The Blessing of the Palms for the Indian Community
There is a large and lively community of Christians from India in these lands. Men and women – in the bright colours of their traditional costumes mixed with the Western styles of many others – children and babies in the arms of their parents, lots of young people: the Indian Community gathered in Bethphage on the eve of Palm Sunday.
Guided by their chaplain, Father Jayaseelan, they prayed together inside and around the sanctuary that commemorates the place where Jesus started his journey, on a donkey, towards Jerusalem.
Behind the small Church and on the right, there is a large square. The crowd of Pilgrims went there to take part in the ritual of the blessing of the palms, singing and praying in their own languages.
“It is a blessing to be here, in the places where Jesus walked. And it is not something casual, but providential.” These were the words of the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to the Indian community. “It is not easy to follow your faith in a non-Christian setting, far from home, thinking about your relatives who are still a long way away. Let us pray for them, too, here where Christ walked and in whose steps we are summoned to follow.”
De commemoratione ingressus Domini in Ierusalem
The Christian neighbourhood of St. Francis winds around the sanctuary of Bethphage. It is a young settlement with seventy-seven families, who arrived here only a few months ago. It was late September last year, when the Latin Christians who today live in these houses, built of pale-coloured stone, received the keys to their new homes. The Custody has invested and been committed to this building project for over twenty years and it is just one example of how the Custody is close to the Christians of the Holy Land, not only on a spiritual level but also on a social one.
The residents of St. Francis were also present at the nine o’clock celebration on Saturday morning, which concluded the cycle of Pilgrimages with the solemnity “De commemoratione ingressus Domini in Ierusalem”. At the front of the Church is a fresco that portrays Jesus on the foal that was to take him into the Holy City. Nearby is the stone on which – according to tradition – Christ placed his foot to mount the animal. Father Marcelo Cichinelli presided the rite. He was accompanied, as the first concelebrants, by the Vicar of the Custody, Father Artemio Vitores, and the Guardian of Bethphage, Father Casimiro Frapporti.
“Today we are like those people who came out into the streets to welcome the King of Peace,” Brother Marcelo reminded all those present in his homily, “who arrived riding a donkey, coming to seal with his obedience to the Father the pact of the new alliance, the definitive peace between God and men. Today and tomorrow we acclaim his arrival, joyous for his miracles. But He is not content with our palms, he asks us and needs each one of us to take upon ourselves, like the donkey, his word and his cross.”
Solemn Entrance of the Latins into the Holy Sepulchre and Procession
At 2.30 p.m. (1.30 p.m. of Holy Sepulchre, where summer time is not in force) the doors of the Basilica containing the Tomb of Christ are opened for the solemn entrance of the Christians of the Latin rite, on the last Saturday of Lent before Palm Sunday and Holy Week. The friars of the Custody have accompanied and introduced into the holy place H. E. Mons. William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, together with the clergy of the city and the seminarians.
The entrance of the Latins was followed – according to a precise order – by that of the other local Christian communities (the Greek Orthodox, the Coptics, the Syriacs and the Armenians) who this year, as in 2010, will again be celebrating Easter on the same day as the Roman Catholics.
After all the groups had made their entrance, the different rites begin, overlapping one another in an ensemble of sounds that arouses the curiosity of the many pilgrims.
To the sound of the organ, with singing marking the stations, the procession of the Latins – each one holding a candle - winds through the Basilica. The Procession three times round the edicule of the Sepulchre leads the faithful to the conclusion of this moment, which together with tonight’s Vigil, takes the time of Lent into the days of remembering the Passion and death of Christ up to his Resurrection.
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso
There is a large and lively community of Christians from India in these lands. Men and women – in the bright colours of their traditional costumes mixed with the Western styles of many others – children and babies in the arms of their parents, lots of young people: the Indian Community gathered in Bethphage on the eve of Palm Sunday.
Guided by their chaplain, Father Jayaseelan, they prayed together inside and around the sanctuary that commemorates the place where Jesus started his journey, on a donkey, towards Jerusalem.
Behind the small Church and on the right, there is a large square. The crowd of Pilgrims went there to take part in the ritual of the blessing of the palms, singing and praying in their own languages.
“It is a blessing to be here, in the places where Jesus walked. And it is not something casual, but providential.” These were the words of the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, to the Indian community. “It is not easy to follow your faith in a non-Christian setting, far from home, thinking about your relatives who are still a long way away. Let us pray for them, too, here where Christ walked and in whose steps we are summoned to follow.”
De commemoratione ingressus Domini in Ierusalem
The Christian neighbourhood of St. Francis winds around the sanctuary of Bethphage. It is a young settlement with seventy-seven families, who arrived here only a few months ago. It was late September last year, when the Latin Christians who today live in these houses, built of pale-coloured stone, received the keys to their new homes. The Custody has invested and been committed to this building project for over twenty years and it is just one example of how the Custody is close to the Christians of the Holy Land, not only on a spiritual level but also on a social one.
The residents of St. Francis were also present at the nine o’clock celebration on Saturday morning, which concluded the cycle of Pilgrimages with the solemnity “De commemoratione ingressus Domini in Ierusalem”. At the front of the Church is a fresco that portrays Jesus on the foal that was to take him into the Holy City. Nearby is the stone on which – according to tradition – Christ placed his foot to mount the animal. Father Marcelo Cichinelli presided the rite. He was accompanied, as the first concelebrants, by the Vicar of the Custody, Father Artemio Vitores, and the Guardian of Bethphage, Father Casimiro Frapporti.
“Today we are like those people who came out into the streets to welcome the King of Peace,” Brother Marcelo reminded all those present in his homily, “who arrived riding a donkey, coming to seal with his obedience to the Father the pact of the new alliance, the definitive peace between God and men. Today and tomorrow we acclaim his arrival, joyous for his miracles. But He is not content with our palms, he asks us and needs each one of us to take upon ourselves, like the donkey, his word and his cross.”
Solemn Entrance of the Latins into the Holy Sepulchre and Procession
At 2.30 p.m. (1.30 p.m. of Holy Sepulchre, where summer time is not in force) the doors of the Basilica containing the Tomb of Christ are opened for the solemn entrance of the Christians of the Latin rite, on the last Saturday of Lent before Palm Sunday and Holy Week. The friars of the Custody have accompanied and introduced into the holy place H. E. Mons. William Shomali, Auxiliary Bishop at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, together with the clergy of the city and the seminarians.
The entrance of the Latins was followed – according to a precise order – by that of the other local Christian communities (the Greek Orthodox, the Coptics, the Syriacs and the Armenians) who this year, as in 2010, will again be celebrating Easter on the same day as the Roman Catholics.
After all the groups had made their entrance, the different rites begin, overlapping one another in an ensemble of sounds that arouses the curiosity of the many pilgrims.
To the sound of the organ, with singing marking the stations, the procession of the Latins – each one holding a candle - winds through the Basilica. The Procession three times round the edicule of the Sepulchre leads the faithful to the conclusion of this moment, which together with tonight’s Vigil, takes the time of Lent into the days of remembering the Passion and death of Christ up to his Resurrection.
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso