Today, on Sunday, December 15, 2013, we bid farewell to the symbolism of the freedom Nelson Mandela, leaving behind a rich life dedicated to freedom, democracy, and the dignified life of his people and all people on Earth. He sacrificed much, spending a quarter of his life in prison, urging his people to sacrifice their lives for freedom, liberating his country from the policy of apartheid. We find in him an example and a leader, and inspired by his example, we long for the sun of freedom and aspire to warm ourselves with its rays, a freedom that we have not yet possessed. We remain the last people suffering under the oppressive occupation. What should we do to achieve our freedom and obtain what his people achieved? Do we truly believe in genuine freedom, and what is this freedom?
First: We believe that God is freedom, and His law is for freedom, not slavery. God loves humanity and respects its freedom. He does not want humanity as a blind and unaccountable tool but as a noble person capable of love and giving. Love from God's perspective is His greatest expression of freedom. God expects humans to respond to love with love and to respond to freedom with freedom. In Jesus' life, he did not set rigid and specific frames for us, but he taught us various forms and used parables specifically to enter the secret of God's freedom. A freedom that invites us to discover and understand God's freedom and His law, so that we can walk in the path of this freedom.
Second: We believe that freedom is an important concept that renews and grows over time, and its standard is the person's self-sacrifice for the sake of others to be a true human being ( "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends": John 15:13). Thus, freedom is the birth of oneself, a continuous birth before God and others. It begins by following God's law (worshiping God alone and respecting the life, body, dignity, and property of others: Exodus 20:1-17) and ends with love
("Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... Love your neighbor as yourself": Matthew 22:37-40).
Third: Our freedom is built on dialogue with others and within the framework of a relationship with them. We must understand the role of personalities, such as Nelson Mandela, who sets the highest example for our lives. He can inspire us to ethical behavior, encouraging us to open dialogues with those we consider adversaries. He is our role model in dialogue, not as a routine imitation of our actions but through the inspiration he instills in us and the confidence in the possibility of achieving what we aspire to. Mandela and other exemplary figures – both men and women – can embody a dynamic and sincere incarnation of humanity, seeking what they aspired to achieve.
Fourth: As we prepare for the birth of Christ, the sun of truth and liberator of nations, freedom is realized, and we soar high in the sky of love, tolerance, forgiveness, and pardon. We pray to God that justice is achieved, peace prevails, and we enjoy freedom in our hearts, society, and our country, ending the occupation, divisions, and achieving brotherhood.
In your farewell, Mandela, amid the joy of the Christmas season, we promise to bear the responsibility. We will play our part in building a society that takes responsibility and realizes itself, through our diligent work in the field of education. Our schools are beacons of knowledge, human building, and relentless effort to achieve freedom, searching for God and the other. Our teachers realize, through their example and knowledge, Mandela's saying, "My freedom from yours."
Father Faisal Hajazin General Director of the Latin Patriarchate Schools in Palestine
