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Evening prayer in Saint Peters
Dario Busolini
A moment to say thank you at the end of ones day with the many brothers and sisters that have arrived in Rome for the Jubilee. Thanks to God for having just begun, or ended, the pilgrimage to the Eternal City, crossed the threshold of the Holy Door, listened to the Word of the Holy Father, prayed on the tomb of the martyrs, having reconciled with the Lord and with others or maybe, if from Rome, for having serenely concluded a day of work or celebration. This is the intention of the evening prayer in Saint Peters Square one of the novelties£ of the Holy Year and thats how it has been since its first celebration, led for the occasion by the Secretary of the Central Committee for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, Monsignor Sepe, who interpreting the feelings of those present, Romans and pilgrims, invited everyone to elevate their heart, filled with the Grace of God, to the Lord, thanking him for the happy start to the Jubilee and for the many gifts made to each one of us showing us here, along with many other brothers who have arrived from all over the world, a new heaven and a new land. Mons. Sepe then recalled how each one, in front of the Holy Door, brought his own joys and his sadness, hopes and suffering, to offer them to the Lord, aware that at the end of the first day of the Jubilee, in front of the tomb of Peter, the thought can be no other than that of thanksgiving and of praise. At the end of the prayer meeting, which last forty minutes, the Popes blessing, broadcast by Vatican Radio, highlighted the sense of spiritual communion with the Holy Father and with the universal Church that wants to characterise this moment of community prayer, which permits, under the right conditions, to obtain the jubilee indulgence. The evening prayer in Saint Peters Square will be held throughout the Holy Year, at 7 p.m. in the winter and at 7.30 p.m. in the summer, every day, except in cases when other religious ceremonies are being held in the Square. |
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