Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, spoke about the “courage” and “folly” of working for peace during his homily during the Solemnity Mass of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Mary, Mother of God, on 1 January 2024, in the Pro-Cathedral of the Latin Patriarchate, in Jerusalem.
“May the Lord give you peace,” a Franciscan message of greeting, echoed several times in the celebrations of the end of the year and the beginning of the new year in the Holy Land.
The words echoed the wishes of Christians, who inaugurated the new civil year on January 1 (while Jews and Muslims celebrate the new year on different dates).
This greeting “says a great truth, that peace comes from Him, from the Lord Jesus,” emphasized Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the Mass celebrated on January 1, Solemnity of the Most Holy Mary, Mother of God, and 57th World Day of Peace.
The Mass was celebrated in the church of the Latin Patriarchate, the Pro-Cathedral of Jerusalem. Accompanying Cardinal Pizzaballa, among the concelebrants was Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher, who is currently on a solidarity visit to the Holy Land together with the Governor General of the Order, Leonardo Visconti di Modrone.
In his homily, the patriarch spoke about the “courage” and “madness” of peace: “Jesus did not solve any of the social and political problems of his time, but he pointed out a path, which even today is the main path for those who want to build contexts of peace, also here, today, in the tormented and conflictive Middle East: the encounter.”
The patriarch challenged Christians in the Holy Land to “make that difference.”
“I am increasingly convinced that, in this complex context, the vocation and main mission of the small Christian community is precisely this: to safeguard the desire for encounter, to cultivate the freedom of all, to overcome ethnic, religious and identity boundaries.”
“It is my dream and it is the madness that I would like to share with all this small and dear Church of Jerusalem,” said Cardinal Pizzaballa.
The words that Saint Francis embraced in greeting are found in the book of Numbers in the Old Testament: “May the Lord reveal his face to you and grant you peace.”
Father Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, told journalists present at the Mass: “The face of God that shines upon us is the face of Jesus. From the Holy Land, we must continue to present the face of Jesus: the Holy Places They are the historical testimony of the face of Jesus, and being Christians of the Holy Land means invoking the face of Jesus”.
The plea for peace was also heard at recent year-end celebrations. On December 31, in Nazareth, the Holy Family was solemnly celebrated. Precisely here, after returning from Egypt, Saint Joseph established his family home.
The Custos of the Holy Land, who presided over the Mass, asked for prayers for the families suffering from the war and for all families, so that they do not lose hope and courage in the face of daily challenges.
A young couple expecting their first child processed with an icon of the Holy Family to the place that tradition indicates as the house where Jesus grew up with Joseph and Mary, “and lived subject to them,” just a few meters from the Basilica of the Annunciation.
The desire for peace also resonated in the Te Deum of the Church of San Salvador, in Jerusalem. Cardinals Pizzaballa and Filoni joined the prayer of the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land. Before the Blessed Sacrament, exposed during Vespers, hymns of praise resounded along with the prayer that “God grant peace to all.”