The Custos of the Holy Land celebrated Mary’s visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, in Ain Kerem, the very place of the Visitation.
Welcomed by Fr. Wladyslaw Brzezinski, the guardian of the convent, the Franciscan friars celebrated the Mass of the feast day in the upper church, leaving the grotto of the Visitation to the pilgrims who visited it in a never-ending stream.
The Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, presided the celebration, together with two bishops, one from Canada and the other Czech. The Friars of the Custody were also joined by a group of 24 Brazilian Franciscans, on a pilgrimage in the steps of St. Francis in Italy and the Holy Land as part of their continuing formation and to reflect on the gift of their vocation. The journey, initiated by the Brazilian conference, is offered to the professed friars after 25 years.
In his homily, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa presented the interpretation of the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth suggested by Father Manns of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, as the joyous encounter of the Old and the New Testaments, an embrace in the story of the Salvation, a leap of joy under the impetus of the Holy Spirit.
David’s exclamation before the Ark of the Alliance “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Sam 6,2-12) is answered by Elizabeth’s: : “And how does it happen to me, that the mother of my Lord, should come to me?”
The Custos also invited the assembly to follow the examples of Elizabeth and Mary, who both did their utmost to obey the creative action of the Word of God. Because the Word of God – recalled Fr. Pierbattista – is always creative, it acts in depth and is a powerful Word that can make us move. “Let us be embraced by this Word, which is living today, creating today and which today moves all things, but which also needs our acceptance, with the same generosity and the same care as Elizabeth and Mary.”
At the end of the celebration, the assembly went in a procession to the Grotto of the Visitation to receive the blessing of the Custos and then everybody gathered in the garden of the convent for refreshments.
In the afternoon, the parish of Jerusalem also celebrated the end of the Marian month with a Mass celebrated by the parish priest, the Franciscan Ibrahim Faltas, accompanied by his vicars and two Italian priests, at the head of a group from Modena. Mons. William Shomali, recently consecrated bishop, joined the celebration before leading the procession with the icon of the Holy Virgin from St. Saviour to the Patriarchate, via the Frères’ Schools.
The joy of the veneration for the Virgin Mary however, did not let the large assembly of faithful forget the distressing events that marked this day, after the Israeli army had stopped, with the consequences we know, the boats that were trying to force the blockade of Gaza.
There were some incidents in the afternoon in the Old City and several shops closed, the music was silenced everywhere and the scouts who opened the Marian procession arrived without their instruments. Only the bells of the Patriarchate and of St. Saviour pealed out to us that our hope lies in God and that it was Mary who was able to hope against all hope. May the daughter of Sion watch over each and every one of us.
Mab
Welcomed by Fr. Wladyslaw Brzezinski, the guardian of the convent, the Franciscan friars celebrated the Mass of the feast day in the upper church, leaving the grotto of the Visitation to the pilgrims who visited it in a never-ending stream.
The Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, presided the celebration, together with two bishops, one from Canada and the other Czech. The Friars of the Custody were also joined by a group of 24 Brazilian Franciscans, on a pilgrimage in the steps of St. Francis in Italy and the Holy Land as part of their continuing formation and to reflect on the gift of their vocation. The journey, initiated by the Brazilian conference, is offered to the professed friars after 25 years.
In his homily, Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa presented the interpretation of the encounter between Mary and Elizabeth suggested by Father Manns of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, as the joyous encounter of the Old and the New Testaments, an embrace in the story of the Salvation, a leap of joy under the impetus of the Holy Spirit.
David’s exclamation before the Ark of the Alliance “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Sam 6,2-12) is answered by Elizabeth’s: : “And how does it happen to me, that the mother of my Lord, should come to me?”
The Custos also invited the assembly to follow the examples of Elizabeth and Mary, who both did their utmost to obey the creative action of the Word of God. Because the Word of God – recalled Fr. Pierbattista – is always creative, it acts in depth and is a powerful Word that can make us move. “Let us be embraced by this Word, which is living today, creating today and which today moves all things, but which also needs our acceptance, with the same generosity and the same care as Elizabeth and Mary.”
At the end of the celebration, the assembly went in a procession to the Grotto of the Visitation to receive the blessing of the Custos and then everybody gathered in the garden of the convent for refreshments.
In the afternoon, the parish of Jerusalem also celebrated the end of the Marian month with a Mass celebrated by the parish priest, the Franciscan Ibrahim Faltas, accompanied by his vicars and two Italian priests, at the head of a group from Modena. Mons. William Shomali, recently consecrated bishop, joined the celebration before leading the procession with the icon of the Holy Virgin from St. Saviour to the Patriarchate, via the Frères’ Schools.
The joy of the veneration for the Virgin Mary however, did not let the large assembly of faithful forget the distressing events that marked this day, after the Israeli army had stopped, with the consequences we know, the boats that were trying to force the blockade of Gaza.
There were some incidents in the afternoon in the Old City and several shops closed, the music was silenced everywhere and the scouts who opened the Marian procession arrived without their instruments. Only the bells of the Patriarchate and of St. Saviour pealed out to us that our hope lies in God and that it was Mary who was able to hope against all hope. May the daughter of Sion watch over each and every one of us.
Mab