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Cardinal Pizzaballa’s reflection on Sunday III of Lent

Please view original post on: https://www.lpj.org/en/news/meditation-of-hb-cardinal-pizzaballa-iii-sunday-of-lent-c

March 23, 2025

III Sunday of Lent Year C

Lk 13:1-9

The passage from the Gospel for this third Sunday of Lent (Lk 13:1-9)

focuses on a fundamental theme of the Lenten journey: conversion.

For Lent is also this, a time that is given to us so that we can convert again.

It is Jesus himself who mentions this in the first part of the passage (Lk 13:1-5) in response to some un-known people who come to Jesus to give him dramatic news: some Galileans who had come to Jerusalem to pray were executed by Pilate as they were offering their sacrifices.

A disturbing fact that allows for a religious interpretation: Violent death was indeed a sign of God’s punish-ment for a sin committed.

Jesus starts from this fact and tells another one in the same tone of voice: eighteen people had died in the col-lapse of the tower of Siloe.

Conventional religious thinking suggested that these people had made themselves particularly hateful to God through some fault, for which they rightly deserved this fate. Therefore, it was equally legitimate to think that those who had not suffered such a fate could consider themselves righteous and pleasing to God. We find this way of thinking elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. “Rabbi, who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” – John 9:2)

Jesus distances Himself from this way of thinking with two questions, which he answers himself: Were these people more sinful than others? No, says Jesus. They were not more sinful than others. Jesus says that evil dwells in the heart of every human being in the same way and that no one can feel exempt from the need for conversion. Jesus emphasizes that conversion is a necessity, that every person must realign their relationship with God and reorient themselves, convert to God. Without conversion you perish, you die, because only God is the source of the fullness of life (“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish.” – Lk 13,3).

In the second part of the text (Luke 13:6-9), Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard, but this fig tree bore no fruit. He therefore asked his vintner to cut it down so that it would not pollute the soil unnecessarily. The vinedresser then stops and promises to do things that are quite unusual for a fig tree, such as hoeing the ground around the tree or fertilizing it (Lk 13:8); the lord of the vineyard is persuaded and agrees to leave the tree standing to see if it bears fruit.

At the center of this parable are two verbs in the imperative: the first “Cut it down!” (Lk 13:7), which the Lord says to the vinedresser; the second “Leave it” (Lk 13:8), which the vinedresser says to the Lord.

The former is in fact an expression of that common religious thinking mentioned in the first part of the pas-sage: if someone does not fulfill his religious duties, the Lord God will intervene and remove the sinner. In fact, we also find this image at the beginning of the Gospel, on the lips of John the Baptist, according to which every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire when the Messiah comes (Lk. 3:9).

The second verb, “leave it”, is an expression of the heart of Jesus: the heart in which the entire history of sal-vation is a continuous offering of God’s love for his people. God gives people time to convert, shows pa-tience, offers them the opportunity to change their thinking and lives. Man’s response, which is usually al-ways insufficient, does not condition the gift of God, who instead responds with an excess of heart and care, an overabundance in some ways excessive, just as it is excessive to hoe and fertilize the ground around a fig tree.

So on the one hand, this passage challenges us not to think of ourselves as better than others, but to realize that we are all equally sinners and it is an urgent invitation, a call to the urgency of conversion, to all, without

distinction. On the other hand, it shows the patience of God, who always offers time, who exceeds in his mercy.

In both parts of the text, God is waiting: for a change of heart, for a tree that bears fruit. In short, a sincere response to His offer of life.

So this time, Lent, is a time given back to us, in which a fruit is lovingly and patiently awaited.

+ Pierbattista

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Cardinal Pizzaballa’s message for the second Sunday of Lent

Please see original article at: https://www.lpj.org/en/news/meditation-of-hb-cardinal-pizzaballa-ii-sunday-of-lent-c

March 16, 2025

II Sunday of Lent Year C

Luke 9:28b-36

Today’s Gospel passage (Luke 9:28b-36) begins with some words that the liturgy omits.

They are words that inform us that “about eight days after these sayings” (Luke 9:28) Jesus takes Peter, John and James with him and goes up the mountain and prays. We dwell on these first words: about eight days after these sayings. Luke does not say that the transfiguration takes place about eight days after some facts, some events, but eight days after some sayings.

What are the speeches about?

The discourses in question are told immediately before (Luke 9:18-27), and they are discourses about Peter’s confession of faith and the first announcement of Jesus’ passion and resurrection.

This is the first key to the story we hear today. For the evangelist wants to tell us that the experience of beauty and light that Jesus and his disciples have on the mountain is inextricably linked to the discourse of the cross and love.

There is a mysterious connection between the pain and beauty of life: those who go through the experience of the cross without running away, without cursing, emerge transformed and as new. They become something else. In fact, Luke does not speak of transfiguration, but says that the appearance of his face changed, literally “became other” (Luke 9:29).

The reference to Easter is clear. Indeed, it is primarily the Easter discourse that is “other”. “Other” from the logic of the world, which is characterized by sin and all its parasites, such as the will to possess, to dominate, to overpower. The logic of the cross is different, and it is a logic of life given and offered.

Those who engage in this “exodus” become other, different, become full of light and life.

This “exodus” is also the theme of Jesus’ further conversations with Moses and Elijah, who appear on the mountain (“Moses and Elijah appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” – Lk 9:31). Jesus had spoken to his disciples about eight days earlier about his exodus. And he continues to do so with Elijah and Moses.

They are the two figures of salvation history who both lived on the heights of the mountains, and both experienced their own personal exodus, an exodus that led them to a personal experience, an encounter with God. Now they are witnesses of Jesus’ exodus, which will soon be fulfilled (Lk 9:31).

It is not the same for the disciples. They do not talk to Jesus about his exodus, but on the contrary, every time Jesus talks to them about it again, they understand less and less. On the mountain, the disciples are actually troubled by sleep (“Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep” – Lk 9:32).

Sleep is also a recurring biblical element. When God reveals himself, man struggles to stand before the splendor of his glory and often sleeps. Adam sleeps when God creates the woman (Gen. 2:21). Abraham sleeps when the Lord makes a covenant with him (Gen. 15:12). They sleep because God’s actions remain a mystery and man cannot see them in their fullness.

The important thing, however, is not to remain there, on this mountain, in this sleep. Peter would like to build three huts and stay there, but he does not know what he is saying (“Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” – Luke 9:33).

The Bible clearly states that it is not possible to see God face to face. He is not known face to face, but from behind, on the way, when he has opened the way (“you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.” – Ex 33:23). Therefore, you cannot stand still on the mountain and sleep. You have to go down and follow him on his own path.

It is possible to know him, to see him, to be clothed in his own light of glory, provided we follow him wherever he goes, follow him in his exodus, just as Jesus discussed with his disciples some eight days earlier.

When he told them that anyone who wants to follow him must take up his cross and follow him (“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” – Luke 9,23).

+ Pierbattista

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Meditation by Cardinal Pizzaballa for the First Sunday of Lent

You can find/view the original article here:

https://www.lpj.org/en/news/meditation-of-hb-card-pizzaballa-latin-patriarch-of-jerusalem-56

March 9, 2025

I Sunday in Lent, Year C

Luke 4:1-13

The evangelist Luke places the episode of Jesus’ temptations in

 in the desert immediately after the section on the genealogy (Luke 3:23-38). And unlike Matthew, in his account of the generations that have preceded the birth of Jesus, he goes back not only to Abraham, but even to the first man, Adam.

Chapter 3 of the Gospel therefore ends with the words: “…son of Adam, son of God” (Luke 3:38).

Immediately afterwards, the account of the temptations begins (Luke 4:1-13), and for the reader of the Gospel, the connection is clear and immediate: Adam, the Son of God, is not only the first man, but also the first man to be tempted. The serpent suggests a different word than the Creator had spoken to him, and Adam, together with his wife Eve, listens to it. From the very beginning, man is called upon to face temptation and sin, the freedom to decide for or against goodness and life.

Temptation is therefore the concrete possibility of living one’s humanity not according to God’s original plan, but according to one’s own will, to follow a different path than that which the Creator has set and which is inscribed in the heart of man.

It is God himself who gives man this freedom: He does not force him to obey, but always presents him with two paths so that man can consciously choose to love God. The account in Genesis 3 tells us that this alternative path does not lead to life, but to death, and therefore warns man at all times to examine whether or not he is taking a path of life.

Jesus does not shy away from this drama, which is shared by all people at all times: He too undergoes the suggestion that proposes paths other than that of God the Father.

“Led by the Spirit into the desert” (Lk 4:1), he experiences his own limitations and neediness, and it is there that temptation occurs (“For forty days he was tempted by the devil. During those days he ate nothing, but when they were over, he was hungry” – Lk 4:2).

In what way? What stands between man and the possibility of realizing his humanity in all its fullness?

We do not dwell so much on the temptations, but with Jesus’ answers to Satan, because Jesus does nothing other than put man back in his right place in God’s original plan and correct the distorted image that the devil tries to convey to him.

Firstly, man is the one who hears the Word of God and lives by it (“Jesus answered him: «It is written: One does not live by bread alone»” – Lk. 4:4).

The evidence says that man needs food, bread, in order to live. But this need is not enough to say who man is, that he is inhabited by a deeper hunger. And the hunger for bread is precisely a sign and an indication of this deeper hunger: if we stop at the first, our life will not mature to its fullness.

Temptation suggests that these two needs are antagonistic to each other and that the Father will not give enough bread: We have to get it ourselves.

Jesus, on the other hand, trusts and agrees to be fed by the One who cares for our lives.

Secondly, man only becomes king and lord of his own life at the moment when he prostrates himself before no one more than the God who created him. If he thinks he can gain glory and honor by prostrating himself before the power of the day, he actually becomes its slave and loses himself “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, «Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him»” – Luke 4:7-8).

The temptation suggests that power is more important than freedom. Jesus, on the other hand, does not negotiate with anyone for the glory of God, who is the free and living man.

Finally, man does not become himself when he acts like God, when he exceeds the limits, when he goes beyond his own possibilities.

He does not become better if he does extraordinary things, and he does not get any further if he seeks the looks, admiration and approval of others. He will not find God in this way, but in humble, daily obedience to a law that protects man from himself, that enables him to enter into true relationships and to take his place in the world

Temptation suggests that God, if he is good, will protect man no matter what (“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here”… Jesus answered him, “It is said, «Do not put the Lord your God to the test»” – Luke 4:9-12).

Jesus, on the other hand, protects God from every false image that man makes of Him. And because He loves the Father, He trusts Him without asking Him for proof of His goodness, and He leaves Him free to love as God knows how to love, because it is this love and nothing else that makes man great.

+ Pierbattista

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Latin Patriarch’s Lenten Message

https://www.lpj.org/en/news/lenten-letter

Prot. (1) 403/2025 

 To the diocese of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem 
Lenten Letter 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,  

In this Jubilee year we begin Lent by listening together once again to the proclamation which, through the mouth of the Apostle Paul, fills this special time with hope: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19, second reading of the Ash Wednesday Mass). 

Allow me to share with you some short reflections. 

      1. The Cross of Christ 

This is the heart of Easter, this is the place where the great hope of the Church and the world is born and founded: The violent words of rancor and hatred, the presumptuous speeches of conflict and recrimination cannot prevent God from speaking the word of reconciliation in Christ: Ave Crux, spes unica! 

May Lent, the sacramental sign of our reconciliation, be a new opportunity for us, a renewed gift of the Spirit who leads us into the desert with Christ so that together with him, we can listen, once again to the word of grace and forgiveness. Easter, which we will celebrate in forty days, is in fact not simply the memory of a past event, but the living and present memorial of God’s grace, which reconciles us with himself in the Cross of Christ and makes us new creatures. Through the power of God, we see a reversal of human criteria in the cross of Christ: from vengeance to forgiveness. It is the paschal transformation of death into life, it is the evangelical overcoming of condemnation through forgiveness: “He indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Cor. 5:15.17). 

We need this new word, the word of the Cross, which may seem like foolishness to the powerful and wise of this world and of our time. It is the only word that can reopen paths of hope and peace, by overturning worldly criteria. The Way of the Cross, along which we learn with difficulty, but with joy, the new logic of gift and forgiveness, calls for men and women, young and old, families and children, who are ready to walk it, by renewing their way of thinking and their attitude. Only in this way can we hope for a future in peace. 

Therefore, I would like all of us, individuals and communities, to find space and time during these holy days to contemplate the Cross of Christ, to read and meditate on the Passion narratives, to participate in the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross and, for those who have the possibility, visit the places marked by the Lord’s passage to Calvary and the Sepulcher: may the Crucified One shine in new light before our eyes, who here in this land, took our sin upon himself, even more: “For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21). 

      2. The Sacrament of Reconciliation 

“And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18). 

However, in order to be effective, the word of reconciliation must become a ministry, i.e. the commitment of individuals and communities. The gift is not magical, but must be received, witnessed, lived and shared. So let us all, pastors and lay people, religious men and women, get involved and feel jointly responsible for carrying the word and ministry of reconciliation into the world: “For we are ambassadors for Christ, as if God were appealing through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Cor. 5:20). The grace of reconciliation needs our word, our service, our own life, which reconciles and thus becomes a sign and instrument of reconciliation. It would be superfluous for me to repeat here what I have never tired of repeating everywhere in the terrible months we have experienced. However, we cannot fail to hear the desire, indeed the cry for reconciliation, emanating from so many people and situations that have been wounded, humiliated and offended by the violence and evil that has affected us. Alongside the devastation of the land, there is a devastation of the heart, of relationships, of people, that cries out to be rebuilt. We Christians, who glory in the Cross of Christ, reconciled to God, are called to reconcile with one another and then spread words, gestures and styles of reconciliation. 

In this context, I would like to invite everyone, pastors and the faithful alike, to an authentic, devout and frequent celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, in which the experience of the grace of forgiveness becomes alive and concrete and can therefore inspire and enlighten life.  

If we acknowledge and confess our sin, the evil we indulge in and which leads us astray from the way of the Lord, if we receive the grace of the sacrament which transforms us from enemies to friends and from sinners to the righteous, if we rediscover ourselves as forgiven, accepted and loved, then we will be more ready to accept, love and forgive the enemy too. 

      3. Fasting, prayer and attention to poor 

“We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left.” (2 Cor. 6:3-7). 

Peace, the Easter gift of the Risen Lord to his own and to the world, springs from His glorious wounds, from His life, which He gave out of love to the end. Let us therefore not be afraid to “pay” with the gift of ourselves for the rebirth of reconciled and fraternal communion, of relationship and communion in the midst of so much death and hostility. Restoring and enlarging the spaces, exterior and inner spaces where God’s voice and the expectations of so many brothers and sisters can resound and be heard again can and sometimes does require us to give up something of ourselves, even that which is rightfully ours. We become men and women of reconciliation and peace to the extent that we are also willing to give up even what is rightfully ours, so that love and forgiveness can shine as our way of life. 

Therefore, I ask for a practice of fasting. A renunciation that becomes a gift, returning to fasting with conviction and determination, accompanied by moments of prayer in the family and supported by special attention to the poor in our community. The renunciation of food and everything that burdens the mind and heart, an intense atmosphere of prayer and attention to the poor are the essential foundation of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters. They are an essential condition for the logic of the gift that shares everything to flourish again. The Easter Eucharist, which we will joyfully celebrate in forty days, will then have the true flavor of the love that conquers death. 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not waste this time given to us by the mercy of God. It is not just another Lent: if we want it to be, it can become a different, a new Lent! This holy time can indeed become a jubilee, that is, a time of consolation and reconciliation for this land of ours. It is true that the temptation of resignation is great, given the fragility of social, political and sometimes even community balances and the difficulty of imagining a future. However, we want to dare to hope, which is the daughter of faith. Seventeen hundred years after the Council of Nicea, we firmly affirm that Jesus is truly the eternal Son of God who became man for us. Through his death and resurrection, he has sown an immortal seed of life and redemption in the furrows of history. In the duel between Death and Life the Lord of Life won and His victorious love has triumphed. Let us fight the good fight of faith with Him, in the sure hope that our Christian witness and our ministry of reconciliation will bear fruit! 

May you all have a Holy Lent! 

 Jerusalem, March 3, 2025 

 +Pierbattista Card Pizzaballa 
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem

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Blessed Bartolo Longo to be made Saint

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has published a decree announcing the canonisation of Blessed Bartolo Longo (who became a Knight of our Order in 1925). Once an ardent Satanist, Bartolo repented of his ways and reverted to the faith giving his life to Christ wholeheartedly. In 1906 Bartolo, and his wife, donated the land for the new shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompey. Bartolo devoted his life to the spreading of the faith through the Rosary. He was affectionately called: The Apostle of the Rosary.

Blessed Bartolo’s spiritual writings were approved in 1939; his cause for canonisation was opened in 1947. He was beatified by St John Paul II in 1980 and is now waiting for canonisation by HH Pope Francis.

Please check out this article from EWTN: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/our-lady-of-pompeii-5310

God, Father of mercy, we praise you for having given Blessed Bartolo Longo to human history, ardent apostle of the Rosary and shining example of a layman engaged in the evangelical witness of faith and charity.

We thank you for his extraordinary spiritual journey, his prophetic insights, his tireless efforts for the least and the marginalized, the dedication with which he filially served your Church and built the new city of love in Pompeii.

We pray that Blessed Bartolo Longo will soon be counted among the Saints of the universal Church, so that everyone can follow him as a model of life and seek his intercession.

Amen

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Investiture 2022

Four new Dames and one Knight were added to the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem at the Gibraltar Lieutenancy investiture in 2022. This new cohort of five members had worked closely with the Church and the Order on the Rock for some time before being nominated. We wish them the best for their continued involvement in the Order’s mission as they develop a deeper understanding of their roles and spirituality in the life of the Church and Support of the Holy Land.

New dames:
Mrs E Neish, DHS
Mrs T Mosquera, DHS
Mrs M Pitto, DHS
Mrs S Cortés, DHS

New Knight:
Mr M Hook, KHS.

Here are some highlights of the Vigil at Arms and Investiture itself. 

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Corpus Christi 2022

H.L Mgr C Zammit, KC*HS, Bishop of Gibraltar

Thursday 16th June, 20022, saw a return to the open-air mass and procession for the Corpus Christi feast. H.L Mgr C Zammit, KC*HS, Bishop of Gibraltar and Grand Prior of the local Lieutenancy, presided at the mass. Many diocesan priests were concelebrating, including our priors, Mgr Bear, KCHS and Mgr Azzopardi, KCHS.

CM, Fabian Picardo, QC, looks towards the Altar.

Our Lieutenant, H.E J A Gaggero, KGCHS, headed the contingent of Knights and Dames at the mass. Other local dignitaries were present; they included the Chief Minister, F Picardo, QC; the speaker of the House, Government Ministers, the Deputy Mayor and members of the opposition. Teachers, school children, parents, grandparents and members of different parishes, in effect, a great part of the local community turned up for the celebration.

Blessed Sacrament Procession

Our Chancellor, J Cortés, KC*HS, was heading the Blessed Sacrament procession. He carried the oldest banner in the Diocese. He was assisted by P Lyons, KHS. Our Knights and Dames followed, as did the local clergy and H.L Bishop Zammit (who carried Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in the Monstrance). Our Knights and Dames formed the guard of honour at the Blessed Sacrament altar at the close of Benediction.

H.E J A Gaggero, KGCHS
High Altar, awaiting the Blessed Sacrament

The Knights and Dames also took part in the procession to the Cathedral. Although it was a short procession, it was a great relief to many to welcome back the very popular religious/cultural event, especially after having missed out on processions for so long due to Covid. Members of local Scout and Military Bands played outside the Cathedral as the children who received their first Holy Communion this May processed past.

The beautiful decorations in honour of the Blessed Sacrament

The music for the liturgy was provided by the Loreto Convent Catholic School Choir. The Cathedral Choir led the music for Benediction.

Deus lo Vult

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Grandmaster’s Lenten Reflection, 2022

Listen to His Eminence, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Grandmaster of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, on the link below.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/15432183/quaresima01-en?sp_action=episode-like&utm_campaign=episode-like&utm_medium=app&utm_source=widget
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Our Lady Of Palestine 2021

D Duo, KHS, Lay Master of Ceremonies; H.L. Bishop Zammit, KC*HS; N Sene, KSG, Cross of Merit EOHSJ

Celebrations for the feat of Our Lady of Palestine took place yesterday, October 25th, at the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned. The mass, celebrated by the Grand Prior, H.L. Carmel Zammit, KC*HS, Bishop of Gibraltar, was followed by a drinks reception for members and new candidates. At the reception the Lieutenant, H.E. J Gaggero, KC*HS, addressed the members and candidates present.

Chancellor, Bishop and Lieutenant with Members of the Order and New Candidates

The following text is that of the meditation given by the Lieutenant at the reception.

A Meditation on the Feast of our Lady of Palestine

As we, the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre celebrate the Feast of our Lady of Palestine together with those who will be joining our ranks next year, I have been invited to share some thoughts on our Order and on Our Lady of Palestine.

This Order is intrinsically bound to the Holy Sepulchre from which Jesus rose from the dead 3 days after his passion.

At the start of last supper Jesus said: “‘I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…”. I have often thought that Jesus, the Word of God, had planned for …. had longed for… this Passover from the moment of Adam and Eve’s original sin when he knew that the sin would have to be redeemed.

The Jewish Passover meal follows a very specific structure:

  1. At the Festival Blessing the 1st cup of wine is drunk;
  2. At the Passover Narrative and Little Hallel one drinks the 2nd cup of wine.We are all familiar with the words of the consecration:”Take and eat; this is my body.” and…“Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.” What’s significant here is that Jesus said this was for ALL of us. It wasn’t just for the Jews, and I’ll say a little more about this later.
  1. Then comes the Main Meal where one eats the roasted lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs and spices after which the 3rd cup of wine – Cup of Blessing is drunk.
  2. The Passover is completed with the singing of the Great Hallel and drinking the 4th cup of wine, and it is closed when the priest or host says the phrase, “TEL TELESTI” which is interpreted as “IT IS FINISHED” or “IT IS CONSUMATED”.

Jesus never drank the 4th cup at the Last Supper in the upper room.

Instead, he told his disciples “I tell you, from now on I shall not drink the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you anew in the kingdom of my Father.”

But he knew that there was a final cup to be drunk to complete the Passover Meal.

At Gethsemane he prayed: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will” … and he repeated this prayer another 2 times as he prayed before his arrest.

When they brought him to Golgotha and before they nailed him to the cross, they offered him wine drugged with myrrh to dull the pain, but he didn’t accept it.

It was only after all had been fulfilled that Jesus said, “I thirst” and it was then that he drank wine from a sponge lifted to him on a hyssop branch.

The hyssop branch was the prescribed way that the Jews had been instructed by Moses to bless the Passover lamb before the first Passover.

When Jesus drank the wine, he drank the 4th Cup and completed the Passover Meal and said, “It is Finished” and bowed his head and died.

It was 3 o’clock, the time that the horn of the temple would sound to tell the people that it was time to slaughter the Passover lamb.

The Passover that had started in the Upper Room was completed on the cross.

As a sign that this new covenant was for everyone, at the moment of his death “…the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.”

We come back to the words of the consecration where Jesus said that this was for all of us. Over the millennia God had been including more and more people in his covenants:

God’s first covenant was with Adam and Eve – a husband and a wife – and the basic building block in God’s plan for mankind. This was followed by a covenant with Noah – a family; then with Abraham – a tribe; then Moses – a people; then David – a kingdom.

Each time the circle grew, and more people were included into God’s ever closer covenant relationship with man until finally Jesus instituted a “new and everlasting covenant…for you and for all…so that sins may be forgiven.”

It’s odd to throw in a description of a curtain being torn at the moment of Jesus’ death and to specify that it was “torn from top to bottom”, but the author of Mark’s Gospel was making a very specific point. The curtain he was referring to separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple of Jerusalem.

The Holy of Holies, or Tabernacle, was where God had instructed Moses to place 3 key symbols of God:

1. The tablets of stone on which were written God’s 10 commandments which were contained inside the Ark of the Covenant;

2. The Menorah, which was the lampstand with 7 lamps to be kept lit at all times; and

3. Wine and the Bread of the Presence (in Hebrew “lehem ha pannim” translated literally as “Bread of the Face”), which was 12 cakes of bread prepared by the High Priest each Sabbath.

In these 3 symbols you have the Holy Trinity hidden in the Old Testament! God the Father – represented by the Ark of the Covenant containing the 10 commandments; The Holy Spirit – represented by the Menorah lampstand; and the Son of God, the face of God – the Bread of the Presence and the wine.

Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement. On this day he would come out holding the Bread of the Presence and elevate it before the pilgrims to see saying: “behold God’s love for you!”

In 597 BC, just before the Babylonians destroyed the 1st Temple and Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant and hid it. It has remained hidden ever since.

At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Ark of the Covenant hadn’t been in the Holy of Holies for about 630 years.

When the earth shook and the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom the lamps on the Menorah would have been extinguished. The Holy Spirit had departed and would return to descend on the apostles in the upper room 40 days later at Pentecost.

The third member of the Holy Trinity was nailed on the cross – the lamb of God – as an everlasting sacrifice in atonement for the sins of the world and to complete God’s plan for an ever closer and more perfect union with Man.

If the High Priest had realized whom he had arranged for Pilate to order crucified, he would have truly been able to say on that Day of Atonement: “Behold God’s love for you!”

And all of this might have been lost to history and myth had it not been what happened on the 3rd day when Jesus rose from the dead from the Holy Sepulchre as he had foretold.

If it had all been a lie, his disciples would have lost faith in him and the life and teaching of Jesus would have been forgotten. But it wasn’t… and it hasn’t.

Our Church has its origins in that Holy Sepulchre – in the risen Christ – to which the mission of this Order is so closely tied – and continues under the care of those who have followed in the footsteps of Peter under the protection of the mother of Jesus, whose feast we celebrate today as Our Lady of Palestine.

She is depicted here in this image given to us by our Cardinal Grand Master cradling the New Jerusalem, the Church.

Our mission, given to us by the Holy Father, is to pray for and support the Holy Land where our Lord was born, lived, died and rose from the dead.

John A Gaggero
Lieutenant,
24 October 2021, the Feast of Our Lady of Palestine.

Posted on

Our Lady of Palestine – Meditations from the Grandmaster: No 3 (of 3)

In this last meditation before tomorrow’s feast, the Grandmaster reminds us of the important mission our Blessed Mother continues to perform in the history of salvation.

The Gibraltar Lieutenancy will be celebrating the feat of Our Lady of Palestine tomorrow (25th October, 2021) at the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned. Our Grand Prior, Bishop Carmel Zammit, KC*HS, will preside.

You can access the Grandmaster’s podcast on this link:

http://www.oessh.va/content/ordineequestresantosepolcro/en/podcast/3–la-tua-nuova-esperienza-di-vita.html

Or read it here:

“Your procession, God, has come into view,
    the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary.” (Ps 68:25 NIV).

This is the vision in Psalm 67.

It is not just any procession! It is royal! Immediately, there is a great curiosity:  who is in this procession?

The imaginary is confused with reality. And the reality is a fascinating woman: Mary, dressed as a Queen of the East.

In the Holy Land they still call her “Our Lady of Palestine”.

She is not holding a child in her arms, but the model of Jerusalem, or better the simulacrum of the entire Holy Land, of which she was a daughter and then mother of that new Jerusalem, born at Pentecost, which is the Church.

In October, John Paul II established her liturgical memory and the Christian population has perceived that Mary still has a special mission, which is inexhaustible.

The procession is festive, but only for those who join it and allow themselves to be led by it. So Mary is journeying and she accompanies you who love her, you who believe, and you who stand aside, critical, tired and a little resigned.

She lowers her gaze without reproach, full of consolation and prayer.

Hello there! If you want, please join the procession! It will be a new life experience.
 

Fernando Cardinal Filoni

(October 2021)

End of Quote

Deus lo Vult