Jesus the king
Some of the members of Saint Francis' youth participated in the central celebration with the university and working groups, in Jerusalem, at the invitation of the General Secretariat of the Christian Youth in Palestine, the Youth of the Home of Jesus - Palestine (YJHP), on Thursday and Friday 24 and 25 November.
The celebration began with the reception of the participants in the Notre Dame Hall, with activities energizing with the chants of the youth. The meeting targeted nearly 300 young men and women who came from various nationalities of the country. Then they received the singer “Nomcebo Zikode”, the singer of the song “Jerusalem” and the accompanying crew from South Africa, to perform the dance of the song. Literally, “Jerusalem is my home.” She reached this title by reading the Bible, which was the source of her strength and helped her overcome the most difficult moments in her life. The artist stressed that we, as young women, should always feel the grace that was granted to us by living here in Jesus' home, and that Jesus' home is our home.
After that, the participants ate dinner at the Notre Dame Restaurant, and then headed to the streets of Jerusalem to start their adventure by living the details of the last days of Christ on earth and walking on his path as indicated by the title of the activity, where they started with a candlelight procession in Jerusalem to the cock crowing church, and there Mr. Rafi Ghattas, coordinator The Middle East and the Public Relations Officer gave a brief history of the place and the details of the imprisonment and torture of Jesus Christ after his disciple Peter denied him three times before the cock crowing, after which they all participated in an hour of meditation and prostration for the Holy Communion inside the cock crowing church, and finally the participants moved to the sleeping places in the various monasteries in Jerusalem.
On the second day of the activity, the participants completed their path with the king, heading to Beit Faji to eat breakfast, and then they walked together to the “Our Father Who” church, where Christ taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, and they all prayed and learned about the church and its historical story, and then walked to the view of the Mount of Olives. And in which the city of Jerusalem appears in its best form, Mr. Rafi gave them historical information about the place, and then they continued their walk to the Church of the Tears, the place where Jesus Christ wept deeply out of grief for the city of Jerusalem, and then they continued their walk to the Church of Gethsemane, “the Church of all Nations.” With some historical information.
After that, they continued their path to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, to celebrate together Jesus the King in a Divine Liturgy presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa and in the presence of His Eminence Bishop Jacob Afram, representative of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the Holy Land and the spiritual guide of the youth of the home of Jesus, Father Bashar Fawadeleh, and the deputy spiritual guide of the youth, Father Raymond Haddad. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the names of the members of the General Secretariat of the Christian Youth in Palestine, “Youth of the Home of Jesus,” which started in 2021 and will continue until 2024, have been announced.
After the mass, the participants continued their walk in the Old City of Jerusalem, under the rain, in a distinctive spiritual atmosphere, heading towards the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, to live the last stages of the King's path on this land, where his great love story was completed.
Finally, the participants moved to the Frere School in the Old City of Jerusalem to complete the meeting, which included a lecture with Father Iyad Twal about the young men and women discovering the richness of their humanity by living their faith deeply, and their personal decision on the centrality of Jesus the King in their lives, as God embraces all of our humanity and humanity, and he made it clear that God He is always with us, he wants us to accept his embrace, which accommodates all of us with all our differences.
