HOLY LAND Ministry: Fr. Robin & Fr. Arun

The Land: Indian Chaplaincy at Holy Land is the office catering to the spiritual needs of the Indian Catholic Population of Israel, which is as estimation of over 6000 people. Br. Arun and I received the invitation from the Chaplaincy to preach retreat to the Konkani speaking people and conduct Holy Week ceremonies in Konkani at Holy Land. We boarded our El Al Israel flight on 3rd April from Mumbai. Due to the concerns of national security of the state of Israel the immigration process is tiring with many confusing questions to answer. It was a relief when we boarded the flight and landed at Tel Aviv the capital of Israel.

Our Stay: St. Peter’s Church at Jaffa – Tel Aviv was our residence during our three week’s stay in Holy Land. The Church is a Monument and place of National Heritage due to its Biblical background. Acts 10:10-23 relates that, “while Peter was in Jaffa (Joppa), he had a vision of a large sheet filled with clean and unclean animals being lowered from heaven, together with a message from the Holy Spirit…” The Church is under the custody of Franciscan Friars and we were the lucky guests for three weeks.

Retreat: Our main purpose of visit is to preach retreat to the Konkani Catholics in Israel. Accordingly our First Retreat was at St. Savior’s Parish Church at Jerusalem on Saturday 5th April. On the same day in the evening from 6.00 to 10.30 pm we preached another retreat at St. Joseph’s Church, Haifa. On April 15, we preached to the congregation at Devine Mercy Church, Tel Aviv. For every retreat the church was full of devout participants. Apart from the retreats the most required ministry was to listen to the confessions. People never stopped coming for confessions while we both were available for everyone, providing them an opportunity for reconciliation.

Holy Week: The Holy Week ceremony, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday was a memorable week for us. On Palm Sunday, the Palms were blessed by the Custodian of Franciscan Custody of Holy Land at Bethpage. We stared the Procession from Bethpage to the garden of Gethsemane where we celebrated Mass in the Basilica of All Nations at Gethsemane for over a thousand Konkani people. On Maundy Thursday, the celebrations of Lord’s Supper and Washing of the feet took place in St. Anthony’s Church School Campus at Jaffa. On Good Friday we were privileged to celebration of the Passion of Christ at Kedron Valley, Gethsemane. The commemoration preceded the Way of the Cross from Mount Zion to Gethsemane. Easter Vigil Mass was held in two churches. I celebrated the ceremonies at Jaffa, St. Anthony’s Church campus while Br. Arun celebrated at Haifa St. Joseph’s church. For the Good Friday and Easter Vigil the participants crossed over 2500 in number.

Holy Land Pilgrimage: We gratefully remember Fr. Jose Tojy who guided us to the places of Holy Land. From the site of Annunciation to the Mount of Ascension we had the privilege to visit all the biblical places related to the life of Christ. We celebrated Mass at most of the altars in the pilgrimage. Most of all it is the altar at the Church of Sepulcher where we felt most privileged to celebrate the mass. It is our life time dream and a spiritual experience to have visited Holy Land just as pilgrims but to cater to the spiritual needs of the People. We acknowledge the love and hospitality of the committee members Indian Chaplaincy. On April 23 we boarded the flight at Tel Aviv carrying all the good memories of the Holy Land, love of the people and of course few souvenirs for family and friends.

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