Despite the crises and the many dramatic rifts that have battered the Holy Land, Maison d’Abraham stands firm on the heights of Jerusalem. It has been able to consolidate its foundations thanks to the bonds of friendship and solidarity forged with all. To pay tribute to them, Didier Duriez, national president of Secours Catholique-Caritas France, and the team of the House, brought together friends, neighbors and partners for a fraternal day on September 14, 2024.
The House is getting ready
Six faithful volunteers joined the House at the end of August. The previous team had left us in mid-October 2023… Their 15 days of intense work, with heart and enthusiasm, assisted by the sisters, the chaplain and all the salaried staff, enabled the Maison to live up to its vocation of hospitality.
Welcome to the first pilgrims of Hope!
On the Mount of Olives, where the House took root 122 years ago with the Benedictine monks of Notre Dame de Belloc, and with Secours Catholique for 60 years, guests arrived in successive waves. What a joy to be able to welcome them, taking time for each one !
The eagerly awaited pilgrims of the Saint Laurent network arrive from France on Thursday evening.
Their small group is the embassy of the 450 network members who have been on pilgrimage to the Holy Land since 2021.
These are our first pilgrims of the year. Happy to meet up again, they entrust us with the gifts they received on their first visit.
Many thanks to them!
Testimonial from Thierry of the « Pierre d’Angle » group in Lens
« Pilgrims are afraid to come with war tensions, but I don’t find it disturbing.
This is a place of peace, and if pilgrims don’t come, the House will cease to exist. You’ve got to come ! When I first came here, I met people who became family. Even now, we’re still on the phone with pilgrims from the group. For our 25th wedding anniversary, we invited them and they came! That’s what’s in the icons on the Pilgrims of Hope Way : I experienced foot washing in France and in the sisters’ house here, and it changed my life to wash each other’s feet. The way people look at you is completely different. Because there are looks that kill, and here it’s the opposite, with a smile. Abraham wasn’t afraid to welcome strangers. Like him, I don’t mind talking to strangers. »
Testimonial from Peter of « Stéphane Bouillon » group in Auray
« In his life, you see that there are things that develop. We see each other in Jerusalem and we see each other again and what comes out of it is incredible and so incredible that it becomes believable!
When I arrived in France at the age of 25, I wasn’t very Catholic. But 30 years later, when I came to the Holy Land to Maison d’Abraham, on my birthday, March 15, I found myself on the Mount of Olives in St Pierre en Gallicante, where I received an anointing of the Holy Spirit and realized that my life was about to change. And it has! Now I’m active in the Church, at Mass… I’m going on 60, I’m still as poor as I was before, but I’m happy. ».
Shortly after this first group, we were delighted to welcome Didier Duriez, new national president of Secours Catholique – Caritas France, accompanied by a large Secours Catholique delegation, including Father François Odinet, new general chaplain, Véronique Fayet, honorary president, and Fathers Hervé Perrot and Dominique Fontaine, former general chaplains. Also present were Father Guy Tardivy, former chaplain, and Father Alexandre Pietrzyk, current chaplain of Maison d’Abraham.
A delegation from the French Bishop Conference (CEF), headed by his president Mgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, joined the Secours Catholique national delegation. The visit enabled the national delegations of the French Bishop Conference and Secours Catholique to meet pilgrims from the Saint Laurent Network, as well as ecclesial and political figures from the Holy Land.
A grave yet joyful anniversary
Since October 7, 2023, the inhabitants of Jerusalem have been living as if withdrawn into themselves. The city streets, usually so crowded and noisy, sound sadly empty. But on the morning of September 14, this is not the case in the gardens of Maison d’Abraham. From the early hours of the morning, everyone – volunteer, nun or employee – is busy getting everything ready. The aim is to offer the 300 guests the simple, joyful and prayerful hospitality that Mgr Rodhain wanted in 1964, and which is the hallmark of the House. Also present were the women from the Althoury Women Center, a community partner of the Maison, who offered their handicrafts: pottery, jewelry, paintings – all beautiful products whose sale provided an income to supplement their meager resources.
A new pilgrim way
This anniversary is an opportunity to recall the fundamentals of Maison d’Abraham: hospitality and mercy. To underline the specificity of these 2 charisms and share them with all its visitors, the House has inaugurated a new “Pilgrims’ Way of Hope” along the wall facing the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.
Welcomed by Abraham and Sarah
Guests take their places around a flamboyantly hued icon. It introduces the way with the hospitable figure of Abraham in this biblical episode which tells of him welcoming 3 unknown visitors with the greatest respect under the oak of Mambré. Mgr William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, blesses the work and explains how it guides the hospitality of the House, deeply marked by its past as a Benedictine monastery: “This new path takes its inspiration from the rule of St. Benedict, which indicates that every person should be received as Christ. […] Kindness, prayer and selfless service go beyond mere gestures of courtesy to become a true attitude of faith.
Looked at by Christ
Forming a silent ribbon along the gardens of the Maison, our guests discover the 15 stages that mark out the new path. The last one brings us together in front of a large icon of the washing of the feet, written by Sister Marie-Paul, a Benedictine from the nearby community of the Sisters of Mount Carmel.
« When we see evil in others, » she writes, « we tend to judge and condemn. Jesus asks us to ‘wash’ and carry the other person’s burden instead of condemning them ». In this place of action of Secours Catholique in Jerusalem, this interpretation sheds light on the vocation to fraternity that the guests of Maison d’Abraham strive to live, a fraternity that builds and rebuilds under the gaze of Christ and the practice of mercy and forgiveness.
Satiated by Christ
This meditative journey is followed by a thanksgiving mass. Everyone takes their place on the benches of the terrace overlooking the Silwan district, facing Mount Zion. Our gaze naturally wanders to the roof of the Cenacle, the church of St Peter en Gallicante, the domes of the Holy Sepulchre… The wind has picked up, bringing the freshness needed to make everyone feel at ease. A choir of Arab Christian songs supports the prayer. All our senses are invited to experience this meal at Christ’s table.
During the mass, Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort took up Pope Francis’ wish in the letter that Cardinal Parolin addressed to Maison d’Abraham on the occasion of this Jubilee (see text below):
“We pray that justice and peace may come to dwell in the hearts of men and inspire the conduct of states”. “Here in this house, pilgrims and travelers of all kinds are welcomed. They share a moment in the life of a community, the one that animates the house, but also that of the ties forged with this Jerusalem neighborhood, which is crisscrossed by the tensions and hopes of this city […] Mutual incomprehension can be deadly. In any case, it eats away at relationships, transforming them into brutal juxtapositions. And yet, in this
humanity, there are Abrahamic homes here and elsewhere, people ready to welcome others, even for a moment.”
Gathered under Abraham’s tent
After mass, the cooks of the House prepared a festive meal for almost 300 guests, served in a large tent open on all four sides, like Abraham’s tent.
Didier Duriez introduces the moment by recalling the dual mission of Abraham House:
Welcome and encounters, just as we’ve been doing for the past 60 years – that’s what we need to do more than ever in this land whose vocation is peace ! »
« I can only hope that Maison d’Abraham will continue the mission entrusted to us by Pope Paul VI in 1964 : to make this house a land of welcome, especially for the poorest, for pilgrims who cannot afford accommodation in Jerusalem.
Our second and equally important mission is to act as a meeting place. In a very fractured society, it’s essential to have these spaces where people can exchange and act together. And this can be extended to other local communities if they so wish.
Mr. Nicolas Kassianidès, Consul General of France in Jerusalem, also took the floor with words of friendship and gratitude that touched us, as did those of Mr. Moussa Abassi, responsible (mukhtar) for the Ras Al Amoud neighborhood where the House is located, and Mrs. Abeer Zayyad, director of the Palestinian women’s association Al Thoury Women Center, with which Maison d’Abraham collaborates to support the women of the neighborhood.
Mrs. Abeer Zayyad also took the opportunity to thank Maison d’Abraham for this partnership, and to wish Bernard Thibaud, director of the House, and his wife Sylvie, who are returning to France at the end of October, all the best.
To close this Jubilee, the Gheilan trio, with their traditional Palestinian instruments, oud, qanûn and percussion, offer us a moment of communion with the inhabitants of this land so terribly scarred.
The House must now look to the future. The confidence in life – always springing up in spite of everything – of our neighbors and local actors encourages us to keep hope alive.
