Fr BOUTROS NEMEH Priest of the Syriac Church – Bethlehem “No matter what I say, I will never be able to express the feelings I have for him. I think of him as a son, he's always in my heart and mind. He is incredible! He prayed, he fasted, he read the Bible.... He was deeply knowledgeable about the Christian religion. It was something that gladdened my heart because rarely this knowledge is found in today's youth. Whenever he had time, he would come to church to help, pray.” Br MARWAN DEIDES, ofm Parish priest of Nazareth "Lord, hear my prayer; to you may my cry for help reach. Do not hide your face from me in the day when I am in distress." Psalm 102 This is a verse from a Psalm that can be recited on particularly difficult days. The "cry" of a person who suffers - for various reasons - comes from the strength of faith, from the Lord's ability to help him in times of difficulty and pain. The story we are going to talk about is a story of pain, a story of difficulty, but thanks to the unity of the family and to faith, it allowed this young man, his family, to overcome together a terrible moment. In small steps, which will become bigger and bigger, we will reach the goal: a story of faith.” YOUSEF NADER AZIZEH Bethlehem “God entrusts his strongest faithful with the toughest battles.” RULA AZIZEH Yousef’s Mum “It was a very nice day. I had invited all the members of our family for lunch. We were going to celebrate the many successes the family had achieved: my three children had graduated from college and school with honours. There was an atmosphere of joy throughout the house, so we gathered as a family to celebrate those achievements. Yousef was not with us, he was travelling.” RAMY AZIZEH Bethlehem “I remember that day: we hadn't heard from Yousef for more than eight hours, and this wasn't normal, because he usually phoned us often, having just arrived in London he always updated us on where he was and what he was doing. That day it was almost ten o'clock at night and we hadn't heard from Yousef in a long time, so much so that my sister Nicole was starting to get worried. She felt that something bad had happened to Yousef.” RULA AZIZEH Yousef’s Mum “It was a very difficult time! I wasn't hearing from my son. So I started thinking about how to find him, and I remembered that he had told me about some of his new friends he had met at university. So I started looking up their names on social media, sending them messages and asking them about Yousef. It was 8 p.m., and I was worried about my son. Yousef's friends contacted the university administration, and the police, who informed them that Yousef was in a road traffic accident, he had been hit by a car. He was in hospital and had suffered a traumatic brain injury. From that moment on, I couldn't think, I didn't know what to do. The neighbors kept coming to ask about Yousef's condition, but I couldn't answer because I didn't know what my son's real condition was and what had happened to him. All I could think about was how to reach him. Those were the most difficult two days of my life! In the meantime I started to prepare the necessary documents to go to my son. The accident happened on 14 of July of 2017. Just before leaving, someone put a prayer in my hands, which I held tightly - without even noticing - I arrived at my son Yousef's place. I cried the whole trip, and when I got to him, I looked at him like any mother would look at her son: I had to find a solution to what had happened, I was trying to understand what had happened to him but I couldn't. His condition was very serious: he was connected to the respirators; there was no part of his body from which tubes and wires were not coming out. I had never seen such a serious situation in all my life: he was like a candle that was fading, there was no life, there were bones missing on the right side of his head...it was an extremely frightening situation. I looked at him as only a mother can do and wondered how I could help him: I was there for that reason but I didn't know what to do. At that moment the only thing going through my mind, and the only way I could help him, was to sit next to him and pray. I started praying and Saying the Hymn, "Lord, have mercy on us." Br MARWAN DEIDES, ofm Parish priest of Nazareth "The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," Psalm 23. With these words we entrust to our Lord the life of a person. A mother who knelt and prayed without ever losing hope, who entrusted her son to the Lord, knowing that the shepherd does not let his sheep go astray. She distributed Rosary wreaths in the hope that people would pray the Rosary... she fought with prayer and faith.” RULA AZIZEH Yousef’s Mum “The most difficult day was when the doctors wanted to talk to me about my son's condition: I didn't want to hear or believe what they were telling me. They said he might never wake up from his coma, that his condition was very serious. They told me that his brain was severely damaged. Initially, Yousef was in the intensive care unit where he received immediate treatment - caused by severe trauma - but stayed there for a short time. Five months later, Yousef was transferred to another hospital for rehabilitation and there I met the doctor who was taking care of Yousef, who asked me to consent that in case of emergency, if anything happens to Yousef they would not resuscitate him. I immediately replied that I didn't agree and we would have to do anything to help him. But the doctor kept repeating that his condition was very serious and if they was a relapse he would not be saved. For him the hope of an improvement was almost impossible. Yousef was still in vegetative state and I was struggling to stay strong. I tried to convince the doctor that I believed and had faith in the power of God. I kept repeating that only God could decide on my son's life. But the Doctor, despite the fact that I disagreed him that as a doctor it was his responsibility to make the right decision. I was sure that the Lord would not allow anything else to happen to my son, I knew I didn't need the doctor to save him, I was sure that improvement would happen and that was my response to the doctor. Eventually, we managed to change this decision and Yousef would have been resuscitated if needed.” Rev. Dr. YOUSEF AL BANNA “When I visited Yousef for the first time, on the second day of the accident, I saw what had happened to him, I looked at the medical reports that indicated there was a large tear in his brain. As a doctor I thought he would not survive but as a priest, I had faith. One thing I learned a lot from this family, from the mother: when she came to visit her son she would sit and sing and pray. I thereby grew in faith, in hope that God's hand would act, that God's eyes would rest on those in need. My faith grew as did the knowledge that Yousef would be healed, thank the Lord.” COLETTE COPPING Case manager “I think he's just an incredibly strong human being. He showed us where determination, motivation, and even strength, like his faith and that of his entire family, can take you. Because, like I said, he defied what the professionals and the science said, and today he continues to move forward and constantly improve. I remember last year when I first started working with Yousef, with his ways of communicating... you know his main way of communicating is not "our language." Whereas now Yousef is able to explain himself and a lot of people understand him. He can even go to a coffee shop and order his coffee. A year ago it wasn't like that, it's amazing, it might sound like I'm talking nonsense... but it's great progress for Yousef.” Br MARWAN DEIDES, ofm Parish priest of Nazareth “Time passes but what happens to Yousef is nothing more than a new birth. We think that birth is easy! The example of the Holy Family comes to mind: when they left Nazareth, the Virgin Mary was only sixteen years old. She was a nine-months-pregnant child, walking with all the difficulties of the case to reach Bethlehem. She found no place to give birth to her son, and not knowing where to go, she found a cave, and despite all the difficult circumstances, she gave birth to the Savior of the world. Today, Yousef, our dear son, has been reborn despite the difficulties. It took Yousef seven months to find himself after waking up from his coma, he tried to understand what had happened to him, but he was not alone: just as St. Joseph and the Angels were with the Virgin Mary until the birth of Christ, with Yousef there was his family who helped and supported him with prayer, faith, work, commitment, but above all remember that God is with Yousef, protects him, blesses him.” RAMY AZIZEH Bethlehem “Even after the accident, Yousef is still being a big brother, he hasn't changed. Even today, our strength comes from Yousef, a strength we see every day, as we see his perseverance in moving forward to become stronger than before and his continuous praise to the Lord. He himself considers his misfortune as a gift from the Lord. Yousef was in a very difficult condition at the beginning, very serious, he almost came close to death, but today he is encouraged to go on, it makes me think how my life, my problems and my little worries, are nothing compared to the difficulties encountered by my elder brother. He is always hoping to get back to how he was before the accident, and even better.” COLETTE COPPING Case manager “When you have hope, faith, the right team around you, the right people, not just family and loved ones, but I mean rehab doctors, the right team and the right support you can accomplish anything.” Br MARWAN DEIDES, ofm Parish priest of Nazareth “Yousef today is the image of hope that we find in the Bible, an image of commitment to God. Today he struggles to express all his experience of faith in God, but he has written a letter addressed to all of us, to all those who experience similar suffering, and also to all those who think they are far from such suffering. Let us listen to Yousef through his words: Yousef's letter “As this is a time of sacrifice and prayer, I ask you to keep hope and love and stand firm in your faith, and to always thank God, no matter what trials and tribulations you are going through. For it is meant to end, for it is written in the Bible (Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind). God exists. He shows us the way and opens closed doors in strange ways. Unfortunately, I had a difficult experience that changed my life and the life of my family. After graduating from my beloved university, I trained briefly at a law firm and then decided to go study for a master's degree in the UK. Three days later, I had an accident. At first, none of the doctors expected me to wake up. But then I woke up also thanks to the prayers of my family and all those who love me. The Lord is close to those who call upon him, he never abandons his children and never forgets a lit candle for anyone. A strange sensation was to wake up and find myself confined to bed, unable to move or speak and, above all, the feeling of not knowing where I was and what was going on. I had absolutely no ability to move or speak, so I couldn't even ask. I remember one day my mother was sitting next to me on the bed praying, and after she finished her prayer, she started telling me about the terrible accident and everything that had happened to me. That's when I started to know what had happened to me and to realize that it was like a long nightmare that I had woken up from. In that moment I realized what turn my life had taken, that my study plans had changed in an instant, and that I was facing a long medical journey of which I didn't know what the results would be. At that moment I remembered a saying that Pope Kirillos loved very much: "Trust in the one who has chosen the path for you. He will not leave you alone." I spent 3 years in the hospital getting treatment and I still continue my treatment today. It is very difficult to talk about my story, a little frustrating, but I am a faithful believer and my trust in God is always great. This incident never weakened my faith, on the contrary, it gave me the strength to start building my life again, to come back and achieve my goals. Everything in life has a purpose and everything goes according to the plan God has designed for each of us. My awakening, I believe, is a miracle. I have come a long way, no one expected me to get this far. I've had some hard times, even today. Four years after the accident, I realize I still have a long way to go. I don't know if I will ever get back to the way I was. But I always thank God for everything.” RULA AZIZEH Yousef’s Mum “It is very difficult for me to talk about the accident and the days that followed. This is a very emotional subject for me. It isn't easy to describe what we went through, but talking about it might help others and bring them closer to God. My faith helped me overcome many difficulties. I was facing something that was beyond my control. I believe God can do anything. I feel we should always have hope and pray.” Br MARWAN DEIDES, ofm Parish priest of Nazareth “The questions we need to ask ourselves are these: where are we going? How are we doing it? What will happen to Yousef? No one knows. No one can predict the future but we know that we have a choice to make: either we put our will, with faith, in the hands of the Lord until we reach, like Yousef, the goal, according to the will of the Lord, or we choose the path of laziness, fatigue, despair and pessimism. Yousef chose hope, faith, love and the will of our Lord. The strength of faith and the will of man are what moves mountains, as Jesus Christ taught us. Glory be to the Father!”