The first stage of the Franciscan peregrinations of Lent took place on Wednesday 16 March at the Sanctuary of Dominus Flevit, on Mount of Olives. The Latin name of the sanctuary – literally “the Lord wept” – recalls the Gospel episode in which Jesus, entering Jerusalem, looked at the holy city and wept over it: "If this day you only knew what makes for peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. […] they will not leave one […]
Forty days after the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, in the Catholic tradition, 2nd February is the day when Jesus was presented to the temple by Mary and Joseph. The feast-day, called “Candlemas” because with the presentation at the Temple he was formally subjected to the requirements of the law, but in reality he was meeting his people who awaited him in the faith, becoming “light to illuminate peoples”: hence the rite of the blessing of the candles. […]
