On Sunday, April 28th (Easter season), religious communities of the Mount of Olives, gathered to pray for peace. We first attended Holy Mass in the Our Father Church of Carmel monastery at 3 pm, and then shared a glass of friendship on the terrace of our Benedictine neighbours, overlooking the city of Jerusalem, before praying Vespers in their chapel at 5 pm.
We were almost forty to gather together. The Holy Mass was presided by Mgr Natale Albino, the Delegation's deputy head of mission. He gave us a rich homily regarding the meaning of our being here on the Mount of Olives: a haven of beauty and peace where Jesus loved to retreat with his disciples; where nature has for centuries sheltered the famous olive trees, precious trees among all. Their fruits and oil are "the first fruits of the Kingdom that we offer to God and to the world", through our lives dedicated to the Lord.
This mount has been home to many monasteries and religious communities over the years. They too, have also "borne fruit from which we benefit today, both spiritually (all the divine grace that has reached us) and materially (the buildings and properties we live in)". Mgr Natale encouraged us that this Mountain still be rich in the future, in perseverance and hope, amidst the tensions and war ongoing in the country. He invited us to build the future, in the expectation of the Lord's return; "not a passive expectation, but a laborious and enterprising one, which produces the oil necessary for the vigil and prepares the Lord's return", by discerning "what needs to be done, and doing it concretely".
In conclusion, he said: "It's wonderful that in our communities we are all continuing to plant olive trees. They will be witnesses of our passage on this mount and also of the prayer that today, in this Mass, we are raising up for the religious men and women who will come here in the coming centuries, to pray for peace and the return of our Lord Jesus Christ".
All of us are praying altogether, in communion of faith, so this war may end. The suffering of the innocent victims of these conflicts has already reached its peak.
The city of Jerusalem and all the Holy Places are silent, we can no longer hear the songs of the pilgrims in our chapel of the Pater Noster. We are in concrete solidarity with the inhabitants of our country who no longer benefit of incomes linked to pilgrimages and tourism. With all, here, we continue to live in the hope of a new day.
We are grateful to all of you who are thinking of us and praying in communion with us for peace to return to this blessed and holy land!
Your Sisters, Carmelite nuns of Pater Noster Monastery, Jerusalem
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