For the Custody of the Holy Land, the Solemnity of Saint Francis always takes on a special character. Besides the elaborate arrangements for the receptions, which were made a bit difficult at Saint Saviour’s Monastery in Jerusalem this year by construction work in the curia and the infirmary, it is above all in prayer that the friars have been preparing for several days now to celebrate the Little Poor Man they follow.
First Vespers, under the presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Pierbattista Pizzaballa, are traditionally the occasion for the temporarily professed friars to renew their vows. There were ten of them this year. Before they approached the Custos, he addressed them, reminding them and the numerous other friars present of what they were undertaking. Basing his words on the message of the Minister General of the Order, he recalled that Saint Francis invites us to make a radical choice between God and the world. We are Franciscans in the Church and in fraternal living, even more so since many of the Custody’s communities number three friars or fewer. "A brother is a gift from God."
At the end of Vespers, the Transitus of Saint Francis is commemorated before the feast day continues for the Franciscan seminarians and their guests, the seminarians of the Latin Patriarchate and the Salesian and White Father seminarians.
If the church was full for Vespers of the eve of the feast, it was packed for Mass on October fourth. Following tradition, a Dominican was the main celebrant, Father Guy Tardivy, prior of St. Etienne’s Convent, and the Mass was celebrated in the presence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, the Custos of the Holy Land, and some 90 priests, bringing together the mightiest and humblest, the youngest and the oldest, the Consuls General of the four Latin Protectorate nations (France, Spain, Belgium and Italy) or their representatives, and parishioners from Jerusalem, not to mention brothers and sisters from the many religious congregations present in Jerusalem.
All were united with one heart to give thanks to the Lord for the gift of Saint Francis to the Church. The Custody’s Magnificat choir assured the singing, to which the assembly added their voice.
Brother Hervé Ponsot o.p., the new director of the Ecole Biblique, preached the homily. He invited the assembly to look beyond the poetry of the Fioretti to follow Saint Francis in renouncement of one’s self-image. "This renouncement is not simply pain; it is also repose with Jesus, joy with Francis, peace and mercy with Paul. (…) let us agree to renounce that which we believe ourselves to be so that we can find ourselves as God wants us to be, as he knows us to be."
It remained only, as the celebration continued, to recognize Christ in his Eucharist. Everyone, seduced anew by Christ and the path to follow him that Saint Francis forged, then gathered, at the invitation of Brother Pierbattista for refreshments, following which the Saint Saviour’s community and their guests adjourned to a fraternal meal.
Mab
First Vespers, under the presided by the Custos of the Holy Land, Brother Pierbattista Pizzaballa, are traditionally the occasion for the temporarily professed friars to renew their vows. There were ten of them this year. Before they approached the Custos, he addressed them, reminding them and the numerous other friars present of what they were undertaking. Basing his words on the message of the Minister General of the Order, he recalled that Saint Francis invites us to make a radical choice between God and the world. We are Franciscans in the Church and in fraternal living, even more so since many of the Custody’s communities number three friars or fewer. "A brother is a gift from God."
At the end of Vespers, the Transitus of Saint Francis is commemorated before the feast day continues for the Franciscan seminarians and their guests, the seminarians of the Latin Patriarchate and the Salesian and White Father seminarians.
If the church was full for Vespers of the eve of the feast, it was packed for Mass on October fourth. Following tradition, a Dominican was the main celebrant, Father Guy Tardivy, prior of St. Etienne’s Convent, and the Mass was celebrated in the presence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, the Custos of the Holy Land, and some 90 priests, bringing together the mightiest and humblest, the youngest and the oldest, the Consuls General of the four Latin Protectorate nations (France, Spain, Belgium and Italy) or their representatives, and parishioners from Jerusalem, not to mention brothers and sisters from the many religious congregations present in Jerusalem.
All were united with one heart to give thanks to the Lord for the gift of Saint Francis to the Church. The Custody’s Magnificat choir assured the singing, to which the assembly added their voice.
Brother Hervé Ponsot o.p., the new director of the Ecole Biblique, preached the homily. He invited the assembly to look beyond the poetry of the Fioretti to follow Saint Francis in renouncement of one’s self-image. "This renouncement is not simply pain; it is also repose with Jesus, joy with Francis, peace and mercy with Paul. (…) let us agree to renounce that which we believe ourselves to be so that we can find ourselves as God wants us to be, as he knows us to be."
It remained only, as the celebration continued, to recognize Christ in his Eucharist. Everyone, seduced anew by Christ and the path to follow him that Saint Francis forged, then gathered, at the invitation of Brother Pierbattista for refreshments, following which the Saint Saviour’s community and their guests adjourned to a fraternal meal.
Mab