Largest Event Organized by Church in Israel
JERUSALEM, MAR 24 (ZENIT.org).- Last night, thousands of youths spent the night in the rain and cold in order to be able to celebrate Mass with the Holy Father today. Those who could found shelter in buses, schools and even in kibbutzes. They came to the Mount of the Beatitudes to take part in a multitudinous meeting organized by the Church in Israel. Some estimates say there were as many as 120,000 present, and even the most conservative guesses stand at 90,000. In the past, perhaps only Yitzhak Rabin's funeral brought so many people together in this country.
While they waited for the Pope, Kiko Argüello, founder of the Neo-Catechumenal Way, sang and played the guitar along with a group of youths, who also sang and played musical instruments. Groups of boys and girls danced in a circle. The commentator on Israeli television wondered why so many youths had come to see the Pope.
Half of them, about 50,000, were members of Neo-Catechumenal communities from around the world. On these hills, the Way has established the«Domus Galileae»(House of Galilee), which is an important center for the formation of priests and seminarians. It was inaugurated today by the Pope before he celebrated the Mass. The other half came from other movements and ecclesial institutions, such as Communion and Liberation, the Focolares, Opus Dei, as well as parishes and dioceses from different parts of the world. There were 80 countries represented. Given his presence in the Holy land, the exhausting wait, and the celebration, John Paul II wanted to give the world a very strong message: peace in the Middle East needs a new generation. A great surprise was the significant participation of Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims, all of whom live with the local Christian communities.
The setting could not have been better. On this Mount (rather than a Mount it is a 15-meter high mountain), Jesus proclaimed the most illogical Law:«Blessed are the poor,»»Blessed are the meek,»»Blessed are those who are persecuted ...»This Law can only be understood by love. John Paul II repeated this message, which has given life to Christians for 2000 years, and the youth responded with that generosity which has always characterized their meetings with the Pontiff.
John Paul II celebrated Mass in a gigantic red balcony, with an enormous black curtain, that was a reminder of the Exodus and the passage of the people of Israel through the desert. 12 Cardinals, 100 Bishops and 1,200 priests concelebrated.
The presence of so many youths seem to take years off the Pope who, during the homily, described the meeting as a trial run for the World Youth Day, which will be held in Rome in August.
The Holy Father vividly described the spiritual combat that engages every youth. On one hand, he spoke about the message of Jesus' Beatitudes, which exalts the poor in spirit, those who weep, those who hunger and thirst for justice, those who are persecuted .... On the other, he referred to that voice that every person hears in his interior:«'Blessed are the proud and violent, those who prosper at any cost, who are unscrupulous, pitiless, devious, who make war not peace, and persecute those who stand in their way.' And this voice seems to make sense in a world where the violent often triumph and the devious seem to succeed. 'Yes,' says the voice of evil, 'they are the ones who win.' «
Today, as he did 2000 years ago, Christ calls.«He calls you now. Which voice will the young people of the 21st century choose to follow? To put your faith in Jesus means choosing to believe what he says, no matter how strange it may seem, and choosing to reject the claims of evil, no matter how sensible or attractive they may seem,»the Holy Father encouraged.
«To be good Christians may seem beyond your strength in today's world. But Jesus does not stand by and leave you alone to face the challenge. He is always with you to transform your weakness into strength,» John Paul II continued.
The Pope today placed the same mission in the hands of youth that Jesus himself entrusted to his disciples. «Now, at the dawn of the Third Millennium, it is your turn. It is your turn to go out into the world to preach the message of the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Young people of the Holy Land, young people of the world: answer the Lord with a heart that is willing and open!»
The youths responded «yes,» to the Pope's invitation, and released 12 doves, a symbol of the 12 Apostles who, 2000 years ago, went out from here to the whole world with the Gospel message.
In the afternoon, John Paul II met Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the house of the Shrine of the Mount of the Beatitudes in Korazim. He then went to Tabgha, which is on the northeastern shore of Lake Tiberias, where he visited the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves. According to tradition, the rock on which Jesus placed the loaves was made into the altar of a church. The ruins of that church, built in 350 A.D., are to the right of the present altar, entrusted to the Benedictines.
The Holy Father then visited the Church of Peter's Primacy, reconstructed in 1933 by the Franciscan Custodians of the Holy Land. From this Church he went to Capernaum, located on Lake Tiberias, where he saw the Shrine of St. Peter's House, which was inaugurated on June 29, 1990 by Cardinal Simon Lourdusamy and is also entrusted to the Custodians of the Holy Land.
Following these visits, which were of a private character, John Paul II returned by helicopter to the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem to dine and spend the night.
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