seeking novelties

Another very hot day - wiltering! Did some work on my paper again, checked through some books in the library - oh, and yesterday morning I had a VC reunion with pilgrims from the Dec 07 grp and some from other grps. It was good to see everyone again. And I also learned how much they had journeyed in their spiritual lives after their pilgrimage: many involved in parish work or Bible study etc...

Yesterday morning Pavel also defended his thesis. Pavel is our polish student doing his Licentiate (Master's). He did a good job and the final grade he received earned him a "Summa cum Laude" which is the highest accolade you can get. For lunch he offered ice-cream and cherries ... real nice in this hot weather. Later in the evening he invited some professors and friends out for dinner at Amigo Emil, a local restaurent in the Old City. Lovely ambiance. I was invited too. I hope Pavel will come back to do his doctorate. I always joke with him because he spends alot of time in the library - I say he practically lives in the library. The only time we see him is prayers and meals. Well now he can leave the library and see some sun and breathe some fresh air (if you can find it in the Old City).

Khalil our cook boiled more herb tea (bay leaves, rosemary, lemon leaves ... ) for my asthma. It must be working because it is not so severe these two afternoons. It's the early mornings that kill me - like 3am I wake up and cannot breathe. I hate that.

This morning as usual I was at the Holy Sepulchre at 5am celebrating Mass and praying for you all. I decided to go up to Mt Calvary to pray instead of the Tomb as there was a huge crowd - mostly koreans. Somehow despite the gloomy darkness and endless noise, the Holy Sepulchre remains my favourite Church here in the Holyland.

And "Under the Fig Tree" has about 40 members now coming from North America, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Remember it's meant more for your own prayer and reflection of the Sunday Mass readings than a bible lesson. It's a simple way of preparing to encounter the coming Sunday's Liturgy of the Word and therefore making your Sunday Mass more meaningful. And you can always leave your questions, comments or reflections on the blog.

Yesterday's reading from 2Timothy struck me - "The time is sure to come when people, far from being content with sound teaching, will be earnestly seeking for the latest novelty and collecting themselves a whole series of teachers according to their own tastes; and instead of listening to the truth, they turn to myths". Now is that happening right now or what? Now before we start pointing fingers at other people and novelties in our faith expressions, let's honestly ask ourselves where we messed up in the first place; where we stopped treasuring the richness of our faith tradition and creating a culture of ignorance and indifference that eventually leads to seeking novelties to replace the empty space left by the rejection of these ancient treasures.