The tenth Franciscan March in Jordan has ended: the place of arrival was the Shrine of Mount Nebo where, on 16 June one hundred and thirty young people were welcomed by the community of Nebo: Fra Bernard Thilagarajah, guardian of the convent, Fra Ammar Shahin and Fra Ibrahim Pio Haddad.
The next day, 17 June, the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton and the Vicar Fra Ibrahim Faltas also went to Mount Nebo to greet the youngsters and celebrate the Eucharist together.
A great participation by youngsters
This year, youngsters from Jordan, but also from Palestine and some Iraqi refugees in Jordan took part in the Franciscan March: it is an experience of formation and of sharing that represents a unique occasion to set off in the footsteps of St Francis, to discover the beauty of Christian life and the Franciscan spirit.
Organized every year by the Department of youth pastoral of the Friars Minor, the March was led by Fra George Haddad, who held the meditations during thecù various stopping placed, helped by Fra Maikel Anjelo, Fra Diab Roshrosh and Fra Raffael Tayyam and some local religious women.
"I live with You"
During the course of the week, the youngsters had experiences of sharing, friendship, mutual aid, listening, silence and prayer.
“Starting from the title “I live with You,” said Fra George, “I dwelled on the presence of the word of God in our lives. What space does the Bible, the holy scripture, occupy in our lives? This is the question I asked the young people to reflect on. Often they are discouraged because in this land they feel they are a minority, but this does not mean that they cannot take into the world the message of Jesus, the message of love and the message of charity.”
The celebration of the Eucharist
The meeting with the Custos of the Holy Land and with the Vicar was an important moment of this last leg: both of them wanted to make the youngsters feel that they are part of the Church and communicate the hope and the trust that the Church places in them.
In his homily, the Custos stressed the importance of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians: “We need to be purified internally, enlightened internally and switched on internally to love, to be able to follow the footsteps of Jesus and to be able to do what God asks us. It seems to me that this is the synthesis and the finest projection of the path that these young people have taken in the past few days.”
Lastly, Fra George Haddad gave the Father Custos and the Vicar a commemorative plaque of the March.
