Bethlehem, Tuesday 21st December 2010.
This year again, the Father Custos went to visit the Casa Del Fanciullo in Bethlehem, a charity supported by the Franciscan Holy Land Foundation and by the Custody of the Holy Land. They Custody does not only look after the Holy Places made of stone, but also the individual “living stones” that make up the Church and society in the Holy Land, as shown by the multiple projects that have been implemented and that are being implemented.
Looking after children is indispensable and an investment in the future. Each child is a bridge towards the future, a sign of hope, whatever ethnic group or religious belief they belong to. This is the purpose of the existence of the Casa del Fanciullo in Bethlehem with the presence of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary nuns and the Friars Minor. There is no time like Christmas to meditate on the hope that each child represents.
The celebration began with a Mass in the Milk Grotto followed by a lovely sketch. A young boy goes up to the altar and calls his friends asking them: “What is Christmas? What happens? And if this story is true, then who are we in everything that’s happening? Are we the ox or the donkey, maybe?” The various questions, often funny, lead to the conclusion that this story is definitely true and if it is true we can only pray: the youngsters then invite everyone to pray to Our Father.
The group then moves from the church to the Casa del Fanciullo where they await the triumphant entrance of Father Christmas around a buffet. Father Christmas enters the room, tired from his journey and weighed down by gifts. He can hardly stand and is carried on the shoulders of the joyful youngsters.
Giving out the presents is a moment of joy for big and small. The Father Custos, who is physically in much better shape than old Fatrher Christmas, takes an active part in the distribution. When the presents have been given out, all the children given the Father Custos a poster showing the Holy Family and their photos surrounding them. It is a moment of celebration that reminds us that Christmas is above all joy for the gift of Hope incarnated in a child. A moment of celebration to remember that Christmas is welcoming the Lord in the smallest and neediest, without rhetoric. Making way for the poor, without making a way for oneself: just as Jesus did and how Brother Francis did, in perfect joy.
Marco Gavasso
This year again, the Father Custos went to visit the Casa Del Fanciullo in Bethlehem, a charity supported by the Franciscan Holy Land Foundation and by the Custody of the Holy Land. They Custody does not only look after the Holy Places made of stone, but also the individual “living stones” that make up the Church and society in the Holy Land, as shown by the multiple projects that have been implemented and that are being implemented.
Looking after children is indispensable and an investment in the future. Each child is a bridge towards the future, a sign of hope, whatever ethnic group or religious belief they belong to. This is the purpose of the existence of the Casa del Fanciullo in Bethlehem with the presence of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary nuns and the Friars Minor. There is no time like Christmas to meditate on the hope that each child represents.
The celebration began with a Mass in the Milk Grotto followed by a lovely sketch. A young boy goes up to the altar and calls his friends asking them: “What is Christmas? What happens? And if this story is true, then who are we in everything that’s happening? Are we the ox or the donkey, maybe?” The various questions, often funny, lead to the conclusion that this story is definitely true and if it is true we can only pray: the youngsters then invite everyone to pray to Our Father.
The group then moves from the church to the Casa del Fanciullo where they await the triumphant entrance of Father Christmas around a buffet. Father Christmas enters the room, tired from his journey and weighed down by gifts. He can hardly stand and is carried on the shoulders of the joyful youngsters.
Giving out the presents is a moment of joy for big and small. The Father Custos, who is physically in much better shape than old Fatrher Christmas, takes an active part in the distribution. When the presents have been given out, all the children given the Father Custos a poster showing the Holy Family and their photos surrounding them. It is a moment of celebration that reminds us that Christmas is above all joy for the gift of Hope incarnated in a child. A moment of celebration to remember that Christmas is welcoming the Lord in the smallest and neediest, without rhetoric. Making way for the poor, without making a way for oneself: just as Jesus did and how Brother Francis did, in perfect joy.
Marco Gavasso