Frs. Joseph Magro and Lorrie Zerafa returned from the Chapter of Mats for friars under 10 years of solemn Profession which was held in the Holy Land. During these days the friars reflected upon the future prospects of the Franciscan Order. The Chapter was a good occasion to meet with others friars from all over the world. The presence of the Friars was very good – in fact we were almost 200 young friars.
During the time we spent there we had talks by some very well know professors of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum of Jerusalem, such as Fr. Frederic Manns, Lino Cignelli and others. The moderator of the Chapter was the Minister General himself together with the General Definitory. The first days the work consisted in a conference in the morning and workshops in different language groups. In the afternoon there was the evalutaion of the discussions in the workshops and then the Minister General gave his reaction on the outcome.
The rest of the week we had some excursions to Mt. Tabor were we had Lectio Divina guided by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini; Nazareth, Jerusalem and Bethlehem were we had the occasion to meet Fr. Noel Muscat, who he is rendering service to the Holy Land Custody as Master of Novices. The Chapter of Mats ended with a Mass where the Rule of St. Francis was distributed to every friar and a get together in Bethlehem in the evening. Fr. Anton Farrugia was also there as a member of the organizing committee.
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