On Thursday 29th July, Jerusalem celebrated Sts. Lazarus, Martha and Mary and the Custody made a pilgrimage to the Franciscan sanctuary of Bethany which is next to the tomb of Lazarus.
At this early hour and at the height of the summer, the pilgrimage would not have attracted many people – about ten Friars Minor, a few indefatigable parishioners from Jerusalem and nuns – if a group of some forty priests from South America, in formation at the Notre Dame Center, had not joined them.
Arriving early, the first pilgrims were able to visit the site guided by Friar Artemio Vítores, the Custodial Vicar.
Whilst a group of pilgrims celebrated in the chapel known as the Crusaders’ Chapel, Friar Artemio said Mass in the sanctuary’s church.
In his homily, he underlined that it is in this house of friendship that we can best understand the heart of Jesus. Similarly, it is in the quality of the relationship that he had with Martha and Mary that we can better understand the freedom of Jesus in his relations with women, despite the practices of his time. It was also the occasion to remember another friend, Friar Ignacio Peña who, the day before, had returned to the house of the father after a full life in the service of the Custody and the ordeal of ending his life in suffering.
After Mass, refreshments preceded the visit and prayer at the tomb of Lazarus. This place has become a Muslim site and has an adjoining mosque but – as at the Ascension and at the Cenacle - the Franciscans have been given the possibility to celebrate Mass once a year and they did so that very morning at 6 a.m.
Let’s hope that the improvements to the street, which is now much prettier and has souvenir shops, attracts the pilgrims the local authorities are hoping for.
However, according to Friar Michael Sarquah ofm of the fraternity of Bethany, the situation of the sanctuary, completely hemmed in and cut off from Jerusalem by the Israeli “security fence” dissuades the majority of pilgrims from stopping here on their way to Jericho.
Because of this, the pilgrims had to make a long detour to follow the pilgrimage of the day which was to take them from Bethany to the top of the Mount of Olives, which is very nearby. At least close enough for the Franciscan pilgrimage to be made on foot until the 1960s.
Two stops, the first at the Ascension, the second at the Carmel of the Pater allowed new processions and readings of the Gospel and concluded the pilgrimage in the footsteps of Jesus.
The next occasion for the Custody to make a pilgrimage, following the liturgy, will be 6th August to Mount Tabor and then 15th August to the Tomb of the Virgin Mary.
All those who can and wish to do so are warmly invited to join the pilgrimage.
Mab
