JERUSALEM – On the second Sunday of Lent, March 13th, 2022, the religious communities of Mount Olives (South East side), organized a visit to the Sanctuary of the Eleona with lay people from the Church of the Palms (Bethphage).

This visit is one of the events planned by the religious communities living on Mount Olives on the occasion of the Synod 2023. They include the Daughters of Our Lady of Sorrows, the Little Sisters of Jesus, the Missionary Sisters (Comboni), the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, the Servants of Charity Congregation, the Families of the Visitation, the Company of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, the Silent Workers of the Cross, the Custody of the Holy Land (Monastery of Bethpage), the Discalced Carmelite Sisters and the Benedictine Sisters of Our Lady of Calvary.

The visit to the old Constantine Church of Eleona (333) was divided into two phases: a cultural visit and a time of prayer. At the start, two Arabic and French-speaking groups, one guided by Fr. Silvio De la Fuente, OFM, and the other by Fr. Luciano Ruga, SODC, toured the place while learning about the history of the site and its Biblical ties.

Afterward, everyone went to the Church of the Pater Noster to share a moment of prayer by singing the “Our Father” and the antiphon “Sub Tuum Praesidium” in Arabic with the Carmelite community.

The encounter with this contemplative community was an important occasion to know the life and the particular apostolate of these Sisters: their ministry of silence, prayer, and good relations with all the people, visitors, neighbors, pilgrims.  

A moment of reception closed the event. All the participants enjoyed the visit and expressed the desire that a similar initiative is repeated in any of the other significant sites of Mount Olives.