MAGNIFICAT has designed this Holy Land Companion first and foremost as a spiritual guide to enable you to pray every day and to live the liturgy in harmony with the different sites you will encounter over the course of your pilgrimage.

God’s command Hear, O Israel! (Dt 6:4), repeated every morning in Jewish prayer, is addressed to the pilgrim who comes to discover the land where God made his word heard in a unique way, the land where the Word of God was made flesh, the land where the first Church proved itself heedful of the teachings of Christ and of his Apostles after him.

To read the Bible in the land of Israel is an experience that gives context to its words and widens our understanding, not only because the biblical geography can be experienced firsthand, but also because the journey, the people one meets, and the confrontation of the Old with the New Testament add a new flavor to the Word.

Punctuated by moments of attentive listening and personal prayer, the pilgrim’s days progressively become a kind of Liturgy of the Word that finds its fullest expression in the celebration of the liturgy, particularly the Liturgy of the Hours.

This collection provides the pilgrim with the elements necessary both for prayer as a community and for personal prayer, so that, with the Church, the pilgrim may celebrate the historical stages of the progressive revelation of God to his people and to all humanity.

Brief texts present not all locations but the unmissable sites of the Holy Land: those that offer the most interest and those that, more practically, normally figure in pilgrimage itineraries. However, access to these biblical sites and significant locations in the early history of the Church may not always be available; in this we see a sign of the hope that is the mark of any pilgrimage.

In a few brief words, the secular history and the biblical and spiritual realities of the holy sites of Judeo-Christian history are offered. These summaries serve as a first initiation to the biblical text.

Each day, to respond to the needs of a pilgrimage, a prayer for one of the principal sites visited reflects upon a pivotal moment in the life of the Church.

The prayer proposed is directly inspired by the Liturgy of the Hours and adopts its structure. Each always includes a hymn, a psalm or biblical canticle, a reading from the Word of God, and a prayer of intercession.

Great simplicity of use is the aim. This is why you will find no cross-references or texts to learn by heart. Prayers are presented in their entirety. The introductions and conclusions are all similarly adapted to the site.

The Holy Land offers pilgrims the opportunity to celebrate the events of the mysteries of salvation in the places where they actually occurred, as handed down by tradition and confirmed by archaeology. This is why the liturgies of the holy sites takes precedence over those of the liturgical time, with the exception of the Octave of Christmas, the Sacred Paschal Triduum, and the Octave of Easter.

Masses are drawn from the missal proper to the Custody of the Holy Land. Several options, notably for the readings, allow great latitude to priests and pilgrimage organizers.

Just as on certain feasts of the liturgical year we hear phrases such as “that is today” or “on this most sacred night,” allowing us to understand how the liturgy makes present the events of salvation—in the same way, in the liturgy celebrated at a given site in the Holy Land, we hear the words “here” or “in this place.” These well-chosen adaptations give the celebrations their own particular power.

Two practical notes about the Masses in this book:

With the goal of prolonging prayer and entering further into the tradition of the Church, a meditation completes and expands the spiritual experience of each day. The pilgrim walks in step with the people of God, walks on the path of Christ. He also walks in step with the Church and the saints who have shed light on different aspects of the mysteries of salvation. Still today, these faithful from throughout the ages have something to tell us, something we would do well to listen to.

The Holy Land is not just a historical place of remembrance where pilgrims come to refresh and nourish their faith. It is the place where, on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit came to the first Christian community, manifesting it to the world (CCC 1076). It remains the home of a community proud to consider itself their heirs.

A pilgrimage can be an occasion to experience the Eucharist within a local Latin Rite community, where they normally celebrate the liturgy in Arabic. The Melkite, Maronite, or Armenian Catholic communities, with whom we are in full communion, will also be pleased to welcome you. A pilgrimage offers the possibility of a powerful ecclesial experience through an encounter with different rites.

Custody of the Holy Land has been entrusted to the Franciscan friars since the 14^th century. The Franciscans ensure the future of the holy sites and maintain continual prayer. Every Friday afternoon, pilgrims can attend the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa. There are also daily processions to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as well as to the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Prayer is at the heart of every pilgrimage. It can take many forms, but it unites the pilgrim with the prayers of all men and women in the unique prayer of Christ to his Father: Not my will but yours be done (cf. Lk 22:42).

The presence of the Franciscans in the Holy Land dates back to the very origins of the Franciscan Order. Founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1209, it embraced missionary evangelization from the outset.

Saint Francis of Assisi desired more than anything to travel to the holy sites. Fearless of martyrdom, he managed to reach Damietta, Egypt, in 1219, and then Saint John d’Acre in Israel. Against the backdrop of war at the time of the Crusades, he conceived the wild plan of proclaiming the Gospel to Sultan al-Kamil, a rather open-minded man. The two apparently maintained a relationship marked by good will and mutual esteem. One might say that Francis was a forerunner of interfaith dialogue.

At the close of the General Chapter in 1217, Franciscan friars were sent out into the world to proclaim the Gospel. This was the occasion of the establishment of the Province of the Holy Land, covering the entire Byzantine Empire, which was divided into three custodies in 1263: the Holy Land, Syria, and Cyprus. At that time, the Franciscans were present in Jerusalem, Saint John d’Acre, Tyre and Sidon, Tripoli, Antioch….

But that presence rapidly came under threat. After the fall of Saint John d’Acre on May 19, 1291, the Franciscans were forced to take refuge in Cyprus, the residence of their Eastern provincial. However, they returned to Jerusalem as soon as possible, in 1322, and ministered in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. On November 21, 1342, Pope Clement VI promulgated a bull entrusting to the Franciscans, with the authorization of the sultan of Egypt, “the Cenacle of the Lord, the chapel in which the Holy Spirit appeared to the Apostles, and another chapel where Christ, in the presence of Thomas, manifested himself to the Apostles after the Resurrection.”

From that date, the Franciscans have been officially ministering at the Cenacle and the Holy Sepulchre and, beginning five years later, in Bethlehem. During the 14^th century, about twenty religious lived in these three locations.

Over the years, as circumstances allowed, they bought back to the Catholic Church nearly all the sites of symbolic significance to Christians: in the 17^th century, the Church of Saint Peter in Tiberias, the site of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Mount Tabor, Gethsemane, and the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Ain Karem; in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the sanctuary of Saint Joseph in Nazareth, the sanctuaries of the Flagellation, Emmaus, and Dominus Flevit, and the sites of Tabgha, Magdala, and Capernaum; and, finally, in the 20^th century, the Shepherds’ field, the “Desert of Saint John the Baptist,” Mount Nebo, Bethany, and the site of the baptism in the Jordan.

Little by little, as they obtained authorization, the Franciscans built churches, undertook archeological digs, and welcomed and assisted pilgrims.

But this presence remains fragile, and has very often been called into question. In 1527, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent expelled the Christians from the Cenacle, on the pretext that David’s tomb is on the same site. To this day the Franciscans have been unable to recover their property on Mount Zion, though this had been their oldest convent in the Holy Land.

From the first years of their presence in Jerusalem, the Franciscans have been the object of innumerable persecutions. And yet, despite the bloodshed, the Franciscan presence has endured over the centuries. Guardians of the holy sites, they have remained so against all the odds.

The first mission of the friars of the Custody is to pray daily in the holy sites, in order to commemorate salvation history and to make God present today.

Then there is the receiving of pilgrims. Franciscans are committed to sharing with them the grace of prayer in these blessed sites, by welcoming them and maintaining information centers to enhance their stay.

The maintenance of these sites also constitutes an essential part of the Franciscans’ mission. The main part of their income is brought in by the worldwide collection on Good Friday.

Another element of the Franciscan mission, less visible but equally important, consists in enabling Christians to remain in the country by supporting community life: providing housing; developing youth training; promoting employment; creating health, charity, cultural, and sports facilities; and always having a concern for the poorest among us.

Of course, the Custody’s activity is not limited to Christians alone. In a spirit of openness, everyone is welcome in these schools and healthcare centers, whatever their religion. Brick by brick, these modest achievements are laying the foundation for peace in this country.

Living in the land of Islam is part of the Franciscan charism, and nowhere have the friars responded to that particular vocation for longer than in the Holy Land. In this, they are faithful to the spirit of the rule, which instructs such missionary friars “not to make disputes or contentions; but [to] be ‘subject to every human creature for God’s sake,’ yet confessing themselves to be Christians” (First Rule of the Friars Minor, 16, 2).

May this Church mission contribute a little peace to the troubled and scarred Middle East.

Following in the footsteps of so many Christians from the earliest centuries, we will visit the places where Christ was born, lived, died, and rose again. In days gone by, some chose to live or pray here—like Saint Jerome (342–420), who spent the last thirty years of his life in Bethlehem translating the Bible into Latin—alongside those Christians who have been present from the beginning. Over the first millennium, all were simply “Christian,” whatever their community, language, or individual traditions.

At the start of the 11^th century, Caliph al-Hakim had the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre destroyed, and violently persecuted Christians. This event triggered the Crusades, the first of which began in 1099. The Frankish kingdom that had been established in Jerusalem could not hold. The Crusades finally came to an end in 1250, but not before a century and a half of bloody struggle had inflicted wounds that remain painful to this day.

The Christians of the Holy Land represent less than 2% of the country’s total population. Their situation remains very difficult. The few thousand Palestinian Christians find themselves in the presence of a not always very tolerant Islam. Neither Israeli nationality nor the legal equality of Israeli Christians protect them from a certain discrimination.

Christian history has unfortunately been marked by estrangements and divisions. This has led to a multiplicity of Churches, more or less independent from one another. Today, more than thirty Churches are represented in the city of Jerusalem alone, not counting different sects within those Churches.

In 313, Emperor Constantine authorized Christian worship by the Edict of Milan. Later, in 380, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. This was the age of the great ecumenical councils. In 451, the Council of Chalcedon sealed the first major split: for some, Christ was “of one nature” (the mono-physites); for others, he was “one person in two natures” (Rome and Constantinople). In 1054 there came a schism, more political than religious, between East and West. Finally, in the 16^th century, the Protestant Reformation broke the Western Church in two.

Over the course of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land, we are going to meet members of other Churches. Little by little, we will learn about them, so diverse in their history, their rites, their liturgical languages, and their origins. We will soon come to better understand terms such as “Eastern Churches,” “Eastern Catholics,” and “Orthodox.” Above all, we will quickly be convinced that things are not as simple as we thought they were.

Non-Chalcedonian Eastern Churches (those who split from Rome over the Christology declared at the Council of Chalcedon) have been present in the Holy Land since the earliest centuries.

Firstly, there are the Armenians, whose very ancient presence has been increasing since the end of the Turkish genocide at the beginning of the 20^th century.

The Syriac Churches are descendants of the early Church of Jerusalem. Their liturgical language is Aramaic. There are several autonomous Churches (self-governed, i.e., not in union with any other Churches) within the Syriac line. The home of Mark the Evangelist, a site whose authenticity is clearly established, is thought to be the site of the first settlement of the Church in Jerusalem.

The Copts are the Christians of Egypt. They celebrate their liturgy in the basilicas of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Finally, the Ethiopians, whose history is linked to the Copts, have a chapel on the roof of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. Of the non-Chalcedonian Churches, the Ethiopians are the only ones who consider themselves a branch of Orthodoxy.

Each of these Churches formed by first breaking union with Rome; for centuries Roman Catholics regarded them simply as heretical…. Since a shift in focus at Vatican II, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II have signed major theological and pastoral accords with many of these Churches, and are working toward such with the others.

The Orthodox are organized into “autocephalous patriarchates,” meaning that they enjoy semi-total autonomy while remaining in communion with one another.

The Greeks are today guardians of the holy sites on behalf of these Churches of the Byzantine Rite. This is the rite observed by the large majority of Christian Arabs of the Holy Land, be they Israeli or Palestinian, Orthodox or attached to Rome.

Romanians (17^th to 18^th centuries) and Russians (since the 18^th century) are also well-established in the Holy Land. All eyes are drawn to the gilded onion domes of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane. Strictly speaking, the Romanians do not occupy any holy site.

Some of the Catholics in the Holy Land are Latin, of the Roman Rite, represented by the Custody of the Holy Land (Franciscans) and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (archbishop). The parishes are predominantly Arab, but there do exist some Hebrew Catholic parishes.

The term Eastern Catholics refers generally to members of those Eastern Churches that have returned to communion with Rome (usually in the 17^th-18^th centuries) while retaining the essence of their liturgy and their customs (for example, that married men may become priests). Notable for their presence in the Holy Land are Greek Catholics, known as Melkites, who constitute the second largest Church in the Holy Land (after the Greek Orthodox), as well as Armenian Catholics and Syriac Catholics. And we must not forget the Maronites, originally from Lebanon, who have always remained faithful to Rome.

Protestant Churches began to appear in the Holy Land at the start of the 19^th century. The pilgrim may visit the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, close to the Holy Sepulchre, or the Anglican Christ Church, not far from the Jaffa Gate. Discovered in the 19^th century by the British General Charles Gordon, the “Garden Tomb,” located outside the city walls near the Damascus Gate, is an ancient tomb long considered by certain Protestants (but not most scholars) to have been that of Jesus.

More recently established churches are also present in the Holy Land, including Pentecostals and Evangelicals. Even the Mormons have built a large center in Jerusalem.

The (very diverse) sects of Messianic Judaism reconcile the Messiahship of Jesus with certain Jewish practices. Some even adopt an ideology not far from American Christian Fundamentalists. Naturally, they offend the sensibilities of Orthodox Jews.

As the media sometimes reflect as they report on some new outbreak of troubles, there are numerous causes for tensions between communities…. But, at the Basilicas of both the Holy Sepulchre and the Nativity, Franciscans (Catholics), Greeks (Orthodox), and Armenians cohabit. It is a miracle of concrete ecumenism that has been faithfully lived, by force of circumstance, down the centuries….

My father was a wandering Aramean who went down to Egypt…. The LORD…heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong and outstretched arm (Dt 26:5, 7-9).

This ancient text immediately establishes the founding event of the Hebrew people: a God who reveals himself in the liberation from slavery. In an entirely polytheistic environment, the Jews affirmed their fierce attachment to monotheism. The prayer Shema Israel, recited three times a day, centers on this faith in one unique God. Hear, O Israel! The LORD, is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength (Dt 6:4).

After the crossing of the Red Sea, which gave them access to the Promised Land, God organized the Jewish people’s religious and liturgical life. Feast days and pilgrimages first commemorate the flight from Egypt: Pesach, the Passover, with the week of Unleavened Bread (Lv 23:5-14); Shavuot, Pentecost, fifty days after Passover, celebrating the harvest and the gift of the Torah by God on Sinai (Lv 23:15-22); Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (Lv 23:26-32); Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or of Tabernacles, during which Jews relive the precariousness of the exodus and their intimacy with God (Lv 23:33-44).

Two centuries after their departure from Egypt, the Hebrews felt a need to be ruled by a monarchy (1 Sm 8). The king’s mission was to ensure faithfulness to the covenant established at Sinai. In the face of the infidelities of king and people, prophets rose up, who were often treated merely as political opponents (rather than messengers of a divine reprimand). Their witness to God’s ability to intervene decisively in time and history brought about a change from a cyclical to a linear view of time, orienting the Jews toward the future. Beginning with Isaiah (8^th century B.C.), the people slowly began to pin their hopes on the coming of a Messiah who would renew the world.

Over the course of its history, this great spiritual adventure was to know many vicissitudes. Solomon’s kingdom was split in two upon his death in 931 B.C. The Northern Kingdom disappeared in the year 722 B.C., in the Assyrian conquest. The Kingdom of Judah endured the same fate with the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. and subsequent mass deportations to Babylon. The Temple, reconstructed after the return from exile in 538 B.C., was totally demolished by the Romans in A.D. 70. Then began the scattering of the Jewish people throughout the world, the Disaspora. From then on, the western wall of the Temple became the most prominent place of prayer for the Jews of Jerusalem. These periods of great suffering—the Exile, the Reconquista in Spain, the Pogroms in Russia, and of course the Shoah (Holocaust)—were also times of great spiritual advances. The biblical texts continued to be studied, and with great liberty. The Talmud, for example, often offers conflicting rabbinical commentaries. In the Kabbalah, the Jews of Spain, and later of Safed (in Israel), gave a mystical interpretation of the sacred texts.

In the West today, there are mainly three types of Jews: Orthodox, who observe the Torah strictly, including restrictions of diet and dress; Conservative, who consider the Torah binding but subject to historical development; and Reform or Liberal Jews, who seek to adapt Jewish traditions to the modern world. Others, called secular Jews, consider themselves Jewish only by tradition, not by faith. While some of these categories are also present in the Holy Land, the situation there is much more complex.

The great journey of the Muslim era began on July 16, 622, when Muhammad and his companions decided to go to Medina (the period of the Hegira, “flight”). The community then organized itself and spread through the Arabian Peninsula. At the Prophet’s death in 632, a schism developed between those who considered themselves to have best understood the message of the Prophet (the Sunnis) and the partisans of Ali, the son-in-law of Muhammad (the Shia).

Something that always surprises the visitor to an Islamic country is the call to prayer by the muezzin five times a day: Allahu Akbar, “God is great.” Prayer, one of the five pillars of Islam, invites all Muslims to recognize their “submission” (the meaning of the word islam) to God; prayer is a debt man must pay to his creator. God is also present in a number of common daily expressions: Insha’Allah, “if God wills it,” is used much like the Christian “God willing”; Bismillah, “in the name of God,” is often said when beginning something; and Alhamdu lillah, “praise be to God,” is a common expression of thanksgiving.

Muslim practices center around five basic principles, known as the five pillars. The first is the declaration of faith, or shahada, which must be performed in public: “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Prophet” (Q 37:35; 48:29). The second is the prayer salah, which takes place five times daily (Q 11:114). The third pillar is the zakat, almsgiving or tithe for the support of the poor, the construction of mosques, and the advance of Islam in the world (Q 23:4). The fourth pillar is sawm, fasting—abstaining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan (the ninth month of the Islamic year) (Q 2:183). In comparison to the Gregorian calendar, the Muslim calendar year, comprised of twelve lunar months, is shorter, so the month of Ramadan moves forward eleven days in our calendar each year. It is during this month that the Night of Destiny (Laylat al-Qadr) is commemorated, during which, according to Muslim belief, Muhammad received the revelation of the Qur’an for the first time.

The fifth pillar of Islam, the hajj, takes place over the course of the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. This is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Muhammad’s birthplace and the holiest city in Islam, which every Muslim must undertake at least once in his or her adult life (should it be financially and physically possible) (Q 22:27-30). During the time of pilgrimage, one of Islam’s two major holidays is celebrated: Eid al-Adha, the sacrifice of Abraham (in Islam, it is Ishmael whom Abraham was commanded to sacrifice).

Religion and prayer imbue the daily life of every Muslim. Moral, family, social, and political life is governed by sharia, divine rulings that are largely based on the the Qur’an and the traditions of Muhammad (the hadith).

After Mecca and Medina, Jerusalem is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Islam. Near the Wailing Wall, the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque (“the Farthest Mosque”) mark the location of Muhammad’s “night journey” to Jerusalem and the location from which he is said to have ascended to heaven.