austraLasia #2578 Second International Day of Intercession for Peace in the Holy
Land
JERUSALEM: 20th January 2010 -- It is not by accident, we
can be sure, that the 31st January has been chosen for this by now
annual (since this will be the second such occasion) 'international'
Day of Intercession for Peace in the Holy Land. This initiative is
strongly backed by a number of young Salesians in the Holy Land and
elsewhere, and they are appealing for others to join them. Essentially
it means devoting that day, 31st January, to the intention for peace in
the Holy Land, in ways which are described further on in this item.
One hardly needs to cite all kinds of motivating
background issues - we are but a year from a disastrous conflict in
that part of the world, and unresolved issues of peace abound, but we
are also not quite a year from the visit by Pope Benedict last May, and
but a few days from his visit to the Rome Synagogue; there are ongoing
diplomatic discussions that involve the Holy See and the State of
Israel where there is also Salesian participation. So no accident, as
we say, that 31st January might have this added intention. His Holiness
last year backed the initiative with a message of his own, expressing
joy at the adherence to his "invitation to prayer, recognition for this
initiative that longs for fraternal peace among peoples of the Holy
Land". Last year the initiative was followed by a pilgrimage to the
Holy Land. There will be another this year.
Last year, the first such event was truly
international and involved 500 cities around the world with 700 events
of adoration or Eucharistic celebration officially listed. It had and
still has strong support from Italian Catholic Youth Groups (who has
not heard of the Papaboys, for instance?) and from other groups not
only in Italy but worldwide, which promote Eucharist adoration.
So what do you do to be part of this event? It means
either sending the information that Mass or adoration or both or some
celebration of a prayerful nature will take place for this intention on
the part of the group you represent, naming, please the city/country as
well as the time and nature of your participation, and sending that to
ufficiostampa@papboys.it. Alternatively, if you are a FaceBook member
you can enter 'We want Peace in the Holy land 2' and attend to matters
there. By 25th January (so act promptly please) a list with all
celebrations will be online.
The Salesian coordinator of this event, resident in
the Holy land, currently at our Study Centre, Ratisbonne, is Francesco
De Ruvo SDB coordinator of the Youth For Life group with its website
www.youthfl.org _________________ AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
as an
agency for ANS based in
Rome.
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