News from the Holy Family Filipino community in Nazareth


Father Bienvenido OFM, chaplain of the Nazareth Holy Family Filipino community sends us news about three days in this small but vibrant community.

holyfamily marcuzzo

The first baptism ever held in the Holy Family Filipino Community in Nazareth (HFFCN) at Mensa Christi, Nazareth took place on the very solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 2015. The baptismal rite of a little girl was celebrated within the mass of the solemnity. Around forty people were present: some members of the community together with the guests of the family of the newly baptized. At the end of the Mass, a special blessing to both the father and the mother of the newly baptized was imparted, followed by the priestly blessing on the entire Congregation, especially on the family of the newly baptized and of all the August birthday celebrants of the HFFCN. After the Mass, we had an agape at the courtyard of the said Chapel. May the entire Community be a support to the parents and godparents in the growth of the baptismal grace in this “buena mano” of the Community!

Very early in the morning of the August 16, 2015, a big bus-load of 48 members of the Holy Family Filipino Community in Nazareth (HFFCN) headed to Jerusalem along the less frequented highway of the West Bank. Since the previous day, we had celebrated the solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady, the following day we decided to make a pilgrimage to the Dormition Abbey, where it is believed that Mary of Nazareth, the Mother of Jesus, fell asleep for the last time. Near Jericho, we made a short stop for breakfast. Since the mystery of Mary’s Dormition and Assumption are very intimately related to her Son Jesus’s crucifixion-death-resurrection, first we made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulcher). Since it was Sunday, we visited mainly the Calvary shrines, the Stone of Anointing, the Tomb itself, and the altar where St. Helena found the true cross of our Lord during the excavations for the construction of the Constantinian Basilica.

From there we proceeded to the Dormition Basilica, where we joined the Benedictine Community and their regular churchgoers at the 10:00 mass in German with Gregorian chants. We were requested to sing Tagalog songs at the offertory, at the communion and at the end of the mass. Right after the Mass, we went down to the crypt and prayed and sang around the statue of Our Lady at her death.

Then we moved to the Cenacle where we spent some moments of silence and prayer and song, remembering the mysteries of our faith that took place in that sacred hall that had become a mosque. There were not too many people around yet; thus, some paid a visit also to the tomb of King David below the Cenacle.

After lunch at Casa Nova–Jerusalem, the group returned to Nazareth/Afula. Some of the migrant caregivers would have to report to their corresponding duties in early evening. Everybody was grateful for the pilgrimage, enabling one to remember some of the mysteries of our faith at the very site where they must have taken place. Indeed, a great gift granted to us, who happen to live and work now in the Holy Land!

August 17 is the day to remember Saint Hyacinth of Poland, also called the “Apostle of the North”. He was one of the first followers of Saint Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers (or Dominicans). It was, indeed, a surprise for Bishop Giacinto (Hyacinth) Boulos Marcuzzo, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in Israel, that we knew that it was his name’s day. Five of us, representing the HFFCN of Mensa Christi, Nazareth, paid him a visit to greet him warmly on his feast day. Just as he took advantage of the occasion to tell us of the coming celebrations in the Basilica in Nazareth of the first Palestinian saints canonized in recent times, we also requested him to preside at the HFFCN celebration of its patronal feast of the Holy Family on December 26, 2015 at Saint Joseph’s Shrine in Nazareth. Filipino migrants from other communities are welcome to join us in this anniversary celebration!

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