Here’s a tribute by Cardinal Fernando Filoni, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
“Benedict XVI constant lay in welcoming divine Revelation with obedience to the faith, without abandoning the role of the intellect and will, which reached a climax in his writings on Jesus, who is source and summit of Revelation. Like so few have done before or since, he showed the richness and beauty of Christ in the sublime trilogy: “Jesus of Nazareth”; a text that will remain in the life of the Church as a spiritual masterpiece of elevated cultural and theological profundity.”
We are “…missionaries of the Gospel of Christ in today’s society…”.
Periodically I ask myself what is this order to whom I belong? What’s the point? Why is it important to the Church, too society, to me? Having to ask the question is not entertaining frivolous doubt or wasting time and words. Knowing one’s mission, living one’s vocation and working one’s conversion –all graces that are God-given– is a daily personal work and a daily prayer generated by the Holy Spirit. After all, we do pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit with His seven gifts, do we not?
This last point was reinforced with me by attending the Mass with the Rite of Confirmation for the Latin Arab community at the Good Shepherd Community in Yonkers, NY. Hearing the questions and the prelate’s prayer invoking the Holy Spirit. Hence the image of the EOHSJ-NY gathering with His Beatitude Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM (20 Nov 2022).
The question this post resources is an essential a question for those discerning membership but also for those who have been in the Order for any length of time. It is a question posed by a member of the Mexican Lieutenancy to the Cardinal Filoni who serves as the Grand Master. The answer Cardinal Filoni givesis brief and worthy of serious reflection.
I would hope that all of us who claim membership a noble ideal in the EOHSJ would not only ask for understanding (i.e., what is the meaning of this question of what type of group to which we belong) but also ask the question of our particular Lieutenancies. Are we missionaries of the Gospel? Are we bearing witness to the Word of God and sacramentality of God’s presence in the world? Are we faithful members of the Mystical Body of Christ in concrete ways (cf. Matthew 25)?
Knights and Ladies with His Beatitude, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, following Holy Mass at the Good Shepherd Community, Yonkers, 20 November 2022.
Earlier today I was with members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Eohsj Eastern Lieutenancy) as we joined with Good Shepherd Parish (Yonkers, NY) and His Beatitude, Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM. It the occasion for a pastoral visit to the Arab Latin Catholic Community at which time a group of the children of the parish received the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Communion.
It was an exceptional afternoon to be with our Lieutenant, Her Excellency Vicki Downey. Our work as members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is to support the work of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem البطريركية اللاتينية في القدس , and by extension the communities here.
EOHSJ with some members of the Good Shepherd Community following Mass on 20 November 2022.
The Good Shepherd Community is one of two communities of Arab Catholics in Yonkers, NY. The other being the Christ The Savior Melkite Church (FrMusil Shihadeh). Too many think of the Arab community being Muslim but in reality there are Christian faith communities dating back to the time of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Today, as Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, we honor Mary, the Mother of God under the title of Our Lady of Palestine. It’s a daily prayer Our Lady for the people of the Holy Land and for members of the Order.
With Church we pray:
Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Palestine, to help us overcome all the difficulties which face us in this Holy Land, the land which your Son has made Holy for it is in this land where our Savior took flesh and brought the entire world to Redemption. We beseech you Father, strengthen us in faith, service, and perseverance so that we may be witnesses to that unending act of love, you who live and reign forever and ever.
In Rome and Jerusalem especially, and especially for me in the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, we celebrate today Saint Helen (d. 327 A.D.), empress, mother, pilgrim of the Holy Land, who made worship places and relics of the history, the mystery of salvation.
Several years ago I was privileged to live at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome where the relics of the Lord’s passion reside. It was a beautiful thing to have some daily prayer in this holy place.
Let us pray for the Church and the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
Image of St Helena at the Basilica of Santa Croce in Rome.
The badge of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, formed by a large Greek cross surrounded by four small crosses, symbolically represents the five wounds of Christ which are like the “Gates of Heaven”. This emblem is not a decoration but a mission whose spiritual meaning is illuminated in the light of the teaching of Pope Francis.
Indeed, since his election, the Holy Father urges us to touch the wounds of Christ, like the Apostle Thomas did after the resurrection, to welcome the mercy that radiates from Him as a source of peace. “If we put our hands together into these wounds and confess that Jesus has risen, and if we proclaim Him as our Lord and our God, if recognizing our shortcomings, we dive into His wounds of love, we can find the truth.” Joy of forgiveness and getting a foretaste of the day when, with God’s help, we will be able to celebrate on the same altar the Passover mystery,” he emphasized, especially from an ecumenical perspective, during a pontifical trip.
“A saint was saying that the body of Jesus crucified is like a bag of mercy, reaching us all through his wounds,” he also explained on the occasion of Mercy Sunday.”
“We all need mercy, we know it.” Let us draw closer to Jesus and touch his wounds in our suffering brothers. Jesus’ wounds are a treasure: that’s where mercy flows. Let us be brave and touch the wounds of Jesus. With these wounds, he stands before the Father, he shows them to the Father, as if he were saying, “Father, this is the price, these wounds are what I paid for my brothers.” Through his wounds, Jesus intercedes before the Father. He gives us mercy if we draw near, and intercede for us. Do not forget the wounds of Jesus” (Regina Cæli, April 28, 2019).
Each member of the Order is therefore called to first carry in his heart the symbols of the badge sewn on his mantle and to spread the veneration of the Holy Wounds of Christ, sources of forgiveness and mercy. They cleanse and heal. If we embrace them, they can truly change our lives. (EOHSJ)
On Sunday, May 29, Pope Francis announced his intention to create 21 new Cardinals at a Consistory on Saturday, 27 August. One of the 21 is Reverend Monsignor Fortunato Frezza, canon of Saint Peter’s Basilica and Master of Ceremonies and Spiritual Assistant of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, will be created Cardinal by the Pope. Frezza work for several years at the Secretariat General for the Synod of the Bishops.
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, formerly celebrated on May 3, for the finding of the True Cross of Christ by Emperor Constantine and his mother Saint Helen. The Cross is exalted and honored as a trophy for its Easter victory and a sign that will appear in heaven announcing to everyone the second coming of the Lord.
Prayers for the good work of the Knights and Dames of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Here is a miniature taken from the magnificent Breviary of Jerusalem (XIV sec.), from the “Ludovic II De Torres” located at the Library of the Archbishop’s Seminary of Montreal.
This post on the Blessed Aloysius Viktor Stepinac, a Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, was written for another social media outlet for other members of the EOHSJ.
Blessed Aloysius Viktor Stepinac, am oil painting used at the Mass for the 57 anniversary of his death. (public domain image)
Today is the liturgical memorial of Blessed Aloysius Viktor Stepinac (8 May 1898 – 10 February 1960), served as the Cardinal-Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 until his death. Among the many things he did was to join the Third Order Franciscans which gave him a framework to be an effective minister of the Gospel. Though he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, Stepinac only served five at Lepoglava Prison before being transferred to house arrest with his movements confined to his home parish of Krašić. He died as the result of poisoning by his Communist captors. Pope John Paul II beatified Stepinac and named him a martyr.
When Pope John Paul beatified our brother Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, Aloysius Viktor Stepinac, he quoted a well known Scripture line saying that it’s the heart of the Mystery of the life, ministry and death of Croatia’s famous bishop:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
Our Catholic faith reveals to us that the “mystery of death and life also comes about in the earthly existence of Christ’s followers: for them too, being cast into the earth to die remains the condition for all authentic spiritual fruitfulness.”
While Stepinac did not shed his blood as martyrs typically do, his martyrdom was one of bearing witness to the Good News and the virtue of the Church under considerable personal suffering. We are told to seek the saints; we are to follow the saints; our faithfulness to the Church means abiding in the mystery of Communion of Saints. Concretely, what does that mean to us in light of Blessed Aloysius Stepinac? What does he give us Knights and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre to follow?
Just as this brother Knight of the Holy Sepulchre Blessed Aloysius was a compass pointing to the realities of faith, charity and virtue, we current Knights and Dames are to be a compass for the same.
Knight and Dames of the Holy Sepulchre are to have “…faith in God, respect for man, love towards all even to the offer of forgiveness, and unity with the Church guided by the Successor of Peter.” The objectivity of truth was a non-negotiable for Blessed Aloysius: his personal suffering generated a life of virtue that refused to betray his conscience and love for Jesus.
