30 November 2024, St George’s Cathedral, Southwark
Preaching at an Investiture Mass for the local Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in St George’s Cathedral, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa asserted that the future of the Holy Land will not be decided by the big political and socio-economic powers, but by the meek – the little ones we read about in the Gospel:
“There are many in our territory, at the grassroots, that belong to the Kingdom of God because they love the ‘other’. They are ready to give their lives for the other, regardless of persecution. They are the meek who shall inherit the Earth…
“Day after day, despite everything, they will build relations of love in their families, in their communities, in their churches, synagogues, and mosques, believing that they are not there to show their power, but just because God put them there to build the Kingdom of God with others.”
The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem holds the office of Grand Prior of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Lieutenancy in England and Wales is celebrating 70 years of commitment to prayer, charity, and pilgrimages in support of the Church in the Holy Land. Cardinal Pizzaballa welcomed nine new Knights and two Ecclesiastic Knights to the Lieutenancy.
Brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you peace.
I am very happy to be among you during this blessed period of the year and to be here for this special occasion. I know the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from Jerusalem, mainly, but it’s important to see the different realities all over the world to see how you work, what you do, and how you care not just for the Order, but also for the Holy Land, for the Church of the Holy Land, and for the Latin Patriarchate.
The Gospel we have chosen is a difficult passage. We know very well the Beatitudes, which present a new rule for our Christian life. But they are not about ‘rules’, not telling us what to do, but telling us who the ‘blessed’ are. Jesus is in Galilee, and He’s preaching that the Kingdom of God is coming – it’s close. Convert yourself. Change your life. Metanoia. Usually, when we want to create a new entity, the first thing we do is appoint a lawyer and start writing down the bylaws, statues, rules, and constitutions. We spend a lot of time defining the limitations, regulations, rights and duties. You don’t find any of these things in the Gospel. Jesus is not writing down the duties and the rights of the Kingdom of God. No. He says, “Who are the blessed? Who are those who belong to the Kingdom of God?” The persecuted, the poor of heart, poor of spirit; pure of heart, pure of spirit, the meek, and so on.
In the past year, it is clear we have had some tough discussions in the Holy Land and as a Church. There is a conflict. A political conflict, first of all, a social conflict, a military conflict. We discuss how to behave, what to do, what to say, what not to say – based on the Gospel. But the Gospel does not say anything about this. Jesus didn’t solve any of the political problems of His time, nor any of the social problems of His time – not even the economic problems. The political and social situation remained exactly the same, before and after Jesus. So what does the Gospel say to answer these questions of justice, peace, and persecution?
We are living this reality in the Holy Land. Jesus is not telling us what we have to do. He’s saying, “Who are the blessed? Who belongs to the Kingdom?” If you want to belong to the Kingdom, you have to be pure of heart, to be able to see a life without possession. It is hard for us to understand what this means. The Beatitudes say that the meek shall inherit the Earth, not heaven. If you are meek now, then you go to paradise. The pure of heart, the meek, the persecuted – the world belongs to them, not to the strong powers of the time. Many of the powerful people of the past don’t exist anymore.
Today, we are the fruit of the meek – the little ones – those who day after day build a beautiful life of culture. The arts, music, they are not the fruits of the major powers of the Earth, but of the little ones who belong to the Kingdom of God. With charity, despite the evil in the world, they build wonderful relationships of love, mercy, justice, and peace. The world belongs to them. The Kingdom of God belongs to them. Jesus says that if we want to belong to the Kingdom of God, we must not think that power is the instrument. Metanoia. Convert, change your way of thinking. You want to impose your truth? No, the truth cannot be imposed. The truth grows with life, with example, with relationships, with attitudes. It grows, little by little, and becomes evident and visible in the life of the world. It is not the powers of the world that inform our lives. We are living because of the love of the many little ones all over the world.
Becoming Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre, brings something special to your identity. It is not just love for the Holy Land and for the Church of Jerusalem, but also for what the Holy Land, the Church of Jerusalem, means for the life of the Church. Jesus Christ is not an idea or a narrative, He is an incarnated reality. Each event has its place. So loving the place of Jesus means we love Jesus.
We want to preserve this connection, this bond with the Holy Land, out of love for Jesus and for His people, His community, for all those living there. We have a vocation to help the Holy Land, and to remember that the Church of the Holy Land has a special mission to keep alive Christ’s witness – to give life out of love. Nowadays in the Holy Land, the ‘other’ is the threat to my life. To give life out of love for the other is the main witness we are called to give – as a living community. Where there is life there is love. Hatred paralyses. To be afraid of the other does not leave people open to life, but closed to life. We are seeing the consequences of this in Holy Land.
So may your testimony, your support, your solidarity, your closeness, help us to open our eyes and help us to see and look for all those in the Holy Land that belong to the Kingdom of God – the little ones. There are many of them. Perhaps not at the institutional, religious or political level, but there are many in our territory at the grassroots, that belong to the Kingdom of God because they love the other. They are ready to give their lives for the other, regardless of persecution. They are the meek who shall inherit the Earth.
I am convinced that the future of the Holy Land will not be decided by the big political and socio-economic powers, but by these little ones – the meek. Day after day, despite everything, they will build relations of love in their families, in their communities, in their churches, synagogues, and mosques, believing that they are not there to show their power, but just because God put them there to build the Kingdom of God with others.
Amen.
