ANJARA, Jordan (OSV News) — Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa praised the hundreds of Jordanian Catholics and other Christians gathered June 19 for a celebratory Mass at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Mount for maintaining their faith in turbulent and challenging times as part of their annual pilgrimage.
“Thank you for keeping alive the faith here in Jordan. You are a people of faith and there are places of faith in Jordan. This place of Anjara is a very important holy site,” Cardinal Pizzaballa told the eager crowd who filled the entire church courtyard on a warm, sunny June 19 to hear his homily.
Jordan and Our Lady of the Mount are part of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The tiny town of Anjara holds a special place as a Christian pilgrimage site in this part of the Holy Land. Located in the hills of Gilead east of the Jordan Valley, where many biblical events are recorded, it is believed that Jesus, his disciples, and his mother, the Virgin Mary, passed through Anjara and rested in a cave there during his ministry.
Church commemorating Mary built in 1950s
Built in the 1950s, the Church of Our Lady of the Mount commemorating the Virgin Mary is located next to a Catholic school which aids orphans and disabled children.
On May 6, 2010, a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary inside the shrine wept tears that were medically tested and verified as human blood. The commission investigating the issue reported there was no natural explanation for the phenomenon.
The shrine has become a beloved destination for prayer and reflection, visited by thousands of pilgrims every year. The cave was also designated by the Catholic Churches of the Middle East as one of the five pilgrimage sites for the year 2000. Anjara is some 42 miles north of the Jordanian capital, Amman.
During his homily, Cardinal Pizzaballa affirmed that faith in God and trust in his work in human life remain the deepest answer both for us personally and for the challenges faced in our world today.
Drawing from the Gospel of Luke, he pointed to God’s divine intervention in the lives of two women “who according to human law couldn’t become mothers.”
The Annunciation saw the Virgin Mary give birth to Jesus Christ, while her older, barren cousin Elizabeth, bore John the Baptist.
‘Nothing is impossible with God’
“Nothing is impossible with God,” the patriarch emphasized, and that “nothing, absolutely nothing and no one, can separate us from God’s love.”
Even as scientific and technological developments challenge and may cause some to believe they can control their destiny, “an illness that befalls a loved one, a sudden death, or a devastating war are all enough to shatter these illusions of power,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. We are called by God to live in his enduring love, presence and power and in genuine hope grounded in Jesus Christ.
“Faith is the recognition that God’s hidden hand is still at work and reaches where man cannot reach,” he added, while affirming that God does not abandon his children. God’s presence in a person’s life gives them the strength to persevere despite pain and uncertainty, he said.
“The current difficulties and the sense of loss that accompanies them should not negate our unwavering conviction that God does not forsake those who love him and that we are not alone,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. He called on the faithful to renew their trust in God’s providence and his saving work.
2,000th anniversary of Christ’s baptism
Cardinal Pizzaballa also reflected on the preparations underway for the 2,000th anniversary of the Baptism of Jesus Christ, emphasizing that Jordan carries a spiritual message that transcends its geographical borders.
“We have the place of the baptism of Jesus — Al-Maghtas — here,” he said of the Catholic Church’s officially recognized Baptism Site of Jesus Christ in Jordan on the east bank of the Jordan River, as recorded in the Bible known as Bethany Beyond the Jordan.
Representing Pope Francis, Cardinal Pietro Parolin inaugurated and consecrated the Church of the Baptism of the Lord at Al-Maghtas, known in the Bible as Bethany Beyond the Jordan, on Jan. 10, 2025, in Jordan.
“We have to prepare ourselves for the great jubilee of 2030 — the jubilee of the baptism of the Lord that reminds us also of our own baptism,” Cardinal Pizzaballa urged the faithful. “We are sons and daughters of God because of the baptism. This event will be an important moment not only for Jordan, but for all the world.”
‘Meeting place of history and civilizations’
The Church in Jordan will continue working to promote the vocation of the country as “a land of faith and a meeting place of history and civilizations,” he said.
Jordan’s King Abdullah “is calling us all to prepare for this jubilee,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said.
Tala Al Dayeh, a pharmacist, told OSV News the pilgrimage to the cave where Jesus stopped with his mother “was a wonderful time. We prayed, listened to the word of God and enjoyed precious moments with friends,” she said. “We prayed for peace to fill our country and fulfill everyone’s wishes,” she said.
Catholic clergy and nuns, local and foreign dignitaries as well the papal nuncio to Jordan, Archbishop Giovanni Pietro Dal Toso, and Archimandrite Paul Nazha, the patriarchal administrator of the Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy in Jordan, also attended the Mass.
Dale Gavlak writes for OSV News from Jordan.
