When the missile alert sounded in Haifa, the couple decided to baptize their daughter as quickly as possible.
Editorial (10/25/2023 15:45, Gaudium Press) The family of Hussam Abu Sini and Chiara Pezzulich lives in Haifa, 40 kilometers from Lebanon. Hussam, an Arab-Israeli born in Nazareth, studied medicine in Italy, where he met Chiara, and now they have a blessed family with two young children. On Thursday, October 19, they baptized their second daughter, 4-month-old Marta.
“We are Catholics, and from the beginning, we knew we wanted to baptize our daughter, but the war accelerated everything,” Abu Sini told Marinella Bandini of CNA. “We baptized our first child, Giovanni, during the pandemic.”
On the day the missile alert sounded in Haifa, Hussam and Chiara decided to baptize Marta as quickly as possible. “With Giovanni, we already understood that the important thing wasn’t so much the celebration – of course, the celebration is beautiful – but the sacrament.”
“The only hope is in the Church”
Hussam and Chiara were spending a few days of their vacation in Abu Gosh, near Jerusalem, with family and friends – both Palestinians and Israelis – when, on the morning of October 7, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. Since then, they have been reciting the Angelus prayer daily with the same friends and others who join them online from Italy. These five minutes a day help reaffirm the source of their hope and peace.
“The only hope is in the Church. That’s why we wanted our daughter to be a part of it as soon as possible,” Abu Sini told CNA. “In the Church, we learn – and believe – that we can be on the cross, but life doesn’t end with death: Christ has conquered death! In Him, we place our certainty and entrust our daughter to Him.”
So, they arranged everything for the baptism of the girl at the Church of St. John the Baptist, a parish of the Hebrew-speaking Catholic community in Haifa. The Mass was celebrated in Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian. “Only in the Church can something like this happen: to hear these languages in the same celebration, together, far from all the contradictions that exist outside the door,” Abu Sini said.
“With Christ, life has more meaning”
“We decided that if the situation worsens, my wife will go to Italy with the children, but I will stay here. I’m a doctor, and I want to help here.” When Abu Sini goes to work, he continues to think about his wife and children. But faith comforts him: “I can’t help but think about what might happen while I’m away from them. I trust in the presence of Christ among us. All the drama of life remains, the fear, the pounding heart, but with Christ, life itself has more meaning, even when things aren’t going well.”
With information from CNA.
