From 3 to 6 September 2024, the annual conference of the Italian-speaking Commissariats of the Holy Land was held in Palermo. The event kicked off on Tuesday, 3 September at the Franciscan House of Spirituality in Baida, with a reflection by Father Francesco Cavallini. He is a Jesuit who has been leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land for young people for many years, taking up a method that has deep roots. Fr FRANCESCO CAVALLINI, sj Jesuit, guide of Ignatian pilgrimages to the Holy Land This morning we went a little over the history of pilgrimages to the Biblical Land in the light of the experience of the Jesuit fathers. I traced this back to the first experience of a famous Dominican father, Jacques Fontaine, who in the 1960s was the first to rethink the pilgrimage formula. Not only to sanctuaries and holy places but, according to his intuition, the Earth is the sanctuary, the Earth is the holy place. Fr FRANCESCO CAVALLINI, sj Jesuit, guide of Ignatian pilgrimages to the Holy Land Thus the week in the Sinai desert, as the week of the Father's revelation, in Galilee of the Son, and in Jerusalem, of the Holy Spirit. So what does Father Rossi de Gasperis insert? The cut of the exercises, of the four weeks of spiritual exercises. This also ensures that the meditations remain imprinted in people's hearts forever. Important moments of the meeting were the planning and coordination, the sharing of everyone's experience. The remote intervention of the Custos of the Holy Land. And then the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Archbishop of Palermo. In the background, Sicily and its wounds, with a visit to the places of Falcone, Don Puglisi, Peppino Impastato and so many martyrs of the mafia, a context that provided a further opportunity for reflection. Br MATTEO BRENA, ofm Commissioner of the Holy Land – Tuscany The profound value of these days was not only communion but also the possibility of being nourished in some way by the experiences of the territory in which we found ourselves, the Sicilian territory. The testimony of men and women who knew how to inhabit a wounded land through the language of justice, of proximity to the poorest. Proximity and closeness, two terms that describe well the mission of the Holy Land commissioners. Br SILVIO ROGELIO DE LA FUENTE Delegate for the Commissariats of the Holy Land In this period when you cannot come to the Holy Land, the commissioners are at the forefront of making people love the Holy Land more and more by sharing what we do in the Holy Land, despite this period. It does not mean that because there are no pilgrimages at this time, the commissioners have nothing to do, absolutely, but quite the opposite! Now is when you can really sow, in the territory, in the place. And the commissioners are really very busy, not only in social work but also in the formation of groups that will one day be able to come to the Holy Land, when the whole situation is back to the way it was before. For this, we really thank the commissioners and all that they do because without them our service would certainly not be the same. Read More