Father let your kingdom come father let your will be done on Earth as in heaven right here in my heart oh father let your kingdom come father let your will be done as in heaven right here in my Heart I am so happy to be here in well it says the curia of the custody of the holy land and so we are here to speak with the one who’s in charge of all of the Friars here in all parts of the Holy Land to speak about the Our Father in
Latin and we are right next to the beautiful Bale Tower as you can hear at St savior’s church this is all part of not only the Franciscan custody but the school for The Franciscan where they come to Jerusalem to learn and also to pray so follow me as we go in to meet
The cus father Franchesco Pon we are so privileged to be here inside what we call the custos of the Holy Land here in Jerusalem right inside of new gate and joining us is Father Franchesco Paton and he has been what they call the custos of the well the
Holy Land um for the past eight years and I think to begin our discussion about the Our Father in Latin and the importance of Latin here in the city of Jerusalem and in the Holy Land um I would like to have him tell us a a
Little bit more about what you do here Latin is important because uh uh the different languages are defining the different communities and so we have the Greeks yes we have the Armenians and we have the Latins and this comes from the middle age when uh uh the different communities were defined from their
Language this was the distin the distinction and the distinction was because the language was the language of the Liturgy and so the Greeks of course were using the Greek as lurgical language the Armenians The Armenian the sycs the syc and uh the Western Christians were using the Latin
So uh since the middle age we are known here in the Holy Land as Latins the Latins yes it’s very interesting because I think most of us in the west are used to Western Christianity or Roman Catholic but this is the Latins yes when we arrive uh uh there was not division
Between Catholics and Protestants so all the westerns uh Christians were United and have the same language and the same lurgy for the celebration and for prayer mhm and that’s the key it’s it’s the language of Prayer in fact when you go to I think it’s the high mass that the
Franciscans celebrate each morning in front of the Tomb in uh the holy Seer it’s a mass in Latin yes of course uhhuh and then even the I think it’s the daily procession inside the holy supper it’s all in Latin yes and so I suppose it’s the same way in the different shrines
That uh it is the same in the shrines that are under the low status quo so it is the same in the Holy sep it is the same in Bethlehem but we use Latin for the uh pontifical liturgies the the most solemn liturgies because this is part of
Our identity and uh I think that it is uh useful to keep this tradition and I can say that uh Latin is also a universal language it is not the language of uh one nation and this is very important because in this way we show the universality of the church that is
Beyond the language of this or that Nation like uh Italy or French or Spain or and so on yeah all the different pilgrims when they come here they can all unite together in that one prayer which is what really unites us which is the Our Father oh that’s amazing can you
Tell us more uh what your duties are here and as the custos in the Holy Land because uh people well they recognize you as a Franciscan and they know that there’s the head of the franciscans but what exactly do you do we have uh this special uh mission to be custodians of
The holy places uh we started our presence here in 127 but we became custodians of the holy places in 13 uh 33 and officially uh with the Mandate of the Holy Sea from 1342 oh uh Pope Clemens the 6 wrote a special bull special letter with his seal uh entrusting us the custodianship
Of the Christian holy places and asking us three things to live in the holy places to celebrate uh in the holy places sang masses and the Divine offices and to be an International Brotherhood not Friars coming from one nation but from all the different uh provinces of the order and this is very
Important and so uh to be custodians of the holy places it means first of all to make the holy places be living places places in in which uh we can live we can pray we can uh also experience the grace of the the single holy place we can welcome the pilgrims uh always
Showing the universality of the church because uh the fact that we are international is the other phase of the uh Catholic Church Catholic it means Universal do you know um by chance when Latin first really came to Jerusalem I suppose some of the first pilgrims that
Would come from the West would have been speaking Latin already even though most spoke also Greek we we can say that uh uh in Jerusalem uh Latin came with the pilgrims because uh in the first centuries there were uh pilgrims coming from all around the world uh um and you
Know that one of the most famous uh Pilgrim was a woman in the 4th Century aeria she came from Spain and uh for sure she was not speaking Greek no she came from the other place yes and so uh the same the pilgrims coming from Italy in the third and fourth Century
They were speaking uh Latin not Greek m uh of course the Latin became very important during the middle age before before the Crusades because uh uh the first uh very important presence Latin presence in Jerusalem was the Benedictine presence and uh with uh uh Gerardo saso
The presence of the uh order of St John and hospitaler Order uh that becames became after that the military Order of Malta and that was the one that it was based out of the Holy Monastery of St John it was it was based close to the holy separ there were two
Monasteries one was for male and the other for female uh the monaster for male uh had the the church that is actually the Church of the Redeemer the Lutheran Church was the Church of the monastery of Gerardo Saro uh it was dedicated to the mother of God and
The Church of uh the female Monastery was the Church of St Mary Magdalene more or less where now that is the monaster of son Alexander neski oh so it was just across the street yes yes oh my goodness there so much and that place was called muristan because it was
A great Hospital yes I I remember reading something about that that’s amazing so even before the Crusades came that’s incredible well I know that uh most pilgrims when they come here to the Holy Land and certainly in Jerusalem they see flags all over the place it’s easy to recognize different flags and
Most from the West are looking for the Red Cross with the little edges on it on the white backgrounds and that points directly to the presence of the franciscans in a certain place so just to round up our discussion can you tell us about the history of the use of that
Particular symbol and when it was adopted by the franciscans it is a very simple symbol because uh it represents the uh Universal cross it means that uh the cross uh reaches all uh the world and uh in the same time um it represents the five uh uh Stigmata of of
Christ of Christ and so it is a very rich symbol uh many people uh don’t know that this is a cross but in fact this is a special cross and uh through this cross we express this uh uh truth of faith that uh uh the Redemption of Jesus
Is able to reach all the people of the world and in the same time that the Redemption is through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ uh the five points and the red color are clearly something related to the blood of Christ absolutely and it does have a longer
History than just many people think oh it came from the Crusaders who brought it over from Europe and actually that’s not the case you can see the cross in a lot of different places yes we we adopted it we took uh this symbol from
The uh era of the Crusades and so it is not a typical Franciscan symbol uh the same symbol is used by the uh Latin P all uh all those who are uh Latins use the Red Cross uh uh this special Red Cross uh for their flag uh the specific uh symbol Franciscan symbol
Uh is the cross with the two arms yes and the symbol of the custody of the Holy Land combines the different symbols the the cross of the universal cross and also the traditional Franciscan symbol well I’ll tell you once when we took pilgrims to uh the enunciation we were
All delighted to find the same cross on the Byzantine pavement or the uh Mosaic right there in front of the tomb of our Lady excuse me the house of our Lady where the anunciation took place so really it does have that Universal call to Redemption definitely and that would
Be the same thing as the universal prayer of the Our Father yes and I don’t know if you personally uh or as the Kos actually even have want to underline a certain part of the Our Father particularly the Our Father in Latin that I don’t know most speaks to perhaps
Your mission here in the Holy Land the mission of unity well not just Unity it’s it’s it’s taking care of all the holy places but you do a great job also working with all of the other Christian peoples here when we pray Our Father we are praying uh uh
The prayer of the sons of God and so if we recognize the Dignity of every single person we recognize that every single person in some way is a uh child of God son or daughter of God and so the Our Father the the the use of uh the
Objective our not simply mine right our is something that opens to universality and uh the father in fact is the the prayer of the church and the church is defined as the uh fraternity and the family of uh of Jesus uh inside uh the prayer of uh uh the holy F the Our
Father in this moment I think that uh the most uh the the the invocation that I feel particularly is uh uh in the first part uh thy uh kingdom come because I know that uh the kingdom of God is something uh totally different from the human
Kingdoms that’s a and so in this moment we understand very well how important is to have a kingdom power that uh is not uh uh following the models of uh uh keeping and managing power uh in this world uh but at the same time I think that it is very important to underline
Also um expressions like uh forgive us our Sinners our sins our trespasses as we forgive those who uh trespass against us because I understand how important is reconciliation in uh a society like the society in which we are living that is a society Society deeply uh divided broken
Broken and uh we uh this poison of hatred uh uh uh desire of Revenge and uh all all things that are coming not from God but but from from Satan from the devil and so for me in this moment here it is very important uh uh to stress
These uh two uh points I think that it is important also to understand that in order that uh the kingdom of God come and that uh uh the reconciliation among uh uh people be fulfilled it is necessary to tune ourselves on the will of God that is something very important and that uh
Uh brings us uh uh to a special place also that is the place of Gethsemane the place in which uh Jesus prayed uh if it is possible this chice uh to pass I ask you father uh to be free from this chish but not my will
But you your will uh be done and uh in uh in the original version of the Our Father in the in the Greek tradition that is the tradition uh in which we received our father as it was written in Greek in the in the gospel of St Matthew and in the
D uh the expression they will be done uh is not simply uh I accept what will happen but uh it means uh uh I want I desire to adhare to your will and so it is something that is not to accept uh with reluctance yes the
Will of God but to embrace that’s what fat really would be in Latin it’s like to embrace not just okay it is it is it is I see how that’s amazing what’s the Greek word for the the fat gen so it has both of the words both in Greek and Latin have that
That deeper meaning oh that’s nice that’s good well good I mean I think for all of us it’s it’s always a blessing to be able to be with our Franciscan um fathers here in the Holy Land it’s a blessing I think every virtual pilgrimage we have been able to present
To each and every one of you as well as the pilgrimages we’ve been able to do uh with you present here in the Holy Land which God willing will happen again very soon when peace comes and and security can come um we give such thanks to the
Lord for the presence of the franciscans and all of the wonderful work to bring his kingdom here uh on Earth and to help each and every one of us to be United as Sons and Daughters of God so thank you so much for your time thank you and um
Know that uh all of us on the virtual pilgrimage excuse me are praying for you and your mission here and of course all of the friers and uh I don’t know if you’d like to give them an invitation to come back when it’s safe I think that uh for small groups it
Is possible to come back uh very soon right now I think because uh uh if you have a big group it is difficult to manage uh safety safety the big group but uh if you have a small groups uh for the small groups the holy places are
Open we continue to keep uh the holy places open we continue to live inside and to pray inside but uh we are very happy to welcome come uh also small groups of pigs in this moment I can say that the most courageous are the Pilgrims from Indonesia yeah there’s
Lots of Indonesians here amazing Philippines and they are coming and I hope that very soon uh other panss will come yes it would be a wonderful way to spend Easter and certainly the Easter the 50 days of Easter afterwards so thank you God willing we can do that
Very soon and God bless bless you all thank you for joining us again today and we hope to see you again as we continue our virtual pilgrimage making our way toward Holy Week peace and all Goods Spe For a
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