(ANS – Jerusalem) – Yesterday, 10 September, the relic of Don Bosco entered the Holy Land. This was the fulfilment of an ardent desire of Don Bosco, who, in his lifetime, wanted to go in person to the land where Jesus was born, but he never had the opportunity. His arrival in the Holy Land, just at this time, when the whole of the Middle East is feeling the threat of war, strengthens the faithful in prayer, asking his intercession for peace.

The relic was welcomed at the Port of Jaffa by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal, together with members of the local Salesian community and the faithful who had been invited by the Patriarch, in a public letter, to participate in this special event. The relic was then brought to the Co-Cathedral of the Latin Patriarchate and Evening Prayer was recited.

Today, 11 September, the relic is being brought from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. The convoy will have to pass the check point bear the tomb of Rachel where young people from the artistic centre and form the Salesian Technical School are waiting to receive it, together with the workers from the International Voluntary Service for Development (VIS) who are present in Palestine. Today also, the relic will be brought to the Baby Caritas Hospital, a children’s hospital near the wall erected by the Israeli authorities on the border with Palestine.

On Thursday the relic will visit Beit Jala and then Cremisan before going on that evening to Nazareth. Further visits are planned for subsequent days in Haifa, Beit Jemal and Jaffa. The relic will then return to Jerusalem where it will remain until 19 September. In the various places, the visit of the relic will be accompanied by Mass, processions, night vigils and periods of veneration.

Speaking to the Fides Agency,  Mons. William Shomali, Vicar of the Patriarch of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem had this to say: “Towards the end of his life, Don Bosco wanted to pay a visit to the Holy Land, but was unable to do so because of his health. Now, with the visit of his relic, he is coming in a different way and so he is keeping his promise. We really have more need of him now. Throughout the whole of the Middle East, in the Holy Land, in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, all countries where so many of Don Bosco’s sons are working, we are living in a situation more dramatic than any we have seen before. We need him and we need all the saints. We beg them all to intercede powerfully for us. The more powerful they are, like Don Bosco, the more we have recourse to them.”

Published 11/09/2013