TLIG pilgrimage in Italy, 2015

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Rome Pilgrimage 2015(continued)
by row. Many of us received a powerful blessing, ending
thus this historical day.
15th October –Thursday
The fifth day was started with the singing of the Our Father
in Aramaic. Our programwas short that morning due to the
long trip scheduled for Loreto, to the Sanctuary of The Holy
House of Nazareth. This was something worth seeing.
The next speaker was Father Emile Abou Mrad from the
Antiochian Orthodox Church. Fr. Emile expressed how
grateful and blessed he was to be among this group that
works so hard to achieve Unity. He reminded us how
Christians are obliged to work for Unity and reconciliation;
if there are obstacles on our way to stop us from achieving it,
we should overcome them…
Vassula was the next speaker. [her full speech can be read,
starting on page 20] Her message was a reflection of what
Jesus has been telling us for so many years in reference to
Unity, not only in the messages, but also in His prayer to the
Father, reminding us that we are one. Her message urged the
priests to hasten their steps towards celebratingMass around
the same Altar, as Jesus wants, since we all belong toThe One
Church of Christ. Moreover, she recalled Pope Francis’ joke
about the separate dates of Easter. Pope Francis on one of his
trips mentioned in a press conference that it is ridiculous to
celebrate Easter on different dates. He continued: “Tell me,
when will your Christ resurrect? – ‘Next week’…”mine
resurrected last week!” The Pope ended in saying that
the Date of Easter is a sign of Unity. Here is a link of the
respective video:
.
Immediately after those speeches we rushed off to our buses
to go to Loreto. The Holy House of Nazareth is the house
where the Virgin Mary was born and where she received the
Annunciation. Around this house, venerated since the early
days of Christianity and whose followers had never lost his
memory, Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the emperor,
had, in the 4th century, erected a Church. After the fall of
the Holy Land under the rule of Islam in 1263, the Holy
House was, according to tradition, transported on May
10, 1291 to Trsat (Rijeka, Croatia), where a vision that was
revealed at the Church of St George, to Father Alexandre
Georgević indicated that this was the house of Mary. To
confirm this vision, Heaven cured a longstanding illness
that he had. Three years later, in 1294, the Holy House was
transported to Recanati, Italy, where it was rebuilt in 1295
within a laurel field (lauretanum), hence the name of Loreto.
Archaeological evidence, namely the stones of limestone,
which come from the Nazareth area, and the cedar wood,
which does not exist in the Loreto region, as well as
documents found in 1962, show that the house indeed
T L I G M A G A Z I N E I S S U E - 3 1 15
Fr. Skariah Adiyuzhathil from India
Clergy attending TLIGUnity speech
Pilgrims singing Doxa Doxa