MENSAGEM DO GRÃO-PRIOR ECLESIÁSTICO, SUA EXCELÊNCIA REVERENDÍSSIMA O ARCEBISPO DE MONREALE, PELA PEREGRINAÇÃO A WALSINGHAM
TO ALL MEMBERS, CONSOEURS AND CONFRERES OF THE MILITARY AND HOSPITALLER ORDER OF SAINT LAZARUS OF JERUSALEM
As Ecclesiastical Grand Prior of the Order, I wholeheartedly join the Grand Master in welcoming you to the 2014 Pilgrimage in Walsingham. It is a truly special opportunity to embrace the ecumenism of the Order of Saint Lazarus and enhance its fundamental spiritual nature.
In the spirit of ecumenism, spirituality will be emphasized by members’ participation in ecumenical services in the Anglican Shrine and the Roman Catholic Shrine and a Holy Mile Walk between the two shrines. Spirituality and healing will be highlighted by our members’ participation in a very special sprinkling service.
In the setting of a spiritual pilgrimage, charitable and business work will be addressed on Friday during a meeting of the Heads of Jurisdictions in the morning and a meeting of the Hospitallers in the afternoon. This is will be a perfect opportunity for a recommitment of our members to the charitable work of the Order.
The Walsingham Pilgrimage will culminate on the Feast of Pentecost, during which members have the opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to guide them in the Order’s work.
To understand the miracle of Pentecost, we must start with the experience of the bitter confusion that was created in Babel, the organizational effort to attempt to build unity among people. We have the certainty that the Holy Spirit overcomes the rupture begun in Babel, defeats confusion in our hearts and breaks the barriers between classes and races. The Spirit opens our hearts, purifying, healing and reconciling them, leading them to communion. It is the Spirit of unity in the plurality of charismas which allows us to overcome the confusion and division of Babel and celebrate the Pentecost communion.
Through the presence of the Holy Spirit in the worldwide life of the Church, Patriarch Athenagoras I wrote: "Without the Holy Spirit God is far away, Christ remains in the past, the Gospel message is dead, the Church is just an organization, authority is a domain with the mission of propaganda, worship a mere evocation, Christianity a morality of slaves. But in Him, the cosmos is raised and groans in labour for the birth of the Kingdom, the risen Christ is near us, the Gospel message becomes the power of life, the Church is the communion of the Trinity, authority is a liberating service, the mission is a Pentecost, the liturgy is both a memorial and anticipation, human action is deified."
By welcoming the Lord into our lives, we are able to recognize and love Him. By having Him present, our work on behalf of the Order will take on a more profound meaning. Jesus’ love of us enables us to express love in solidarity and responsible actions. Sustained by Christian hope, all of us can aspire to happiness and fulfilment as members of the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.
I welcome each of you to the Walsingham Pilgrimage and the celebration of the Feast of Pentecost in joint commitment as Christians. It will be a memorable journey as all members of the Order join to recommit themselves to their individual spiritual, charitable growth and development as an Order committed to the noble aim of service to our fellow man.
Monreale, May 21st 2014
+ Michele Pennisi
Archbishop of Monreale, Sicily, Italy
Ecclesiastical Grand Prior of The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalém
