Liturgical Crisis at Nazareth Mass
by Giuseppe Caffulli | May 15, 2009
A priest distributes Holy Communion to the faithful during the papal Mass in Nazareth, May 14th (Photo: CTS/Mab).
The huge papal Mass that was celebrated at 10 a.m. on Mt. Precipice in Nazareth turned into something of a crisis for its organizers.
Of the 45,000 faithful who were present, a little more than a thousand were able to receive the Eucharist. And it certainly was not for lack of diligence on the part of hundreds of priests concelebrating, or something defective in the liturgy.
The explanation is simpler and - alas! - much more prosaic: shortly before dawn, pyxes prepared for consecration were stolen from the sacristy. The objects already had hosts inside (obviously not consecrated), which were taken away along with other liturgical items.
Father Ricardo Bustos, guardian of the Franciscan Convent of the Annunciation in Nazareth, reconstructed what happened. "Since dawn," he said, "many items necessary for liturgical celebration had been taken to the white tent set up as the sacristy by the friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, along with many pyxes (containers in which consecrated hosts are stored), and pottery made especially by local artisans for the Pope's visit. About 120 pyxes were stolen, but security didn't even notice."
The theft caused a real crisis when it came to distributing the Eucharist. "We recovered, and little more than a thousand hosts were simply distributed in plastic dishes. Because of this only pilgrims closest to the altar were able to receive the Eucharist. For others, nothing could be done, despite the long wait."
Even after the papal Masses in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, there were similar thefts from sacristies, so many that the objects the friars used in Nazareth should have been better protected from being stolen. Unfortunately what preventative measures were in place were not enough. The friars simply didn't imagine that any theft would have taken place in advance.
"Of course, they're not anything of value," Fr. Ricardo explained, "and I do not think that these objects have any commercial value. The reason for the theft must simply have been a craving to have some memory of the Pope's historic visit to the Holy Land. "
A souvenir for a few thieves but one which, in the case of Nazareth, left practically all the pilgrims who had flocked here from every corner of the Holy Land -- and the world -- without the bread of the Eucharist.