Please Give Generously to the Pontifical Good Friday Holy Land Collection First Sunday of Lent: Tempted to Sin? Just Say No! The Gospel passage of the Temptation of Jesus is a stark contrast to every person’s struggle with temptation and sin. Jesus is able to resist the cunning enticements of the devil, unlike Adam & Eve, who suc- cumbed to disobedience and their desires to be “like God” (Gen 3:5). Too often we put our desire for pleasure, power and prestige before our love for God. As Jesus shows us, it is only through our obedience to His Word that we will truly be “like God” and reflect His likeness. Christian pilgrims who have visited the Mount of Temptation near Jericho in the Judean wilderness witness the barren and harsh surroundings of the place where Jesus spend forty days in the desert after his baptism by John the Baptist. The Greek Orthodox monastery that is carved in the side of the mountain serves to mark the The Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation sits on the mountainside high above the Judean desert near Jericho Help For Holy Land holy site where Jesus prayed and had his basis and what we are doing to look past Christians confrontation with the devil. Palestinian our own selfish desires and look towards Christians, whose families have lived in this the needs of others. Do we look too much Franciscan Good Friday harsh land since the time of Christ, also for pleasure and gratification from material Collection: face the same temptations as Jesus. They goods and sensible pleasures as a substi- www.myfranciscan.org are caught in the cruel reality of cultural, tute for our relationship with God and with economic and political strife that makes our neighbor? Is the desire for power over daily life a constant struggle. Poverty others at home, work and in the communi- Order of the Holy Sepulchre of caused by lack of opportunities for educa- ty creating an unhealthy balance in the Jerusalem: tion and employment result in difficulties time we give to prayer, worship and chari- feeding, sheltering and clothing their fami- table acts? Has the desire for honor and www.holysepulchre.net lies. The shifting political powers of this prestige created a “treadmill effect” that region lend a constant aura of unrest and has us running away from God, our Crea- uncertainty and the real threat of violence tor, instead of running towards Him? A Latin Patriarchate on a daily basis. The humiliation that must solid remedy for these temptations is to of Jerusalem: be endured by these hardships is always a resolve during this Lent to spend time in www.lpj.org temptation to despair. prayer and fasting to give hope to our Christian brothers and sisters in the Holy As we begin our Lenten journey, it is an Land and to give alms to support their ur- opportune time to take stock of the temp- gent needs through the Pontifical Good tations that we are faced with on a daily Friday Collection. Please Give Generously to the Pontifical Good Friday Holy Land Collection Second Sunday of Lent: Jesus’ Message—“Be Not Afraid” Each Second Sunday of Lent, we hear about the Transfiguration of Our Lord, and this year the Gospel story comes from Matthew. According to tradition, the place of the Transfiguration is Mount Tabor, a solitary mountain that rises over 1600 feet in the lower Galilee region. Atop of the mountain is the Basilica of the Transfigura- tion, highlighted by its twin towers, double altars, and gorgeous mosaics of the Trans- figuration. The Basilica of the Transfigura- tion is owned and maintained by the Fran- ciscan Custody of the Holy Land, who re- ceives financial support from the Good Friday Collection that is taken up in parish- es all over the world. Pilgrims to the Holy The mosaic that adorns the interior dome of the Land take a wild taxi ride up the mountain Church of the Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor and then are blessed with the sight of the beautiful basilica and the incredible views Matthew tells us that Jesus took Peter, tians in the Holy Land are no different. of the Judean countryside. James and John up a high mountain to And they have even greater reasons to fear pray. Before their eyes, Jesus’s face and about their livelihoods and well-being than garments became dazzling white, and Mo- many of us do. They are a significant mi- ses and Elijah joined him in conversation. nority in the land where Jesus was born, Help For Holy Land The disciples were awe-struck. Peter want- lived, died and rose again to save us all Christians ed to build three tents, so they could stay from our sins. Their fears of not being able on the mountaintop and prolong this in- to support their families and of being tar- Franciscan Good Friday credible experience. The Gospel story con- gets of violence and persecution are well Collection: tinues with another miraculous appear- founded. Sadly, many have succumbed to www.myfranciscan.org ance – this time of a cloud that overshad- their fears and have left the Holy Land ows Jesus and a voice is heard saying: “This even though their ancestors were the first is my beloved Son, in whom I am well- Christians who came to believe that Jesus Order of the Holy Sepulchre of pleased; listen to him” (Mt 17:5). On hear- was the Messiah they had longed and wait- Jerusalem: ing this voice, the disciples were struck ed for. In the Gospel story of the Transfig- with fear and fell to the ground. But Jesus uration, we can find a remedy for their www.holysepulchre.net came to console them and told them not fears. Jesus consoled the disciples in their to be afraid. time of fear and trepidation and we can do the same for the Christians in the Holy We hear those words many times in the Latin Patriarchate Land by being generous with our prayers, Scriptures – “Be not afraid.” Yet, how of Jerusalem: fasting and almsgiving for the Pontifical often do we put aside Jesus’ reassuring www.lpj.org Good Friday Collection this Lent that sup- words and succumb to our fears – worries ports the apostolates of the Franciscan about families, jobs, the economy, and Custody of the Holy Land. violence and division in our communities, country and the world today? The Chris- Please Give Generously to the Pontifical Good Friday Holy Land Collection Third Sunday of Lent: Have Courage and Drink Deeply! This week’s Gospel story from the fourth chapter of John features a woman – and even more surprisingly – a Samaritan wom- an. In Jesus’ time, there was much enmity between the Hebrew people and those from Samaria and they did not associate with one another. But, this encounter be- tween the Samaritan woman and Jesus dissolved that barrier between them in a most remarkable way. This Samaritan woman was an outcast, a sinner; but she showed courage. She does not run away when a stranger, that she recognizes is a Jew, asked her for a drink. She stayed and what enfolded was an amazing encounter with the living God. Traffic back-up at a checkpoint in the separation wall in the West Bank When Jesus offers her living water, she is initially confused, but intrigued. In re- ah and she joyfully brings that message to dignity in their daily lives. They do not sponse to her kindness and courage, Jesus, her neighbors. Again, she demonstrates have free access to their work, their in turn, reveals Himself to her as the Messi- her courage – a sinner and an outcast, and schools, their hospitals or their families. a woman - ready to risk her neighbors’ They must file through long lines at these anger and distain to share the Good News. Israeli checkpoints and are totally at the Help For Holy Land whim of security personnel whether they The location of this Gospel story is Jacob’s Christians are permitted to pass through or not. well, which in Jesus’ time was in Samaria. They, like the Samaritan woman, risk being Historic Samaria, which is located in the Franciscan Good Friday targets of bigoted anger and distain as they West Bank, is difficult to get to today, be- Collection: attempt to simply live and survive each cause it is in Palestinian territory that is day. www.myfranciscan.org occupied by the Israeli government. In order for a pilgrim in the Holy Land to en- Have you demonstrated the courage of the ter the village of Nablus and visit Jacob’s Samaritan woman to meet and recognize Order of the Holy Sepulchre of well and the Greek Orthodox Church built an encounter with Christ and to drink of Jerusalem: over it, the tour bus must go through the living water that He offers to you dur- www.holysepulchre.net checkpoints in the separation wall that ing this Lenten season? Are you ready to stretches hundreds of miles through Pales- ask Jesus for the courage to stand up for tinian lands. This area of the West Bank is your neighbors that are targets of anger, Latin Patriarchate very tightly controlled. The Palestinian distain and violence from others? One way of Jerusalem: Christians there, like their Muslim neigh- to be courageous and drink of God’s living bors, have little freedom to travel any- water is to pray for our Christian brothers www.lpj.org where. Like the Samaritan woman, they and sisters in the Holy Land and to support need to have great courage to face the them through giving alms to the Pontifical many obstacles to human freedom and Good Friday Collection this Lent.