Again Goodbye

It's 2.15am and I've just come back from the Ecole Biblique. No, the school is closed at this hour, but I accompanied a Hungarian student who was leaving us. The shurut (airport shuttle minibus) picked him up from there at 2am. It's dangerous to be out at this hour so I told him I'd accompany him; he protested because I am still sick, and said his two other classmates will accompany him. As things would have it, both guys overslept so luckily I was available to help him carry his luggage and walk the dark, quiet street up to the bus station opposite the Ecole.

I never knew this student well, as he lived mostly in our other monastery in the New City. But we've chatted several times. Very nice guy, quiet and polite. But like all our casualties, it's because life here strikes hard and harsh. He is leaving after 3 years of studies, just one final step away from graduation ... such a pity. As we waited for his shurut in the cold wind, beneath the bare branches of the hibernating trees that cast shadows dancing under the street lamps, he said to me "I admire your courage in staying here. I can't do it."

Wishing you all the best, Entre, in your new apostolate. There's nothing to be ashamed; rather it takes alot of courage to recognise one's limits and act upon it. You're still a hero. Goodbye.