Celebrating the Franciscan Centenary does not only mean remembering a saint who lived eight centuries ago, but celebrating a figure who brings to light what is truly essential. Among Christians, but also among non-believers. A man who lived in the past but is still relevant today. An existence that, as recalled by the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, was "first and foremost, an encounter with Christ."
This is one of the messages launched during the interreligious meeting that took place on Friday, June 26 in Ein Karem, in the convent of Saint John in Montana. A meeting focused on the figure of St. Francis of Assisi, on that of St. John the Baptist and on the dialogue between different faiths read through the history of the Holy Land. Fr. Ielpo retraced the life of the saint of Assisi, underlining the various aspects of his spirituality. Particular attention was dedicated to the meeting with the sultan Malik al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. "Francis showed that dialogue begins when one has the courage to meet the other without fear. He was not looking for compromises, he was looking for people," stated the Father Custos, because "for Francis peace is always born from an encounter." And in a meeting like the one in Ein Karem, the call to dialogue was also essential to pave the way for the other interventions of the experts.
After Peppi Yakiravitz, president of the Ein Karem Committee, Hanna Werman, professor of history of the Jewish people at the Ben Gurion University, and Dudi Mevorach, senior curator for the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine period of the Israel Museum, took the floor. Readings that concerned the figure of St. John the Baptist in the history of the Holy Land to then move into the church of the convent, where the greetings of Fr. George, superior of the Convent of Saint John in Montana, were followed by the concert of the Magnificat Institute. A meeting that ended among the applause of the participants to remind that dialogue can only be born from culture and mutual understanding.
Lorenzo Vita
