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=> Ayatollah Ashur Soro's address to the 72nd AANF Convention

Ayatollah Ashur Soro's address to the 72nd AANF Convention
Posted by Ninurta (Guest) - Saturday, September 10 2005, 8:08:02 (CEST)
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Ashur Soro is also known as Mar Bawai...

Dear Reverend Clergy
His Excellency the Iraqi Ambassador to the UN
Mr. President of the AANF
Mr. Member of the Political bureau of the ADM
Mr. Secretary General of the AUA
Members of the Executive Committee and Board of Advisors
Distinguished Delegates of the Affiliates
Honored Guests
My Brothers and Sisters,
Introduction

It is our privilege to gather today in this great city of Boston, where 230 years ago the founders of the United States, then a mere 13 divided colonies, ignited their great cause for change that, after years of struggle and conflict, saw the birth of a new nation. The great American documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, laid the foundations for a future where life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were its people’s founding principles and respect for human dignity their daily guide. In this land, between its Atlantic and Pacific shores, the ideal declared each day by millions of schoolchildren lives in the hearts of its citizens: “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.”
The ideal set forth by the American founding fathers, however, has not been perfectly lived. Division and strife have marred their vision. Slavery and its repercussions nearly split the nation in two a century and a half ago. Abortion, poverty, the economy, and other moral issues today divide people, foment anger, and result in violence. As a people united, Americans are strong. Divided, they are weak.
Unfortunately, rift and disagreement are not limited to secular nations. Sin and division have also disfigured the unity that Jesus desired for his followers in the Church. He prayed at the Last Supper that his disciples, his Church, would be one as he and his Father are one. (John 17:21) Yet personal conflicts, theological differences and historical realities over many centuries have prevented that sacred vision of unbroken unity in Christ from being fully realized even to our present day. The same factors have not spared our Nation. Today, we find our people not only scattered but also divided.
But aren’t we much more intelligent than to accept the defeat of a mortifying status quo and the ambiguity of an insecure future? Let our purpose be not to lament the dead past, but instead to fashion a living future that promises and promotes the best interest for our people, who are known today by three venerable names: Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac. Let our aim today be to foster bonds of national unity, and ecclesial communion among the three communities.
Here today we represent civic, cultural, educational and political organizations of importance to our ChaldoAssyrian Nation, not only in America but also in the New Iraq and everywhere. Together with our churches, whether Catholic, Orthodox, Church of the East or Protestant, our organizations can promote the common good, protect the human dignity of each person, and fashion that new future of unity we so desperately need. Divided, our resolve is in danger of becoming ineffective and irrelevant, not only for the outside world but more so for our own rising generation. United through federations and alliances, our ties will lend us a common strength to retain and solidify our Nation, preserve and protect our Syriac language and culture, renew and fortify our Christian heritage, so that ultimately we may accomplish all our shared goals.
But the question remains, how do we achieve these noble objectives? Before I respond to this daunting question, I wish first to take this opportunity to personally thank the leadership of the AANF, in particular its President, Mr. Alaidin Khamis, for his invitation to speak this evening to this honored assembly. It is a great privilege and an honor for me to share with you, my beloved people, four (4) insights that, in my opinion, will help us bring unity to our divided Nation and cohesion to our scattered people.
1) The Role of Individuals
Organizations that are serious in fulfilling their civic obligation to their members commit time and resources to enhancing the personal character. But how does a non-religious organization build the inner character of the human person? The answer is to rely on the Christian truths, which our faith teaches.
At the conclusion of His earthly ministry, Jesus summed up the truth of his message to his disciples in the commandment of love. He instructed them to love one another, even to lay down their lives, as he would do. (John 15:12-13) He taught them that the two greatest commandments were to love God with every part of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:29-31) Such love is not just a nice suggestion or a mere cliché, but is ontologically constitutive of the Christian way of life, our ChaldoAssyrian way of life. Loving God and neighbor is our duty, and Jesus makes serving the needs of others a sacred responsibility. This is the most important notion to manifest in all our programs and contributions as organizations and institutions serving our Nation though our members.
The love that Jesus commanded for his disciples is so vivid in his parable of the Good Samaritan, who dared to step across religious and cultural barriers to serve the needs of another human being in pain. This is the perfect example of the united community we so desperately need to foster. The Samaritan did not love the wounded man because he was a fellow Samaritan, hurt or healthy, rich or poor, man or woman, black or white, or for any other superficial reason. But, according to Jesus’ teaching, the Samaritan did so because the other person was his neighbor. (Luke 10:25-37) The priest and the Levite in this parable failed to live up to that simple standard. They failed to communicate God’s love and mercy to someone in need. They allowed divisions, strife and antagonism to stand as the status quo within their society. My brothers and sisters: that, we cannot do. We must convert our hearts, which still remember old accounts of mutual betrayal and mistrust. We must purify our memories that still hold centuries-old grudges. We must transcend all that weakens us to the point of division and indifference. Remember: united we stand, divided we fall.
2) The Role of Organizations
Civic, cultural, educational and political organizations are important everywhere, and especially in the lives of peoples and nations like us who are scattered all over the world. In Diaspora, we do not have the advantage of being together in a local, regional, or national community – in other words, we do not enjoy geographical proximity – and being distant from one another can tend to erode the cohesion we share as a people. The biblical Hebrews, torn from their homeland and sent into the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles, relied on their language, their songs, their common heritage, their diet, their Scriptures and their faith to retain their very identity as a people.
Language, dress, food and drink, modes of worship and other aspects of human life can unite a people and strengthen their resolve, no matter how disparate they are geographically. So can organizations that address man’s civic, cultural, educational and political needs and interests serve to promote unity for the good of each individual and for the benefit of all. What you do and the potential you represent is of vital importance, and you have my deepest gratitude and respect for all you do every day in this cause. To serve our brothers and sisters in this way is not merely a privilege and honor but a responsibility, a duty. May God bless all your efforts for promoting unity among our people, regardless of their designations or affiliations.
3) The Role of Churches
In order to contribute to man’s higher calling to “do good and avoid evil,” our churches must accept the challenges you have accepted, namely, to stand by your side and cooperate to build for us and for our next generation the living future we so desperately need. I dare to say cooperate precisely because our churches are the “conscience” of our Nation and our organizations are the “will” of its People. Our Nation needs guidance in order to perfect her moral compass. By cooperating together with the churches, each organization can make meaningful contributions to that higher calling. People in positions of authority and power in every church and organization have a very high responsibility to labor unceasingly for our common unity and solidarity.
Throughout history many nations have often failed, because the evil of division either goes unrecognized or seems more attractive than genuine unity. Our institutions too have become subject to temptation and sin. Such temptation and sin often deter us from doing, as Saint Paul puts it “the good we ought to do.” (Romans 7:19) It is my heartfelt belief that we, as Christians and ChaldoAssyrians, have in recent years received a call and a mission, both religious and social. Our call is to bear a Christian witness with one another through love. Our mission is to preserve unity through the bond of solidarity.
Unity is not only a social or political calling but also a religious vocation that perfects society and its citizens. Our God is One in Three, and Jesus prayed for the unity of his followers, so that all may be one just as he and his Father are one. (John 17:21) Jesus desired this love and oneness even though he knew his disciples would be persecuted for his sake (Matthew 5:10-12) and that even family and friends would turn against one another because of him. (Luke 12:51-53)
This Christian message of unity among our people is so important because it could baptize our national fervor with the Grace of our faith in Christ. A society built on division, mistrust and hatred is no society at all – a divided kingdom cannot stand. (Mark 3:24) Human society only has meaning when it is built on trust, and compassion. Churches and organizations, therefore, have an historic duty to overcome divisions and isolation. That which is contrary to unity can only serve those who seek self-interest and power.
The word “Christian” does not connote divisions or isolation. On the contrary, it entails unity and communion. The words “Assyrian,” “Chaldean” and “Syriac” do not signify hatred or mistrust, exaggeration or self-promotion. On the contrary, they mean sacrifice and honesty, appreciation and compassion, civilization and traditions, progress and evolution. So let us evolve from division to unity, from estrangement to appreciation, from mistrust to solidarity. Let us bring our Nation together by inspiring our youth with the martyrdom of our forefathers and foremothers, who despite every adversity kept the torch of our love for family and nation alive in the tenderness of their faith in Jesus Christ. The social calling of unity promotes the common good and protects the rights of every person. It is not just up to the churches to promote unity, as if it were only a religious concern. It is really up to everyone.
4) The Role of Courage
It is in unity that the Christian virtues of faith, hope and charity are already being manifested in our midst. Through acts of courage and sacrifice, we must defy the evil of schism and the tragedy of divisions within society, the family, and ultimately man himself!
It takes courage to stand up and defy division, especially when divisions have been long-standing and we have gotten used to them. It takes courage to commit time, personnel, and resources to promote the cause of unity and solidarity, especially when many of our people are opposed to change. It takes courage to seek to do the will of the Lord Jesus “that all may be one” (John 17:21), when it will certainly call for compromise and mutual accountability. It takes courage to abandon loyalty to verbal “designations” in exchange for a coherent and integral Nation, whose members are created in the image and likeness of God. It takes courage to embrace a future that is not yet fully known, for the sake of one another.
Our ancestors, a thousand year ago, took many risks and against all odds reached the thresholds of their known world only to witness to their Christian faith. Like them, let our dreams and aspiration be the hope of a stronger generation. Like many of you, I know well that we are too great of a people to espouse small goals. And so, on your behalf and mine, I respectfully call upon all our religious leaders from all of our venerable churches to take courage from the Lord himself and an example from our forefathers and begin tearing down walls of separation erected centuries ago within the churches of our One Nation. This is what God expects of them, and this is what we, your people, your sons and daughters, are calling upon you to do!
Fortunately, I believe we have that courage. When I look out at you I see indeed the salt of the earth. I see indeed the light of the world that shines before others, if only we will not cover it over with a bushel basket but places it as high in our priorities as we can, to shed the light of unity and Christian love on our brothers and sisters near and far.
Conclusion
Tomorrow our country will celebrate Labor Day. On that day we honor the dignity of work, a vital part of the human vocation. Through work the human family provides for the needs of its members: food, shelter, clothing, education, recreation, healing, and the spiritual life. Through work we see to the needs of other members of society, to build up that strength and community that provide for each one’s needs and protect the rights of each person.
To labor for Christian unity and the solidarity of our ChaldoAssyrian people is a worthy goal, one we must undertake for the sake of Christ, whose name we bear, and for the people to whom we belong by blood and culture.
Let it be known that our labor as churches and workers in many organizations, promoting bonds of solidarity and unity among ChaldoAssyrians in America and throughout the world, does not mean the destruction of diversity or the compromise of equality or the destruction of particularity, but it does mean evaluating every decision we make by the standard of Christ. In other words, we must build our new relations on concepts like: reconciliation & love, mutuality & reciprocity, fairness and justice.
It is my prayer that together, we who are members of our various churches and who represent organizations that are civic, cultural, educational and political, will reach beyond every barrier to embrace more deeply Christ’s commandment to love God and to love our neighbor – here in America, in the New Iraq, and in every land near or far. It will take commitment, it will take courage, and above all it will take sacrifice. The good new is: I firmly believe that we really are up to this historic challenge!
Thank you for listening so well. God bless this country of America, and God bless our beloved ChaldoAssyrian Nation. Amen.
End



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