By Anne-Marie Terrenoir
On Saturday, November 1 in Bethlehem, the inhabitants of Star Street (editor’s note: this is the street along which, according to tradition, Joseph and Mary walked to reach Bethlehem, and which thousands of pilgrims throughout the centuries have walked with faith) looked out of their windows: something that had become unusual in the narrow streets since the beginning of the war. Music, prayer, and joy filled the street!
With the jubilee cross leading the way, our pilgrimage made its way toward the Basilica of the Nativity. We came from Bethlehem, Judea, and Galilee (Haifa and Nazareth).
A few months earlier, some of us from various Movements (Focolare, Comunione e Liberazione, Emmanuel, Koinonia John the Baptist, Regnum Christi) had gathered. We wanted to organize a meeting between the Movements and New Communities, taking advantage of the Jubilee Year of Hope, to see one another and to pray together for peace.
Why not organize a pilgrimage in Bethlehem, where one of the three jubilee basilicas is located, and thus make it easier for local Christians to participate, since obtaining permits to enter Israel is not easy for them?
And why not open it to everyone, to anyone who wished to come?
And why not invite the Patriarch, Cardinal Pizzaballa?
And so, that day we were gathered there—about 150 people—and more kept arriving for the Mass. Also collaborating were the Neocatechumenal Way, Shalom, Canção Nova, the Teresian Association, Béatitudes, Chemin Neuf, and Jesus Alive. It was a beautiful experience, expressed in the words of the Cardinal: “It gives me joy to see the Movements and New Communities working together, because it is a very beautiful sign of belonging to the Church, especially here in our land, where the culture is more focused on defending borders than on the exchange that allows us to cross them.”
After our walk, accompanied by songs, prayer, and testimonies, we entered the Basilica of the Nativity for a time of Eucharistic adoration and confession, before the Mass presided over by the pastor of our diocese.
In the homily for the Mass of All Saints, based on the reading from Revelation (7:2–4; 9–14), Cardinal Pizzaballa reflected that the Holy Land needs people willing to stop the devastation being experienced, because they are ready to give their lives out of love. “Saints are not perfect people, but people like us who, upon encountering Jesus Christ, discover the experience of salvation and desire to proclaim it wherever they go. For this reason, the Holy Spirit continues to raise up new realities in the Church that help us look beyond our borders, to see what we cannot always see immediately, to see and reach people whom we often do not notice. But be careful: never fall into the temptation of results. We may not see the fruits of what we sow. The Jubilee is the experience of a new beginning. We desire to be the children of God described in Revelation, ready not only to stop the devastation but also to build the Kingdom of God.”