Last Saturday, at 6 p.m., in the Church of the Most Holy Saviour in Jerusalem, organised by the Custody of the Holy Land and the Maronite Catholic Church, thanksgiving celebrations were held for the canonisation of the eleven martyrs of Damascus. The prayer was opened by a solemn vigil, presided over by Mgr. Moussa El-Hage, Maronite Catholic Archbishop. Then First Vespers was sung with the liturgy in Arabic, to venerate the holy martyrs and their heroic virtues, particularly those of the Massabki brothers. H E Mgr MOUSSA EL-HAGE Maronite Archbishop Despite all that is happening in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, we see that heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us graces. For the past week, the great grace we have been experiencing is the canonisation of the Saints. Of the three Massabki brothers, we know that one was a merchant, one a professor and the youngest a sacristan. According to Archbishop Moussa, the cruel murder of these men of faith in 1860 also sprouted new life in today's history. Priests and laymen were united by the crown of martyrdom. He tells us, in fact, that in Lebanon a new awareness is spreading among lay Catholics about the importance of daily work as a path to ordinary holiness. H E Mgr MOUSSA EL-HAGE Maronite Archbishop All of us are called to be saints, not with a doctorate and a degree, but with love for the Lord and by sharing the little things in our lives with Him. After vespers, the participants went to the Custody's hall, where Brother Francesco Patton and Bishop Moussa inaugurated the exhibition on the holy martyrs. It was curated by architect Vincenzo Zuppardo and prepared by the Commission for the Canonisation of the Martyrs of the Custody of the Holy Land. Following a clockwise itinerary, visitors can read captions narrating the biography of each of the slain, accompanied by their respective photographs, in Italian, English or Arabic. There are also books and postcards with intercessory prayers to the Martyrs of Damascus published for the dissemination of the cult and for the knowledge of God's people. Br MAIKEL ANJELO,ofm Custody of the Holy Land I come from Syria and the martyrs of Damascus mean a lot to me. We feel the strength that the Church experienced at that time in Syria and how it experiences it today. I come from a place where the Christian community has been experiencing a time of war in recent years. And I can say that we get a lot of strength from them. I pronounced my perpetual vows a month ago and I have taken up and made my own their last prayer ‘The Lord's will be done’. This phrase enlightens us to always be ready and strong in the Lord and to follow their example of fidelity to Christ. On Sunday, the Mass of Thanksgiving in St. Saviour's Church was presided over by the Custos. And concelebrated by Mgr. Moussa and Mgr. Adolfo Tito Yllana, Apostolic Nuncio in Israel and Apostolic Delegate in Jerusalem and Palestine, by all the priests of the Custody of the Holy Land. Religious communities and lay faithful were invited to participate. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land We are happy because they are a gift from God. They are a gift from God to the whole Church, they are a gift from God to the Church in the Holy Land, in the Middle East and also to the Custody. These martyrs are particularly important for us because they represent an entire people of God. An entire Church that suffered martyrdom in 1860 with tens of thousands of Christians who died not to deny Jesus Christ, to remain faithful to Him. Brother Patton, also mentioned in his homily that the lives of the martyrs are a provocation to all of us Christians to understand life as vocation and mission. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Custos of the Holy Land Most of the time we do not give our lives in a bloody way but are called to give our lives through a form of daily martyrdom. Which is that of being faithful to our vocation, which is, as the Pope suggested in Rome, to spend ourselves for others in service, to manifest love in a very concrete way. At the end of the Holy Mass, the friars' choir sang a hymn to the martyrs of Damascus entitled: “Tremanti Inferni” composed for this specific liturgy. According to the maestro, Br Corrado Sica, knowing the figure of the martyrs was fundamental to creating music that could represent the powerful experience they lived. Br CORRADO SICA, ofm Custody of the Holy Land I chose a methodology that was one that could involve the entire musical structure, choral, assembly and solo. This method is called liturgical musical troparium. It is an ancient method already widespread in the iconography of the early Catholic Church. What does it present? There is an initial stanza, the theme, that the choir presents, which will register with its mode, the polyphonic one. Then there is the assembly that responds to that stanza with the joy of that event that God has commanded us. Come blessed by My Father, for you the Kingdom is prepared. And we are happy about that, because it must destroy the fear of hell, the fear of death. Read More