After Emmaus ....

Pretty uneventful yesterday. Most of the professors and students were at the Bible Conference on St Paul here at our school but I was doing this and that, and falling asleep in between, I never got round to attending it. Still traumatised with cleaning up my room. Aaaaaaaaahhhhh I just want to move to another room so I don't have to unpack all those stuff.

While there's a cool wind blowing now, the sun is up and I think it'll be back to 34 degrees this afternoon. Very dry.

Yesterday I left 3 bags of magazines and other chinese literature at the Christian Information Centre near Jaffa Gate. The sister (I can never remember her name, she's Belgian) is very happy and we hope to create a little Chinese corner there. We already have a corner at our Franciscan Bookshop at the other block near Jaffa Gate as well. Have to look for another opening maybe near New Gate this time. Anyway I hope to take some photos so you can have a look.

On the way back from the Information Centre, I stopped by The Pontifical Missions to say hi to an old classmate, Usama Salman. He was just a 17 yr old kid studying some courses with us some 15 yrs back and now he's one of the big shots working at the Mission. He's married with 2 boys now. We had a good chat and he's always inviting me over to his house for a meal but I'm just too lazy. Well can't push it off now. Might go to his house next week.

Today's gospel is a continuation from yesterday's Emmaus story - Jesus appearing to the disciples in Jerusalem. He tells them that they are not seeing a ghost because he has flesh and bones that they can touch. He also asks for something to eat to prove that he's not a ghost. The last thing Jesus did in his earthly life was to eat a meal with his disciples, and the first thing he does after his resurrection is to eat a meal with them. Eating then is not just a human act to fulfill the biological need to sustain life, but a social and religious act that builds community and affirms this unity. I wonder if instead of saying "I'm going to attend Mass", we can say "I'm going to eat a sacred meal with my fellow Catholics"?