shrek!

In the past few days, a few of us were busy with digging up the archives of the Flagellation monastery in find out more about Fr Allegra. Remember he was the founder of the Studium Biblicum in Hong Kong and translated the Bible into chinese. He also taught here in Jerusalem (my school) several times. As part of the 100th anniversary of his birth celebrations, several of us here were asked to write articles about him (including me) and hence the big dig up. And we learned so many things about him through the letters, postcards, chronicles that were left behind here by Frs. Bagatti and Saller, former superiors who have since died.

So I'm busy writing an article about Fr Allegra. Got to finish it soon as the dateline is almost up - I think I'm the last one!

Yesterday I bought "shrek" (no not that cartoon monster) - some people pronounce it as "shrak". It's a large very thin round bread that can be rolled up. Very fragrant. I also bought a bottle of orange/ginger marmalade to go with it. It tasted fantastic .... have been very hungry lately as I've not been eating house food, meaning it's mainly a bread diet. The new medicine is pulling my BP really low - it's never higher than 120/64.

And today I bought half a kilo of "tut" (mulberries) to share with the guys sitting around me during meals. They liked it. Its nice to be able to share things with people around you - some appreciate it, some don't - but that's the package you get with community living. And I guess that's the deal you get in family life as well. You didn't get to choose who your brothers and sisters are; they're simply there with you. I think tomorrow's Solemnity of the Holy Trinity is a good reminder to us about what community is about - the Father, Son and Spirit sharing a bond so close they form one being (in the Creed we say "...one in being with the father"). That's the ideal all our human communities try to imitate and achieve. The reality may be pretty hard to stomach, but that should not deter us from struggling to reach the ideal - or worse to lose the ideal and become cynical. Imagine living a life without ideals and goals ........ floating on the river of life but never knowing when, where, what or why.