A Syrian priest who spent 84 harrowing days in an ISIS prison says it was the Rosary and the prayer of Blessed Charles Foucauld that sustained him.
Speaking to Rome Reports, Fr. Jacques Mourad told the story of being kidnapped from his monastery in Qaryatyn on May 21st and taken to Raqqa, the capital of the IS caliphate, where he was held in prison for nearly three months.
“There are two things that helped me during my captivity,” Fr. Mourad said. “First, praying the rosary. Mary, Our Lady, was always present and she helped keep me going from the first moment. Every time I prayed the rosary, I felt an extraordinary peace in my heart. I cannot explain it. The second thing that helped me was the prayer of Charles de Foucauld, who was a victim of violence but decided to devote his life in a monastery to dialogue with Islam.”
These “weapons” sustained him for 84 days of captivity during which time he was constantly threatened by orders to “convert to Islam or be decapitated.”
Unlike too many IS prisoners in the past, Fr. Mourad and 25 other Christians were miraculously set free on September first.
“September 1st was our quote, ‘Liberation.’ That day, the head of the Islamic State sent five or six people from Iraq to get Christians from Qaryatyn to sign an agreement with the Islamic State,” Fr. Mourad said.
Part of the agreement was that they could never leave the city of Qaryatyn. They agreed, although all of them eventually had to leave the city because it was being terrorized by IS militants and was under constant bombardment. As a result, the city had no food and was otherwise uninhabitable.
Fr. Mourad’s experience during captivity was not unlike that of James Foley, the journalist who was captured by ISIS in 2011.
“I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed,” Foley said. “I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused.”
He and another prisoner “prayed together out loud. It felt energizing to speak our weaknesses and hopes together, as if in a conversation with God, rather than silently and alone.”
Unfortunately, Foley’s experience ended in tragedy when he was decapitated on camera by ISIS in 2014.
In spite of the evil being perpetuated on the world by this group, Fr. Mourad believes that all people are children of God and that God does no wrong. Because of this, he believes peace will one day return to Syria.
We can help to bring about this happy conclusion by heeding the advice of Pope Francis who urged all Catholics to pray the rosary for peace.
“Mary joins us; she fights at our side. She supports Christians in the fight against the forces of evil. Especially through prayer, through the Rosary. … Do you pray the Rosary each day?”
Recitation of the rosary has worked many miracles throughout the turbulent history of mankind – and it can do so again!
Just as Fr. Mourad experienced, the following prayer of Blessed Charles de Foucauld is a powerful addition to the Rosary when praying for peace in the world, and in our individual lives.
Father,
I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures –
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your hands I commend my soul:
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord, and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.
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