For over 100 days, we've been stunned, bewildered and bruised by the situation in Israel and Gaza. More than 25,000 people have been killed (mostly Palestinians). The small territory of Gaza is almost completely destroyed. In November, a short truce allowed the release of Israeli hostages and the arrival of humanitarian aid convoys. Now, in mid-January, only the guns seem to be making themselves heard.

I've had the privilege of leading several groups of pilgrims to the Holy Land. Some of them Icam. During my wanderings in the Negev and Judean deserts, in Jerusalem and Galilee, I met Jewish, Christian and Muslim men and women who respected others, who did not seek to turn the Bible, the Koran or their religion into a murderous ideology, and who were builders of justice and peace. Like Francis of Assisi. Luc Pareydt is one of them. A French Jesuit, for 10 years he was advisor on religious issues to the French Consul General in Jerusalem. Le Jour du Seigneur devoted a free 26-minute program to him.