Experiencing how beautiful it is to frame your life from the Gospel and always feel that you are accompanied by Jesus: these were the words that guided the 150 young people who gathered in Nazareth from 16 to 18 August for the annual meeting entitled "I live with you".
A meeting that this year, due to the ongoing conflict and instability, replaced the Franciscan March.
The Son of God chooses to live with us
“I would say that the fact that these young people have been able to meet for a few days to be together, to reflect together on what being Christians means and live an intense moment of fraternity, is already a message of hope,” said the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton, who presided over the opening Mass in the Lower Basilica. “Here, we are in the place of the Incarnation and this place reminds us that it was the Son of God who chose to live with us: not only that, but also to live for us, that is, to give his life for us.”
Fra George Haddad, in charge of the event, together with fra Sandro Tomašević, fra Diab Roshrosh, fra Ayman Bathish, fra Raffaele Tayyem and fra Butros Moalem and 10 nuns from different congregations, organized the days and guided the reflections and activities which kept all the youngsters busy throughout these three days, until the sacrament of the reconciliation.
“It was very difficult for us this year to organize the Franciscan March, which could not be held in its usual form,” fra George admitted, “due to the circumstances that our country has been in for about a year, in which each one of us has been caught up. But this did not stop us from organizing a Franciscan meeting with the young people here, in the city of the Annunciation, to meditate on the word of Jesus on the example of our Virgin Mary and this is why the title of this meeting was “Living with you.”
A spiritual path
This time it was less physically challenging and the path was above all spiritual, aimed at discerning the word of God in one’s life and looking at and being able to live life in the perspective of Christ, particularly in this time of war.
“We can always and only break the chain of anger and hatred if we are capable of looking at Jesus Christ on the cross,” the Custos of the Holy Land stressed, “because it is Jesus Christ on the cross who took on himself all the evil of humanity and history. Evil is like a nuclear explosion, it causes a chain reaction and to stop this chain reaction, someone has to have the courage not to react. Jesus Christ on the cross taught us that in order not to react to evil and to defeat evil, we even have to accept death, giving our life.”
The three intense days of meetings, sharing, entertainment, adoration and spiritual vigil came to a climax in the final Eucharistic celebration, presided over by fra Ibrahim Sabbagh, the parish priest of Nazareth.
The experience of the march is never just any experience, but rather a time of grace, filled with the joy of fraternity. It is a time that must help young people look to their future with hope.
“The first evangelizers in the world of youth are young people themselves,” Fra Francesco Patton concluded at the end of the meeting with the youngsters, “therefore if these young people in these few days welcome with trust the word and seriously take on the commitment to embody it, they will pass this on to other young people as well, they can frame their life choices according to the Gospel and they can look to the future with confidence and without fear.”
Silvia Giuliano
