The Eucharist was celebrated in the Church of the Greek Catholic Patriarchate for the Fifteenth Day for Consecrated Life, established by Pope John Paul II on Tuesday 1st February, the day before the feast-day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.
Monsignor Youssef Jules Zreyi presided the Holy Mass in the Melkite rite in this very beautiful church, brightly coloured by the icons frescoed on all the walls.
Mons. Zreyi greeted all the consecrated people and the faithful attending the celebration, trying to understand first of all in which language to address the assembly made up of many different nationalities, deciding in the end for Arabic and French. “I want to begin this reflection not by talking about consecrated life, but salvation,” and, pointing to the icon portraying St. Joseph with the Virgin Mary presenting Jesus at the Temple, His Excellency dwelled on the words of the Canticle of Simeon “… for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles ….”. “Salvation,” His Excellency recalled emphatically, “is above all meeting the infinite Love of God, recognizing it and changing our lives after this encounter …. A consecrated person is the person who has directly experienced the Love of God.”
Mons. Zreyi recalled that when he was a child and he went to Mass, he would see the nuns approach the Eucharist and immediately afterwards they would cover their faces turning over their veils. The youngster was puzzled by this gesture until he understood that by hiding their faces, they wanted to be alone with the Beloved, contemplate his Love and Salvation.
At the end of the celebration, everybody gathered in the hall of the Patriarchate to share hot drinks and cakes, with the participation of Mons. Zreyi as well. Despite the rain which for a few days has blessed Jerusalem after such a long period of drought, inside the Greek-Latin Patriarchate, there was the warmth of many lives consecrated to the Lord because their eyes have seen Salvation.
Marco Gavasso
Mons. Zreyi greeted all the consecrated people and the faithful attending the celebration, trying to understand first of all in which language to address the assembly made up of many different nationalities, deciding in the end for Arabic and French. “I want to begin this reflection not by talking about consecrated life, but salvation,” and, pointing to the icon portraying St. Joseph with the Virgin Mary presenting Jesus at the Temple, His Excellency dwelled on the words of the Canticle of Simeon “… for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles ….”. “Salvation,” His Excellency recalled emphatically, “is above all meeting the infinite Love of God, recognizing it and changing our lives after this encounter …. A consecrated person is the person who has directly experienced the Love of God.”
Mons. Zreyi recalled that when he was a child and he went to Mass, he would see the nuns approach the Eucharist and immediately afterwards they would cover their faces turning over their veils. The youngster was puzzled by this gesture until he understood that by hiding their faces, they wanted to be alone with the Beloved, contemplate his Love and Salvation.
At the end of the celebration, everybody gathered in the hall of the Patriarchate to share hot drinks and cakes, with the participation of Mons. Zreyi as well. Despite the rain which for a few days has blessed Jerusalem after such a long period of drought, inside the Greek-Latin Patriarchate, there was the warmth of many lives consecrated to the Lord because their eyes have seen Salvation.
Marco Gavasso