Safeguarding the people, temple of God

“We are not here only to safeguard the stones, but also the person, who is a temple of God”, said Father Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land. Overcoming all fear, on Sunday morning, 13 October, he left Jerusalem and travelled to Upper Galilee, where he was to spend three days visiting all the Franciscan communities that have been living in the crossfire of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. As he talked about his trip, Father Francesco’s words were at times muffled by the increasingly loud rumble of Israeli fighter-bombers flying over the lake. Their rumble is different from civilian planes — more intense, dark, grim.

How are the Franciscan communities in the Holy Land coping?

I began my visit with the easternmost communities, Capernaum, Tabgha, Magdala. In recent days, the brothers here have witnessed a rain of rockets, most of them intercepted, from Lebanon and Syria. The shrapnel from those launched from Lebanon landed just one kilometre away from our convent in Capernaum. Instead, those from Syria cross the Golan and end up in Lake Tiberias.

Do the brothers live in fear?

They did not seem frightened to me, but they are certainly apprehensive about the conflict’s outcome. The results are still unpredictable, because here you never know what’s going to happen, not only tomorrow, but even 30 minutes from now. Nevertheless, we never leave the sanctuaries. We were sent here for this, and we have always remained faithful to the mission we have had for eight centuries. This morning, I reminded my confrères that in the first war of 1948, the guardian friar of Capernaum at the time spent two weeks hiding in a hole, eating roots and scraps left behind by fighters. Today’s situation is nothing compared to what it was then. We all celebrated Mass together, and it struck me very much that at the end, the brothers chose to pray especially for their confrères in Lebanon. They explained that they don’t have an efficient system to intercept the missiles and drones used by the Israeli military, and they risk much more than we do. The Custody is a large transnational family, for which borders and languages don’t exist. Though I must add that our brothers of Arab origin are certainly resilient, as they have already experienced so much in the past.

What do you have planned for the next days of your trip?

Tomorrow I will travel to the central part of Galilee, Nazareth, Tabor, Cana. A few days ago in Nazareth, the shrapnel from an intercepted rocket fell in the courtyard of our convent. Then I will travel west, to Haifa and Acre. They are currently the most heavily struck zones. The situation there is very difficult. One of our brothers who had left the convent to look for hosts saved himself by taking refuge in a tunnel as rockets fell all around him.

Father Patton, are you really not scared?

Look, none of us is looking for martyrdom. But we are holding our positions [he smiles]. If unifil does, all the more reason for us to do so. If I ask our brothers to stay in their sanctuaries and with their people, the least I can do is be here with them.

Roberto Cetera