Diocese of Jerusalem celebrates Feast of Our Lady Queen of Palestine

Source: Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Today, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the yearly celebrations for the Feast of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine, the main patroness of the Diocese, with a Solemn Mass, and procession at the Shrine of Our Lady, in Deir Rafat.

In the face of adversity, more than 2,000 local Christians from different parishes: clergy, religious men and women, seminarians, the youth, and students from the Latin schools of Jerusalem, came together at the Shrine of Our Lady Queen of Palestine in a spirit of devotion and prayer. With heavy hearts lifted to heaven, they prayed for the Church and the people of the land, asking Our Lady to shield the Holy Land from all harm and renew their hearts with courage, faith, and love. Among the assembly were the Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Knights of Malta.

In his homily, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista addressed the role of the Virgin Mary as an intercessor and inspiration in times of crisis and difficulties. Reflecting on the reading from Revelation (Rev. 12, 3-4) he expressed that despite being faced with evil and violence in this world, we, the faithful, must trust in the power of love and life that transcends the forces of evil because "it is powerless against the power of love that generates life" which is represented by the "woman clothed with the sun". He reminded those present to bear witness to God's kingdom through "work and words", here in the Holy Land. He emphasized the need to build relationships based on dignity, justice, and peace, resisting the temptation to fall into fear, selfishness, and the pursuit of power. Despite the difficulties, it is faith in God's power that illuminates the path toward peace and justice. While acknowledging the ongoing struggle and uncertainty in the Holy Land, he concluded by encouraging the faithful, reminding them that "evil will not have the final word in their lives or the life of the Holy Land."

Before the final blessing, Mgr William Shomali, the General Vicar, led a prayer to Our Lady Queen of Palestine, asking her to protect the land of her birth and to guide the faithful towards the triumph of truth and justice, accompanying them on their earthly journey toward heaven.

Cardinal Pierbattista's homily text follows

Acts 1:12-14; Rev 11:19a; 12:1,3-6a,10a; Lk 1:41-50

Deir Rafat, Oct. 26, 2024

Dear Excellencies,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

May the Lord give you peace!

As we do every year, we have returned here, at the feet of the Patroness of our diocese, the Queen of Palestine, to pray first and foremost for our Church, for our Holy Land and for all the peoples who inhabit it. And as so often, we must bring our pain and weariness to the feet of the Virgin. Once again, we are forced to express all our tiredness with this war, which has worn us all down, as never before. I will not repeat what I have said far too often about the war. Never in the last few decades have we seen so much violence and hatred. It is becoming difficult to see a light in this long night of suffering.

But at the same time, we do not want to and cannot capitulate to the arrogance, the power of violence, the cycle of retaliation and revenge, and remain helpless in the face of the human rubble that all this causes. That is why we are still here to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother, to ask for the strength and courage to continue to believe in the power of God's love, to ask for the strength to continue to be here in the Holy Land, communities of men and women who want to build relationships of life, love, dignity and justice.

The reading from the book of Revelation we have heard now, expresses well, in a way, what we are experiencing.

It speaks of a "great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth" (Rev. 12, 3-4). This is an effective description of the power of evil in the world, the power of Satan. The numbers seven and ten are numbers that stand for the totality, they stand for power, just like the diadems. They show how powerful and dominant evil is, which is also capable of causing great destruction.

But as powerful as he is, this ruler is not able to subdue to his power the "woman clothed with the sun" (Rev. 12,1) and the child she will bring into the world.

And this reminds us of a great truth: in life we will always have to deal with the evil that rages in the world. But evil, Satan, despite its greatness, is powerless against the power of the strength of a woman who gives birth to a child, i.e. against the power of love that generates life. There evil, Satan, finds no ground to take root; he cannot deceive with his lies. No Dragon can win in the face of self-giving love; there are no effective weapons against those who give life out of love.

This is our faith, and on this we who believe in Christ base our lives, on the love that saves. It saves us from our fears, from the arrogance of human power, from our selfishness, from the presumption of being able to live alone, from the illusion of being able to achieve happiness with money and power, which instead only create loneliness.

The Gospel we have heard shows us two women, the Virgin and St Elizabeth, celebrating before each other the wonders of God's work in them. There is nothing striking in that encounter. There are no stars falling from heaven to earth. Just two women who, in a world that was already plagued by so much violence at the time, made possible in different ways the accomplishment of the work of redemption, the realization of the kingdom of God. Gradually, but persistently, this kingdom will spread throughout the world and make the desire for justice, dignity, truth and peace visible, concrete and possible.

We are here today to ask for this gift for ourselves, for our Church. We also ask for the gift of the Holy Spirit to give us the strength, courage and perseverance to create and maintain these relationships of dignity and peace with one another. To be able to stand in this land marked by so much violence, the place where no Dragon can take over. That we do not give in to the logic that to be happy and free, there should be no place for anyone but us. We must not allow the many understandable fears to be the only voice in our hearts and in our lives.

We know that this war will not end soon. We know that we will not soon have a prospect of peace. But we are also certain and believe in the fulfillment of the word of the Lord (cf. Lk. 1:45), and that evil will not have the last word in our lives and in the life of the Holy Land.

And we want to be that word of life, we want to be the Church that believes, hopes and loves, and that makes the presence of the kingdom of God visible through our work and our word.

We will never give up. And here, at the feet of the Virgin Mary, we renew our commitment to building the kingdom of God, which is a kingdom of "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14,17). Amen.

LINKS

Watch the celebration online: www.facebook.com/watch/live/ref=watch_permalink&v=446872431330770&rdid=siQLqcqRJO1Wg68d

Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem: www.lpj.org/en