We usually send you The Franciscan Messenger once a month to keep you updated on the mission of our Friars, both in the Holy Land and in Washington DC. But your questions and interest in the tragedy unfolding in the Holy Land impel us to write more frequently. We have also set up a page on our website for more updates.
In these very hours, we are receiving images that show threats and destruction at the doorstep of the Catholic parish in Gaza. The Christians in the Gaza Strip, just over a thousand of them, are seeking refuge after the bombings have made it impossible to stay at home and find protection at the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius and the Arab Orthodox Cultural and Social Center in Gaza, which were landmarks for the local faithful.
We, therefore, invite you to continue praying and to join us in upcoming gatherings to present our supplications together. Mass for the feast of All Saints will be tonight, October 31, at 5:30pm, and on November 1 at 6:00am and 7:00am in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel. For the Memorial of All Souls, we will have Mass in the Purgatory Chapel in our crypt on Thursday November 2 at 6:00am and 7:00am.
We will pray in communion with the Church of the Holy Land, which in these terrible weeks has never ceased to invoke Peace. Last Friday, the Friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, led by the Father Custos and the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, walked the Via Dolorosa to Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus at the Holy Sepulchre.
By myfranciscan.org
