To Father Majdi Allawi

A part of us has gone with Mathieu, your son and our brother in the Living Christ. On this day, I am writing to you, from an aching distance, to offer my condolences with this familiar expression we read in papers conveying your heartbreaking news: "Christ is Risen!". This expression we utter in the Paschal season, is not an escape from the shortcoming of the language before death, but, rather, an explicit proclamation of our faith in that the risen Christ is also risen in all of us as well as in those who preceded us, risen in your son, in you, in those who are with you and in those who seek your protection. This is the gratuitous gift of God, Who alone has the answer to the mystery of life in a death that overcomes us before death and another that breaks us after death. Our eyes look to Him for your sake, for your household, and for all those who love you. We are always waiting to hear from you what visions the Living Christ had entrusted you with in your struggling for a better life. May you always dwell in the consolations of Pascha. Truly He is Risen!