The Franciscans’ liturgy has the good fortune to be lived out on the very sites of the events in the life of Christ that they commemorate. Thus it is that each year is sprinkled with pilgrimages. One of them, however, is an exception to the liturgical rule; this is the commemoration of Christ’s baptism on the banks of the Jordan River, not far from Jericho, on the last Thursday of October.
While the Franciscans go to Bethpage for Palm Sunday or to Bethlehem for Christmas and Epiphany, for example, why do they celebrate the Lord’s baptism in October, when the feast day is on the Sunday that follows Epiphany? The date of the pilgrimage was fixed, it seems, was fixed for meteorological convenience: In summertime, the heat would make the pilgrimage untenable, and in January, there is too great a risk of rain.
Nevertheless, that is period when Orthodox Christians come to the same site for their corresponding commemoration. If reports are to be believed, the weather has been mild for them these last two years. Should a change be considered so that this pilgrimage accords more with the post-conciliar Roman liturgy? The question is being studied. All the more so since before 1967 such a pilgrimage did exist for the seminarians of Saint Saviour’s who participated in a benediction given from on board a boat on the day of Epiphany, like the Oriental Christians, while their “big brothers” went to Bethlehem for the feast day (1).
So it was, that on this Thursday the 25th of October, some fifteen buses, chartered by the parishes of Jericho, Jerusalem and Nazareth and the Franciscans, watched the gates to no-man’s land open and entered an area that is usually forbidden to pilgrims.
There was a “first” this year. Supported by the little chapel where Mass is celebrated, a tent was raised to protect the crowds from the heat of the autumn sun. It was over 30 degrees centigrade yesterday on the banks of the river, and the shade was welcome. The faithful who did not find a place under the tent rivaled each other in imaginative ways to find a bit of shade.
In the first row, in front of the chapel, were their Excellencies the Consuls General of France, Italy, and Belgium, and the Adjoint Consul General of Spain who marched in procession alongside Brother Artemio Vitores, the custodial vicar, who was principal concelebrant of the Mass.
After the reading of the Gospel, Brother Ibrahim Faltas ofm, pastor of the Jerusalem parish invited the assembly to renew their baptismal promises before Brother Artemio gave the benediction.
After the celebration, most of the buses went to the Mount of Temptation that dominates Jericho. The synoptic gospels, in fact, report this scene from Jesus’ life immediately after his baptism.
It took about twenty minutes to climb the steep path that led to the Monastery of the Forty Days where, after the reading of the Gospel and the benediction by the Franciscans, the crowd refreshed itself at the invitation of the Orthodox brothers present. The descent was the chance to enjoy a magnificent, panoramic view over the Jordan Valley, the palms of Jericho, and the mountains of Moab before climbing back into the buses and returning to an “ordinary” liturgical life.
MAB
(1) The Lord’s Baptism was, and still is in the East, the principal component of the feast of Epiphany. In western liturgy, the feast was “born” in the 18th century, but it was nevertheless not incorporated into the Roman liturgical calendar until 1960 - on the thirteenth of January, that is, the day that closes the Epiphany octave. The post-Vatican II liturgical reform gave more weight to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and that is why it was placed on the Sunday following the 6th of January. The beautiful texts in the Liturgy of the Hours are, in part, Byzantine troparies that the emperor Charlemagne (+814) had translated into Latin.
While the Franciscans go to Bethpage for Palm Sunday or to Bethlehem for Christmas and Epiphany, for example, why do they celebrate the Lord’s baptism in October, when the feast day is on the Sunday that follows Epiphany? The date of the pilgrimage was fixed, it seems, was fixed for meteorological convenience: In summertime, the heat would make the pilgrimage untenable, and in January, there is too great a risk of rain.
Nevertheless, that is period when Orthodox Christians come to the same site for their corresponding commemoration. If reports are to be believed, the weather has been mild for them these last two years. Should a change be considered so that this pilgrimage accords more with the post-conciliar Roman liturgy? The question is being studied. All the more so since before 1967 such a pilgrimage did exist for the seminarians of Saint Saviour’s who participated in a benediction given from on board a boat on the day of Epiphany, like the Oriental Christians, while their “big brothers” went to Bethlehem for the feast day (1).
So it was, that on this Thursday the 25th of October, some fifteen buses, chartered by the parishes of Jericho, Jerusalem and Nazareth and the Franciscans, watched the gates to no-man’s land open and entered an area that is usually forbidden to pilgrims.
There was a “first” this year. Supported by the little chapel where Mass is celebrated, a tent was raised to protect the crowds from the heat of the autumn sun. It was over 30 degrees centigrade yesterday on the banks of the river, and the shade was welcome. The faithful who did not find a place under the tent rivaled each other in imaginative ways to find a bit of shade.
In the first row, in front of the chapel, were their Excellencies the Consuls General of France, Italy, and Belgium, and the Adjoint Consul General of Spain who marched in procession alongside Brother Artemio Vitores, the custodial vicar, who was principal concelebrant of the Mass.
After the reading of the Gospel, Brother Ibrahim Faltas ofm, pastor of the Jerusalem parish invited the assembly to renew their baptismal promises before Brother Artemio gave the benediction.
After the celebration, most of the buses went to the Mount of Temptation that dominates Jericho. The synoptic gospels, in fact, report this scene from Jesus’ life immediately after his baptism.
It took about twenty minutes to climb the steep path that led to the Monastery of the Forty Days where, after the reading of the Gospel and the benediction by the Franciscans, the crowd refreshed itself at the invitation of the Orthodox brothers present. The descent was the chance to enjoy a magnificent, panoramic view over the Jordan Valley, the palms of Jericho, and the mountains of Moab before climbing back into the buses and returning to an “ordinary” liturgical life.
MAB
(1) The Lord’s Baptism was, and still is in the East, the principal component of the feast of Epiphany. In western liturgy, the feast was “born” in the 18th century, but it was nevertheless not incorporated into the Roman liturgical calendar until 1960 - on the thirteenth of January, that is, the day that closes the Epiphany octave. The post-Vatican II liturgical reform gave more weight to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, and that is why it was placed on the Sunday following the 6th of January. The beautiful texts in the Liturgy of the Hours are, in part, Byzantine troparies that the emperor Charlemagne (+814) had translated into Latin.