Celebrating an outdoor Mass in a camp for migrants amid a cold and unrelenting rain, Jesuit Father Brian Strassburger preached patience. He spoke of “The Parable of the Ten Virgins” from the Gospel of Matthew, urging the assembled migrants to “wait well” as they bided their time in trying conditions.

With hopes growing for a temporary, humanitarian cease-fire, Pope Francis met at the Vatican Nov. 22 with relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas and, separately, with relatives of Palestinians suffering under the Israeli siege of Gaza.

The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, expressed his happiness at the late-night hostage-exchange agreement reached between Israel and Hamas Nov. 21, and said he hoped it would lead to end to the war which broke out after an Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on 22 southern Israeli agricultural communities along the border with Gaza.

Pope Francis appealed for perseverance in praying for peace, especially in the Holy Land where the conflict is no longer “warfare,” but has become “terrorism.”

A person hearing God’s call to follow him does not mean that person then belongs to a special or privileged clique of the perfect or the “elected,” Pope Francis said.