Holy Week Voices from the Holy Land

OF FRIENDS THE HOLY LAND

GIVING HOPE TO VULNERABLE CHRISTIANS

Holy Week Voices From theHoly Land Poems and Reflections for Lent and Easter Fr Richard Nesbitt and 15 voices from the Holy Land Forewords by Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Justin Welby

Holy Week Voices from the Holy Land Copyright © 2021, Fr Richard Nesbitt and Mr Peter Rand (Friends of the Holy Land) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher.

The moral right of Fr Richard Nesbitt and the 15 contributors of the Holy Land reflections to be identified as authors has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The paintings by James Tissot (1836-1902) used to illustrate each chapter can be found in the Brooklyn Museum and are featured here thanks to their kind permission and a creative commons licence.

This edition first published in the UK by Dr Mark Nash (Archdiocese of Southwark) - aec.rcaos.org.uk Printed in Great Britain by The Graphic Design House

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Dedication To the embattled Christian communities of the Holy Land, who through their faith and courage continue to give witness to the living presence of Christ in the land of his birth. In a particular way I would like to dedicate this book to Issa Ghanem, my first friend from the Holy Land, and his wife Lina, who after a long time of prayer and waiting for the gift of a child, were finally blessed with two (!) – the twins, John and Nara, born in March 2020, just as the coronavirus was talking hold in the world. Their birth speaks of a brighter future to come. For this we pray.

A Word of Thanks To all who have contributed in so many ways to the making of this book. In a particular way to our 15 contributors from the Holy Land who all found the time to share their reflections for this Lenten book during the busy days of Advent and Christmas! A huge thanks to all the Friends of the Holy Land family, both in the UK and the Holy Land and in a very special way to Peter Rand, for his total commitment to the project from day 1. Finally, both Peter and I would like to express our deepest thanks to Dr Mark Nash, editor and designer, who has worked so hard to transform our late night barrage of email attachments into this beautiful book. It has been a very Spirit-led project, and we entrust the book to the continuing work of the Holy Spirit.

Contents Foreword by Cardinal Vincent Nichols

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Foreword by Archbishop Justin Welby

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Introduction by Peter Rand, Friends of the Holy Land

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Preface by Fr Richard Nesbitt Photos from the Holy Land How to use Holy Week Voices from the Holy Land

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Section One: 15 Poems and Reflections 1. Bethany with Vincenzo Bellomo

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Palm Sunday with Katia Khoury

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3. Temple Tantrum? with Fr Nael Abu Rahmoun

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4. Judas with Husam Wahhab

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5. Beloved Disciple with Habib and Gosayna Karam

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6. Gethsemane with Fr George Kopti

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7. Peter’s Word with Bishop Hosam Naoum

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8. Pontius Pilate with Vera Baboun

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9. Veronica’s Veil with Laila Asfoura

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10. Stabat Mater with Sr Nabila Saleh

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11. Centurion at the Cross with George Sa’adeh

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12. Atonement Hour with Fr Mamdouh AbuSada

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13. Mary of Magdala with Susan Barhoum

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14. Shalom with Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa

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15. Emmaus Bound with Fr Jamal Khader

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Section Two: Simon of Cyrene - Reflection and Invitation

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Section Three: Stations of the Cross

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Friends of the Holy Land Prayer

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More Photos from the Holy Land

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Foreword

Cardinal Vincent Nichols This is a book rooted in the story of Holy Week. In the days of that most sacred week, we walk in Christ’s footsteps to Calvary and then to the garden of Resurrection.

The poems in this book were written in the Holy Week of 2020, a time which I am sure will long remain in our memories. I remember it very vividly, as our country was held in the grip of the first national lockdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

I celebrated the Holy Week liturgies in a near-empty Westminster Cathedral. There was deep sadness and pain at the loss of people being together, but there was also a profound sense of being close to Christ in his suffering and passion and of his being close to us at our time of need.

This book is also deeply rooted in the experience of Christians living today in the Holy Land, the cradle of Christianity. The poems are paired up with reflections from fifteen modern-day contributors, drawn from different Christian denominations. They draw out many points of resonance between the Holy Week experiences of 2000 years ago and their own lives today.

Friends of the Holy Land is a charity with which I have been associated since its beginnings in 2009 and with its work of supporting Christian families and communities struggling to survive in the complex and difficult situation of the Holy Land today.

This book embodies the core aims of the Friends of the Holy Land and I am delighted to recommend it to you as a prayer resource for your journey with Christ through Lent and Eastertide. I hope that it will promote prayer with and for our fellow Christians in the Holy Land and raise urgently needed funds to support initiatives on the ground. Both prayer and practical help make a real difference to the lives of Christians there, helping them to continue their presence as living witnesses of the light and love of our Blessed Lord in the land in which he lived.

With an assurance of my prayers and best wishes,

His Eminence Cardinal Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster

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Foreword

Archbishop Justin Welby Fr Richard Nesbitt has given us a valuable resource with which to reflect more deeply on the Easter story. In a way which draws on the Ignatian tradition, he has imagined himself into the position of actors in the great Easter drama, bringing their feelings alive for us with his simply accessible poems. These may serve to enrich our appreciation of the Bible passages, which, for some people, can lose their immediacy through repetition. The Scriptural texts, Fr Richard’s poems and the reflections from residents of the Holy Land combine powerfully to make vivid the physical reality of the extraordinary Easter narratives, which are so foundational to our common faith. We are reminded, especially in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, of the desperate needs of our brothers and sisters today in the Holy Land. It is my hope that this book will not only assist them financially through the proceeds from its sales but also serve as a welcome reminder that they are never forgotten by those of us whose circumstances are more comfortable.

We are, indissolubly, one in Christ.

The Most Revd and Rt Hon. Justin Welby

Archbishop of Canterbury

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1. Crib, Holy Family church, Gaza; 2. Field Tour of Jerusalem; 3. Mass in Co-cathedral of Latin Patriarchate; 4. Mass in church of Visitation, Zababdeh; 5. Aboud Summer School; 6. Mass in Holy Family church, Gaza

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7. Visit to Daughters of Charity, Gaza; 8. School of Joy; 9. FHL Mothering Sunday; 10. The Wall of Separation; 11. Baby at the church of the Nativity, Bethlehem; 6. FHL Mothering Sunday

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Photos 1-4, 6, 7, 10, 11 Š Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk / Photos 5, 8, 9 and 12 Š Friends of the Holy Land

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Section One

15 Poems and Reflections

Chapter One As with each chapter in Holy Week Voices from the Holy Land, we invite you to reflect in three ways.

1. A poem based on a Scripture passage (this chapter, John 11:1-45) 2. On the Scripture itself with a short reflection and questions

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3. Then, finally, you are invited to hear and reflect on a story from the Holy Land itself. Chapter 1’s story is offered by Vincenzo Bellomo.

Poem: Bethany BETH – house ANY – of the poor was a village to which Jesus liked to withdraw a commune of kindness and calm after the beatings and baiting the sparring and spurning of Jerusalem.

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And the hearth at the heart of Bethany’s glow is the home of the sisters Martha and Mary carers to their brother Lazarus and any other who knock at the door in trouble, in need the lost and the poor.

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Chapter One

A place where neighbours are noticed time is taken doors left open and love translated into tenderness and action care and compassion.

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No opinion of Lazarus, no word is ever recorded or heard his home is known as the house of his sisters…

This silence, this lack of position is due to his illness his chronic condition.

In a man-made world he depends on his sisters’ care powerless but cherished loved beyond compare.

And loved by Jesus too who found in Lazarus one so pure so innocent, guileless and mild a man in body but with the heart of a child.

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And it was for Lazarus ‘the one Jesus loved’ that he reserved the greatest of miracles a thing as yet unheard.

After four days held in death’s embrace Lazarus would be raised to life the first fruit of saving grace.

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Standing in front of the sealed stone tomb moved, shaken by grief Jesus wept, sobbed and sighed prayed to his Father and cried ‘Take the stone away believe, cast out your doubt believe in my power over death.

Lazarus, come out.’

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A shape, a shuffle in the shadows breaths held, prayers whispered then look, behold 2

Lazarus, still stiffened with cold staggers out into the glare of day still wrapped in grave clothes but moving, breathing brought back to life by the prayer of his Lord.

‘Unbind him’ Jesus proclaims before joyfully embracing his friend again.

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The crowds, some of whom have come to mock the impotence of Jesus now reel in shock the epicentre of an earthquake tremors surge, tempests rage the headline writers clear the front page.

Who is this man?

What can be said?

He can even raise the four-day dead.

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Back home in his sisters’ care Lazarus, restored and released is gifted with life but stripped of peace.

They say he never smiled again haunted, grief-stricken, unconsoled by memories of hell and its unredeemed souls.

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Jesus now walks away from Bethany’s glow the crowds in awe his disciples in tow.

One more battle awaits on the other side of Jerusalem’s gates a battle between heaven and hell between glory and gloom a battle which will lead Jesus to his own stone-cold tomb.

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Scripture: John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33-45 (ESV) The sisters sent for Jesus, saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ But when Jesus heard it he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.’

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’

Jesus wept. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?’

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.’

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.

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Reflection on Scripture and the Poem This Prelude to the great events of Holy Week in Jerusalem takes place in a village which is just an hour or two’s walk away but which is such a different world to the intensity and pressure of the Holy City. Bethany’s small, closely-knit community offers Jesus a place of sanctuary, and in the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus an experience of loving hospitality and human friendship. How much the world today needs communities of healing acceptance and tenderness like this.

Questions for Reflection as a group or individually • Can you think of a home/a family/a community which has offered you something of this experience in your own life?

• How could you make your own home more of a place of healing and renewal for others?

• Feel free to share something that struck you from the poem, if you have not done so already.

A Short Prayer Almighty, ever-living God, you gave our Saviour the command to become man and undergo the cross as an example of humility for us all to follow.

We have the lessons of his sufferings: give us also the fellowship of his resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

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Bethany

Vincenzo Bellomo Healing acceptance and tenderness for the living stones of the Holy Land.

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Amidst hundreds of daily difficulties and challenges, we keep the light of hope burning in this tormented land.

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In my daily commitment, I am called to serve the Christian community, in Bethlehem, through the Franciscan Pro Terra Sancta Association. This is a small group of Christians that in their historical presence and resilient strength has maintained, over the years, a strong sense of vocation to serve as guardians of this unique place, where the tenderness of God was incarnated in a small Child of Bethlehem. Amidst hundreds of daily difficulties and challenges, our people welcome pilgrims and make them feel at home; we respond to the daily needs of local people and we keep the celebration of the Eucharist alive in the Holy Places and the light of hope burning in this tormented land.

The small Christian minority in the Holy Land is a heroic presence in the current complex Middle Eastern context. The foundation of this resilience is built above all on family relationships and genuine friendships, like the relationship between Jesus, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary that we read about in the poem. That ‘commune of kindness’ as the poem describes the village of Bethany (which is not too far from Bethlehem), is a very good description for our little community here in Bethlehem. Here we experience a communion of relationships and feelings that teach us how to live and comfort us in the most challenging moments.

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With my work, at the service of the mission of solidarity and Christian charity of the local church, I meet many people who come daily to our listening centre in search of help or to report someone else’s need. These daily encounters are an opportunity for me to immediately respond to a request to serve those who are most vulnerable. At the same time, it also becomes an occasion for seeking friendship, for strengthening a relationship with someone who needs and wants to be with you. The concrete act of solidarity of responding to an urgent medical or social emergency, like the ones we are often experiencing, becomes an opportunity to encourage someone. Here is a concrete example: Layla F. is a mother of three who was betrayed and abandoned by her husband. She did not have any income and did not know how to look after her children. In despair, she tried to commit suicide several times. After a first visit to establish contact with my colleague, the social worker, with a request for a little financial help, Layla became our friend. She felt embraced and welcomed. At our offices, she found a home of solidarity, and in our team, she found the friendly company that she needs to fight against all the difficult challenges presented to her by life: from her kid’s education to medical assistance. She is slowly putting the broken pieces of her life back together.

In this encounter, as in so many others, an act of charity becomes a way to share our presence and closeness

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Daily encounters are an opportunity to serve those who are most vulnerable; an occasion for strengthening a relationship and encouragement.

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with someone in real danger, a way to help and support our brothers and sisters in their time of need. Above all, it is a great human adventure to begin a relationship of friendship and company that warms our hearts and makes us all feel less alone. Taking care of these families and many other Christian families, who by their continuing presence here in Bethlehem, despite all of the challenges, are custodians of the Holy Places, means for me preserving and enhancing our history. A story made of stones, archaeology, and living stones – together it all tells a story which we all belong to.

Biographical note: Vincenzo Bellomo

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Together the stones, archaeology and living stones of the Holy Places comprise a story to which we all belong.

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Vincenzo was born in Mazara del Vallo, in Italy. He studied political science at the University of Palermo and is certified as a special needs teacher.

He has worked in different countries, including Italy and Tunisia in special projects to assist youth against violence and to encourage integration of immigrants. He worked in Kosovo in a peace building initiative between Serbs and Albanians.

From 2006, he has been living and working in Bethlehem at the service of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, as the local Manager of Pro Terra Sancta. Vincenzo is married to Carol Abu Akleh with twins, Antonio and Lea, aged 7 years.

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Jesus Goes in the Evening to Bethany (Jésus va le soir à Béthanie), 1886-1894 James Tissot (French, 1836-1902). Brooklyn Museum.

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