, dangerous for anyone who disagrees with them. They’ve lost their bearings. • • • But, for those who think ill of Israel, consider this report. Israel Today on Thursday, published a story about Israel helping its enemies who are suffering. Israel Today wrote : "Syria has openly declared itself an enemy of Israel. Dictator Bashar Assad even took the time to reiterate as much last week, despite the fact he’s got far bigger problems at the moment. The people of Syria have been raised on hatred of Israel. They view the Jewish state as their chief foe, regardless of what other calamities they may currently be facing. But Israel won’t let that stop it from trying to help those Syrians ravaged by their country’s ongoing civil war. Already Israel has treated thousands of civilians from southern Syria at an IDF field hospital on the Golan Heights and at medical centers across northern Israel. At the moment, its the population of the northern Syria city of Aleppo that is most in need. Being so far from the border with Israel, however, it’s difficult for the Jewish state to provide aid. Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, Eitan Na’eh, told Israel Radio on Wednesday that the government is looking for other ways to help. 'Everyone who sees the images from Syria, and especially from Aleppo, cannot but be shocked by the suffering of the civilians, and try to do what is possible to ease their suffering,' he said. One idea is that wounded from Aleppo will be brought to neighboring Turkey, and from their transported to Israel for advanced treatment. 'We are prepared to take in wounded women and children, and also men if they are not combatants -- bring them to Israel, take care of them in our hospitals as we have done with thousands of Syrian civilians,' said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement released this week. Another proposal is for Israel to provide funding, equipment and supplies to other aid organizations operating in the area. In a letter to Netanyahu, Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef offered to coordinate directly with the Red Cross to bring Israeli assistance to the people of Aleppo. Yosef closed his letter with a powerful statement that demonstrated how Israel may, ironically, be the nation that most adheres to Jesus’ teaching to love your enemies : 'This should be our eternal declaration, that we, the Children of Israel, who believe in the sanctity of life, do not distinguish between blood and blood. We treat all people as those who were created in the image of God, even if we are talking about enemies.' ” • This is Israel, the country being vilified by a United Nations driven by anti-Semitic hatred of the only democracy in the Middle East. • • • However, there are also the words of Queen Elizabeth II, 90, who is not well this Christmas. We will hear her always hopeful Christmas message tomorrow, and, as she has done for more than 60 years, she will call on the better nature of humankind, asking for us to learn to live in brotherhood and peace. Here is my favorite of the Queen's previous Christmas thoughts : "At Christmas, I am always struck by how the spirit of togetherness lies also at the heart of the Christmas story. A young mother and a dutiful father with their baby were joined by poor shepherds and visitors from afar. They came with their gifts to worship the Christ child....For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first." • • • Just as Queen Elizabeth serves, soldiers all over the world are also serving, in the fight to bring back to the planet some sense of the "togetherness" that the Queen champions. So, as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, or Hanukkah, let us not forget a special prayer and thank-you to all the soldiers who are not at home this Christmas so that we who depend on their vigilance may be with those we love. • • • As always, I offer you the beautiful story of the Nativity found in St. Luke 2 : "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them : and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us." • Wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing, pause to consider that there is a loving God who, if only we will listen, is prepared to lead us to peace and brotherhood. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. .