<em>Fr Luke Gregory OFM is a Franciscan friar based in Rhodes who journeys frequently to the Holy Land and is a director of the charity <a href="https://www.proterrasancta.org/en/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Pro Terra Sancta</mark></a>, which assists Christians and others in the region. Here is the second instalment <em>(written 7 January 2024) </em>of reflections from his diary of his time in Bethlehem for the Epiphany of the Lord</em> (part one can be read <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/notes-from-the-holy-land-epiphany-in-bethlehem-with-the-franciscans/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">here</mark></a>).
So, to conclude our Christmas festivities today, we set off in a convey of friars with the Custos [a superior in the Franciscan order] to the site of the Baptism. <br><br>We were met by the Israeli Army at the entrance to the site and made our way to the small church which was only recently returned to us since the war of 1967. All those years it had been a minefield.
We made our way singing from the entrance to the church. It was so hot we all got sunburned. <br><br>In that setting it really came home to us that war bears no fruit at all and we all need to be cleansed by the healing waters that baptism brings, renewing our baptismal promises with vigour.
The Custos reminded us during his homily how this place, which for so many years had been a minefield with the hostility that implies, was now once again a sacred place, and a place of peace.
At the end of the Mass we made our way through our property to the river itself. This had not been possible for fifty years.
The road from the church to the river had been repaired and the original gates were blessed by the Custos and once again opened to let the pilgrims in. <br><br>Though repaired the still bore the holes through which bullets had passed, a reminder that peace is so very necessary and the scars of war can last a long time.
<em>Fr Luke Gregory OFM</em>.<br><br>It was a special moment as I made my way to the river and dipped my hands in and let the healing waters trickle through my fingers.
On the other side, just a few yards away were some Jordanians and two Jordanian soldiers; on our side with me, some Israeli soldiers. We were so close and yet so far. <br><br>However, the river flowed past, calmly and serenely and that is how we felt: calm and serene at the river where John the Baptist had baptised the Lord. May He be blessed for ever!
