Special celebration of the seminarians


Benny, seminarian for the Saint James Vicariate, tells about the celebration of the Feast of Saint John Bosco on Thursday, February 6, 2014.

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It has already become a pleasant tradition that three times during the course of the year the seminarians and religious who study in the different seminaries in the Holy Land meet to spend an evening together in order to deepen their mutual acquaintance and to enjoy a common experience.

The first meeting is always hosted by the Franciscan brothers in the monastery of San Salvatore in Jerusalem at the time of the Feast of Saint Francis – at the beginning of October. The second, in December, is in the Latin seminary of Beit Jala, in honor of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of the seminary. The third and last is hosted by the Salesian brothers in their monastery, Ratisbonne in Jerusalem, at the time of the feast of their founder, John Bosco. In this beautiful framework, the last meeting of this year took place on Thursday, February 6, 2014 and it was a great success. The seminarians who live and study in Ratisbonne organized a rich program, which expertly integrated times of fun with spirituality and sharing, accomplished with exemplary simplicity.

As soon as all the guests had arrived we began as usual with a presentation of the various seminaries. Each seminary rector briefly explained how many students there are in his seminary and how the live daily life. This time we were privileged to have new, special guests with us: our Armenian brothers, coming from Armenia and Turkey in order to study in the Old City in preparation for ordination. Their participation was new and important and encourages and strengthens mutual acquaintance with more young people who are consecrating their lives to God and the Church, coming from a different Christian tradition. Even though we had no common language, through the activities organized by the Salesians in the spirit of their founder, we succeeded to create immediately an atmosphere of friendship and collaboration. The method of games always succeeds when one needs to unite people from different origins and diverse cultures. After an hour of games in the different corners of the courtyard, we gathered in the church for evening prayer, and at the center of the prayer a homily by the superior of the Salesians, Father Ivo, who reminded us of the personal story of Pope Francis, who a short time ago spoke about the beginning of his way and the choice to be a priest.

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Such an evening could not end without a festive meal and that is exactly what happened after the prayer. This is an occasion to chat with new friends whom we have not yet met and to enjoy delicious food that integrates different cultures.

We all returned home full of joy. We spent energies in games (and that is wonderful in the midst of a time of exams), we renewed our spiritual forces through prayer, we spent a pleasant time, we got to know new friends, expecting to meet them again in the next meetings. Let us pray that this tradition be preserved! Let us pray that one day all will be gathered in a broad ecumenical gathering of all the seminarians from all the seminaries in the Holy Land! Meanwhile, we thank God together because slowly but surely new horizons are being opened.

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