Nazareth, Guardian of the Gift, 25th March 2011
The meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word started last week, with St. Joseph’s day, and is celebrated today with the Feast of the Annunciation.
Today Nazareth is a city with a population of over 60,000 and a very large Christian community. At the time of the Incarnation, it was apparently a village with perhaps not even a hundred people; you only have to think of the words of Nathanael referring to Jesus: “Can anything good ever come from Nazareth?”. And yet this small village with the simple people who lived there, including Joseph and Mary, was chosen by God to become the Guardian of the Gift.
This is where the Word became incarnate and grew up, living in concealment and in simplicity. This Holy Place, which is the guardian of God’s greatest Gift, is in turn scrupulously in the care of the Friars Minor who, since their first centuries in the Holy Land, came this far, even at the most dangerous times, to pray and worship Christ in the place where “the unloved Love” became incarnate. The great feast of the Annunciation started yesterday with the solemn entrance of His Beatitude the Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, who is himself a son of Nazareth.
Last night, at 8.30 p.m., the vigil and the adoration of the Eucharist at the grotto of the Annunciation, presided by the Guardian Father, Brother Ricardo Bustos, was attended by about a thousand faithful. It was a moment of very sincere prayer, including for the pilgrims taking part. This morning, at 10 a.m., there was the Solemn Mass presided by H.B. Michel Sabbah and also concelebrated by the Bishop Emeritus Kamal Batish and H.E. Mons. Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo.
A great many Friars Minors came for the occasion from the many places of the Custody and many religious belonging to different orders operating in the Holy Land also attended. The scouts of Nazareth opened the procession which, starting from the Church of St, Joseph ended at the Basilica.
They also performed an excellent service to regulate the enormous flow of people. The whole of the upper level of the Basilica was crowded with thousands of people, local faithful and pilgrims. Like last week, for St. Joseph’s day, it was the numerous presence of youngsters and children that illuminated the beautiful celebration even more.
On Monday 21st March, “Mother’s Day” was also celebrated in the Holy Land, which significantly falls here on the first day of Spring. The presence of many mothers with their children helps us remember that, after all, today is also the celebration of motherhood and every child is an incredible gift of God. In his homily, the Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, commenting the Gospel of the Annunciation, recalled how things that are impossible for man are possible for God and how we are summoned, as Christians, to follow the example of Mary and to glorify, through relations of love and peace, the love that God showed us; His Beatitude recalled how the visit to Elizabeth by Mary, in whom the Word had taken shape, was above all a testimony of faith exalted in the Canticle of the Magnificat.
Towards the end of the celebration of the Eucharist, the clergy made a small procession around the oculus that looks on to the house of the Virgin Mary, stopping three times and reading in two parts the prologue of the evangelist John and the Gospel by Matthew, referred to the work of the Holy Spirit. At every stage, the Gospel was placed in the hands of the Patriarch and he blessed the faithful with it. The Scouts collected outside the Basilica and marched to the sound of drums and bagpipes and the drum majors showed off their skills with their batons performed real acrobatics in the air.
A beautiful festivity for a community that never ceases to amaze us with its joyful and youthful vitality. The appointment is tomorrow evening at 8.30 pm for the Marian Torchlight procession in honour of the Mystery of the Annunciation of the Lord.
Photos and article by Marco Gavasso
The meditation on the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word started last week, with St. Joseph’s day, and is celebrated today with the Feast of the Annunciation.
Today Nazareth is a city with a population of over 60,000 and a very large Christian community. At the time of the Incarnation, it was apparently a village with perhaps not even a hundred people; you only have to think of the words of Nathanael referring to Jesus: “Can anything good ever come from Nazareth?”. And yet this small village with the simple people who lived there, including Joseph and Mary, was chosen by God to become the Guardian of the Gift.
This is where the Word became incarnate and grew up, living in concealment and in simplicity. This Holy Place, which is the guardian of God’s greatest Gift, is in turn scrupulously in the care of the Friars Minor who, since their first centuries in the Holy Land, came this far, even at the most dangerous times, to pray and worship Christ in the place where “the unloved Love” became incarnate. The great feast of the Annunciation started yesterday with the solemn entrance of His Beatitude the Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, who is himself a son of Nazareth.
Last night, at 8.30 p.m., the vigil and the adoration of the Eucharist at the grotto of the Annunciation, presided by the Guardian Father, Brother Ricardo Bustos, was attended by about a thousand faithful. It was a moment of very sincere prayer, including for the pilgrims taking part. This morning, at 10 a.m., there was the Solemn Mass presided by H.B. Michel Sabbah and also concelebrated by the Bishop Emeritus Kamal Batish and H.E. Mons. Giacinto Boulos Marcuzzo.
A great many Friars Minors came for the occasion from the many places of the Custody and many religious belonging to different orders operating in the Holy Land also attended. The scouts of Nazareth opened the procession which, starting from the Church of St, Joseph ended at the Basilica.
They also performed an excellent service to regulate the enormous flow of people. The whole of the upper level of the Basilica was crowded with thousands of people, local faithful and pilgrims. Like last week, for St. Joseph’s day, it was the numerous presence of youngsters and children that illuminated the beautiful celebration even more.
On Monday 21st March, “Mother’s Day” was also celebrated in the Holy Land, which significantly falls here on the first day of Spring. The presence of many mothers with their children helps us remember that, after all, today is also the celebration of motherhood and every child is an incredible gift of God. In his homily, the Patriarch Emeritus Michel Sabbah, commenting the Gospel of the Annunciation, recalled how things that are impossible for man are possible for God and how we are summoned, as Christians, to follow the example of Mary and to glorify, through relations of love and peace, the love that God showed us; His Beatitude recalled how the visit to Elizabeth by Mary, in whom the Word had taken shape, was above all a testimony of faith exalted in the Canticle of the Magnificat.
Towards the end of the celebration of the Eucharist, the clergy made a small procession around the oculus that looks on to the house of the Virgin Mary, stopping three times and reading in two parts the prologue of the evangelist John and the Gospel by Matthew, referred to the work of the Holy Spirit. At every stage, the Gospel was placed in the hands of the Patriarch and he blessed the faithful with it. The Scouts collected outside the Basilica and marched to the sound of drums and bagpipes and the drum majors showed off their skills with their batons performed real acrobatics in the air.
A beautiful festivity for a community that never ceases to amaze us with its joyful and youthful vitality. The appointment is tomorrow evening at 8.30 pm for the Marian Torchlight procession in honour of the Mystery of the Annunciation of the Lord.
Photos and article by Marco Gavasso