In the afternoon of  7 October, the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land gathered in St Savior’s church in Jerusalem to pray the Rosary together and ask God for the gift of peace in the Holy Land and in the world, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.  Other initiatives were held in the various communities.

The Rosary at St. Savior’s

The prayer at St Savior’s was presided over by the Custos, Fra Francesco Patton. For the occasion, an icon of the Virgin Mary was placed at the foot of the altar. With this public gesture, which many faithful followed, the Custody wanted to  answer the invitation   by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Pope to dedicate this day – one year from the start of the war -  to prayer, fasting and penitence.

Each Mystery of the Rosary was introduced by a brief reading and by an intention of prayer. The decades of the Rosary were recited in different languages. Before the singing of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Custos read out the “The Letter to the Catholics of the Middle East”  from Pope Francis, signed and made public today. At the end, all those present recited the  prayer suggested by the Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, for this Day of Prayer.

Prayer and fasting

In a short interview at the end of the Rosary, the Custos emphasized the importance of prayer and fasting as privileged instruments to obtain the gift of peace, as the Pope also wrote in his letter. “It is an instrument that belongs to the Christian tradition, to the Jewish tradition and to the Muslim tradition:  it is a universal instrument, it reawakens in us the awareness of how important the gift of peace is, and that the gift of peace comes from God,” he said. “With prayer and fasting, we also express the conviction that it is not only human forces that are involved, but the action of God on the one hand and the mystery of evil on the other are at stake.”

“Christ is our peace”

One of the brief readings of the Rosary reminded us that “Jesus Christ is our peace” and one of the intentions of prayer asked God that “we all become aware of having received peace and reconciliation as a gift from the Risen One.” All the victims of the war were remembered in the prayers, as well as those who are suffering its collateral effects, and the religious and political leaders, so that “they work for reconciliation and peace.”