Tag Archives: Latin Patriarchate Jerusalem

“We are not killing, fighting, just praying”

27 Feb

One day I will celebrate Mass on a Friday afternoon in an olive grove in Beit Jala with Father Ibrahim Shomali in prayerful protest of the land confiscation and the building of the separation wall at the Cremisan monastery, ensha’allah (God willing). 

Father Shomali is the parish priest of the Catholic Church of the Annunciation, in which I have celebrated Mass on several occasions. I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Latin Patriarchate seminary, which is connected to the parish church in Beit Jala, and at which I have been honored to speak to the new seminarians under the care of Father Faysal Hijazeen shortly after their arrival for the new school year. I have visited the children and teachers at the Latin Patriarchate School on numerous occasions, and in 2008 I was humbled and delighted with an invitation to address the high school graduates and their families at the graduation ceremony on the outdoor plaza overlooking Bethlehem. I have walked from the Beit Jala parish to the Cremisan monastery to buy wine to bring home with me. I know Beit Jala. I know the people of Beit Jala and I know Father Ibrahim, and am blessed to be able to call them my friends.

They need my prayers – and yours! They deserve my attention – and yours! 

At the Friday afternoon Mass they are not killing, fighting – just praying.

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at station #5 and #12

23 Jan

In honor of our partnership with the Holy Land, our St. Andrew Welcome Connection – the committee of parishioners who welcome new parishioners – gives to every new member an olive wood rosary. In our partnership and in our prayer we hope to help the Christians in the Holy Land, so that they will know that they do not carry their cross all by themselves.

This message is with the rosary:

This rosary was made by the Rosary Makers of St. Andrew Parish using olivewood beads from the Holy Land.  The beads were shaped by Palestinian hands in and around Bethlehem.  The knots tied in the cord were made by the hands of a member of St. Andrew who lives in or around Milford.  This rosary is a symbol of the partnership between the Christians of St. Andrew Parish in Milford and the Christians of Annunciation Parish in Beit Jala, Palestine.

We hope that every time you use this rosary, you say a prayer for our Christian brothers and sisters in Beit Jala.

“We notice around your church the Stations of the Cross…You are at station number 12 – you are being crucified with Christ.  We are at station number 5 – we can be Simon of Cyrene for you to help you carry your cross” (from a homily given by Father Rob Waller at Annunciation Church, Beit Jala, Palestine, July 18, 2005).

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the “we” will mean something different

11 Jan

At the end of our first two-hour session, with our minds on our June 2012 Pilgrimage of Hope to the Holy Land, we sang “The Servant Song.” We will sing this hymn often, as we continue to prepare “for” pilgrimage together in June, and as we remember that we are already “on” pilgrimage together right now. 

When we arrive in the Holy Land, we will sing this hymn with our brother and sister Christians in Jordan, Israel and Palestine. Imagine the feel of the words, as we alternate verses between the Americans and the Arabs. The “we” will mean something different to us then. The hymn will take on new meaning.   

Will you let me be your servant?
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I may have the grace,
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey,
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other,
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ light for you,
In the night-time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you,
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping,
When you laugh I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow,
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony.
Born of all we’ve known together,
Of Christ’s love and agony.

Will you let me be your servant?
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I may have the grace,
To let you be my servant, too.

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to Our Lady of Palestine

10 Jan

The preparations for the next HOPE (Holy Land Outreach to Palestinian Educators) pilgrimage have begun. Twenty-two of us, more than half of them teachers themselves, will visit and interact with teachers and administrators in the Latin Patriarchate schools in Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

This pilgrimage is the third step in what is hoped will be a lasting relationship. American teachers have been to the Holy Land. Holy Land teachers have been to America. With this pilgrimage, the partnership in learning continues: another group of American teachers will be on their way to the Holy Land in June 2012.

At the very beginning of our preparation, we prayed a “Prayer to Our Lady of Palestine.”

O Mary Immaculate,
gracious Queen of Heaven and of Earth,
behold us prostrate before thy exalted throne.
Full of confidence in thy goodness
and in thy boundless power,
we beseech thee to turn a pitying glance upon Palestine,
which more than any other country belongs to thee,
since thou hast graced it with thy birth,
thy virtues and thy sorrows,
and from there hast given the Redeemer to the world.

Remember that there especially
thou wert constituted our tender Mother,
the dispenser of graces.
Watch, therefore, with special protection
over thy native country,
scatter from it the shades of error,
for it was there the Sun of Eternal Justice shone.

Bring about the speedy fulfillment of the promise,
which issued from the lips of Thy Divine Son,
that there should be one fold and one Shepherd.

Obtain for us all that we may serve the Lord
in sanctity and justice during the days of our life,
so that, by the merits of Jesus
and with thy motherly aid,
we may pass at last from this earthly Jerusalem
to the splendors of the heavenly one.

Amen.

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Bethlehem: “Let us tear down the walls”

26 Dec

Below are excerpts of the 2011 Christmas homily of His Beatitude Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, close to the Holy Grotto where the Virgin Mary swaddled her son and laid him in a manger. The full text is on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

– The song of the angels in the sky above Bethlehem more than two thousand years ago still echoes: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth.”

– If we glorify God, we shall enjoy his peace. If we glorify ourselves, we shall be denied this peace.

– Among all the continents and countries of the world, God chose Palestine, our beloved land, to be the homeland of the Saviour … and so, we are duty-bound to follow the host of angels in forever repeating: “Glory to God in the highest”.

– We are one with our people, for their suffering … their hopes are our own.

– We hope that, with the grace of God and with the support of people of goodwill, the physical and psychological walls that men build around themselves may disappear. God wants bridges that unite rather than walls that separate that which God has united. Dear brothers and sisters let us tear down the walls of our hearts in order to tear down walls of concrete!

– We ask that the road travelled by our ancestors – the Magi and the shepherds – to Bethlehem should remain open, without barriers or hindrance, open to the pilgrims of the whole world, including the Arab world.

– And on this holy night, the children of the Holy Land, fellow citizens of the Infant Jesus, beg us: “Let us grow up as normal children, grant us the time to play in the squares and market places of our towns and villages far from political intrigue.”

– O Child of Bethlehem, in this New Year, we place in your hands this troubled Middle East and, above all, our youth full of legitimate aspirations, who are frustrated by the economic and political situation, and in search of a better future. We implore you to grant their wishes and fill their hearts with courage and wisdom together with a spirit of responsibility.

+ Fouad Twal, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

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