On the threshold of Holy Week, the city of Nazareth interrupted Lent long enough to celebrate the Annunciation.
In the early afternoon of Wednesday, March 24, the scouts had gathered in the parish center to await feverishly the arrival of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Msgr. Fouad Twal.
The procession leading the Patriarch together with his auxiliary bishops, Msgr. Kamal Hanna Batish and Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, auxiliary bishop and patriarchal vicar for Israel, the parish priest, Friar Amjad Sabbara, ofm, and members of the municipal and parish councils, left the parish center preceded by the scouts, many men and women religious and representatives of the Melkite Church and of the Greek and Coptic Orthodox Churches. They arrived at the basilica, where the city’s mayor, standing next to Friar Ricardo Bustos, the guardian of the city’s Franciscan community, surrounded by his brethren and Franciscan seminarians who, as every year, had come from Jerusalem to ensure the liturgical service, were waiting to welcome the Patriarch at the foot of the convent.
After the aspersion at the doors of the basilica and the solemn entry, the large assembly sang Vespers with one voice.
If the solemn entry as well as the Mass of the feast take place in the upper basilica, a crowd made up of local faithful and of pilgrims met in the evening in front of the grotto for a vigil of very prayerful adoration in which songs alternated with times of silence.
Thursday, March 25. Outside the basilica and for a long time before Mass began, the scouts gave a show to the greatest pleasure of the tourists and pilgrims, who were struck upon hearing bagpipes played by Arab Christian scouts displaying the Israeli flag and wonderful white gaiters on which were their tartan trimmings. When they played a Russian folkloric song, the cultural shock was complete!
As the assembly gradually took their places In the basilica, the Legion of Mary had them pray the rosary.
At 10 a.m. some forty priests preceded the Patriarch at his entry into the basilica. The Mass, assisted by representatives of the sister Churches including an Armenian bishop, was recollected and joyful.
During the recitation of the Creed, the Patriarch and all who were in the choir, knelt while saying the words: “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine et Homo factus est.” These few words sum up the entire feast.
But to mark even more this unique mystery of the Word’s Incarnation, which took place here in Nazareth in Mary’s house over which the basilica is built, the Patriarch, accompanied by the bishops who were present, the guardian, the parish priest and a few other priests, made the pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the lower basilica. However, in order to make it possible for the large crowd to be united with this veneration, the pilgrimage consisted in going around the oculus, from which it is possible to see the sanctuary from the upper basilica.
This pilgrimage was marked by three reading of the Gospel: the Prologue of Saint John (Jn 1:1-8): “In the beginning was the Word”; then again from Saint John, the announcement of the Incarnation (Jn 1:9-18), “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory”; and finally in the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 1:18-25) the double acceptance by Mary and Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, to you; for the one she has conceived is of the Holy Spirit.”
This liturgical form is new; in fact, this was only the third year in which it was celebrated in Nazareth. For this recent sanctuary [1], the Custody’s liturgists wanted to give a liturgical form that is in relationship with the ancient tradition of the holy places. This pilgrimage with three proclamations of the Gospel in order to mark the Trinitarian aspect of the Incarnation was created based on the model of the quadruple proclamation of the gospel that occurs around the empty Tomb on Easter Day in the Basilica of the Resurrection and that marks the four cardinal points. The pilgrimage continued by praying the Angelus, led by the Patriarch.
For the past two years, at the request of His Beatitude, Msgr. Twal, the Mass has ended with the solemn final blessing, which in the name of the Holy Father, grants to the faithful who “are present and animated with true contrition” the blessing with a plenary indulgence.
The packed basilica emptied and the whole assembly met on the square in front of the basilica to present their joyful feast day wishes to the Patriarch and to the bishops who were with him. And the scouts continued their parade, causing the sound of the feast rise up to the city.
Who knows whether next year, Christians and Muslims from the Holy Land won’t follow the example of their Lebanese brothers and sisters, who with the agreement of the Lebanese government, made of this day dedicated to the Virgin Mary a “common Muslim-Christian national feast”, the objective of which is to create bridges between the two religions thanks to the Virgin Mary, who holds a place of predilection both with Catholics and in Islam.
Mab
[1] The Franciscans gained possession of the sanctuary in 1620, though the efforts of the Custos of the Holy Land, Tommaso Obicini and the benevolence of the Druze emir Fakr ed-Din, prince of Sidon. In 1730 a small church could be built, which would last, with some modifications, until 1954. That year it was decided to undertake archaeological excavations, led by Father Bellarmino Bagatti, and to build the modern basilica (architect - G. Muzio) that was inaugurated in 1969.
In the early afternoon of Wednesday, March 24, the scouts had gathered in the parish center to await feverishly the arrival of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Msgr. Fouad Twal.
The procession leading the Patriarch together with his auxiliary bishops, Msgr. Kamal Hanna Batish and Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, auxiliary bishop and patriarchal vicar for Israel, the parish priest, Friar Amjad Sabbara, ofm, and members of the municipal and parish councils, left the parish center preceded by the scouts, many men and women religious and representatives of the Melkite Church and of the Greek and Coptic Orthodox Churches. They arrived at the basilica, where the city’s mayor, standing next to Friar Ricardo Bustos, the guardian of the city’s Franciscan community, surrounded by his brethren and Franciscan seminarians who, as every year, had come from Jerusalem to ensure the liturgical service, were waiting to welcome the Patriarch at the foot of the convent.
After the aspersion at the doors of the basilica and the solemn entry, the large assembly sang Vespers with one voice.
If the solemn entry as well as the Mass of the feast take place in the upper basilica, a crowd made up of local faithful and of pilgrims met in the evening in front of the grotto for a vigil of very prayerful adoration in which songs alternated with times of silence.
Thursday, March 25. Outside the basilica and for a long time before Mass began, the scouts gave a show to the greatest pleasure of the tourists and pilgrims, who were struck upon hearing bagpipes played by Arab Christian scouts displaying the Israeli flag and wonderful white gaiters on which were their tartan trimmings. When they played a Russian folkloric song, the cultural shock was complete!
As the assembly gradually took their places In the basilica, the Legion of Mary had them pray the rosary.
At 10 a.m. some forty priests preceded the Patriarch at his entry into the basilica. The Mass, assisted by representatives of the sister Churches including an Armenian bishop, was recollected and joyful.
During the recitation of the Creed, the Patriarch and all who were in the choir, knelt while saying the words: “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine et Homo factus est.” These few words sum up the entire feast.
But to mark even more this unique mystery of the Word’s Incarnation, which took place here in Nazareth in Mary’s house over which the basilica is built, the Patriarch, accompanied by the bishops who were present, the guardian, the parish priest and a few other priests, made the pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the lower basilica. However, in order to make it possible for the large crowd to be united with this veneration, the pilgrimage consisted in going around the oculus, from which it is possible to see the sanctuary from the upper basilica.
This pilgrimage was marked by three reading of the Gospel: the Prologue of Saint John (Jn 1:1-8): “In the beginning was the Word”; then again from Saint John, the announcement of the Incarnation (Jn 1:9-18), “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory”; and finally in the Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 1:18-25) the double acceptance by Mary and Joseph: “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, to you; for the one she has conceived is of the Holy Spirit.”
This liturgical form is new; in fact, this was only the third year in which it was celebrated in Nazareth. For this recent sanctuary [1], the Custody’s liturgists wanted to give a liturgical form that is in relationship with the ancient tradition of the holy places. This pilgrimage with three proclamations of the Gospel in order to mark the Trinitarian aspect of the Incarnation was created based on the model of the quadruple proclamation of the gospel that occurs around the empty Tomb on Easter Day in the Basilica of the Resurrection and that marks the four cardinal points. The pilgrimage continued by praying the Angelus, led by the Patriarch.
For the past two years, at the request of His Beatitude, Msgr. Twal, the Mass has ended with the solemn final blessing, which in the name of the Holy Father, grants to the faithful who “are present and animated with true contrition” the blessing with a plenary indulgence.
The packed basilica emptied and the whole assembly met on the square in front of the basilica to present their joyful feast day wishes to the Patriarch and to the bishops who were with him. And the scouts continued their parade, causing the sound of the feast rise up to the city.
Who knows whether next year, Christians and Muslims from the Holy Land won’t follow the example of their Lebanese brothers and sisters, who with the agreement of the Lebanese government, made of this day dedicated to the Virgin Mary a “common Muslim-Christian national feast”, the objective of which is to create bridges between the two religions thanks to the Virgin Mary, who holds a place of predilection both with Catholics and in Islam.
Mab
[1] The Franciscans gained possession of the sanctuary in 1620, though the efforts of the Custos of the Holy Land, Tommaso Obicini and the benevolence of the Druze emir Fakr ed-Din, prince of Sidon. In 1730 a small church could be built, which would last, with some modifications, until 1954. That year it was decided to undertake archaeological excavations, led by Father Bellarmino Bagatti, and to build the modern basilica (architect - G. Muzio) that was inaugurated in 1969.