Belly buttons?

Had a very frustrating morning. The VC was on a wrong configuration and my important briefing to the HK pilgrims coming next week was an absolute disaster. Don't worry - it has since been corrected and classes will go on as usual on Monday morning. But the panic!!!!!!!

Then we had to separate the canaries because some have already started laying eggs but there was no nest for them so all the eggs were broken on the floor. Spent 2 hrs with Khaled our cook catching 3 pairs and transferring them to nesting cages. But I doubt they'll lay any more eggs after this traumatic experience. I was hoping it would only take half an hour so i could get back to my work. Ruined my whole morning.

As there was not enough time to really get started on my analysis, I decided to vacuum and clean my room; and now am writing this blog just to get my cool back. The muezzin is singing so it must be 12pm now. There's a new muezzin for the 4am call to prayer and this guy is loud! Anyway I've been so eshausted every night I sleep on after being waken by the muezzin. Yes this week I've been getting up pretty late - 5am or so.

Yesterday was terribly subdued here in the Old City after the killing of the teenagers. Police and soldiers everywhere. I didn't go out but those who went for the Way of the Cross said it was very tense and some stations were closed. "Stations" meaning the chapels that commemorate the Way of the Cross.

I spent the whole day doing one sentence of analysis that really tired me out.

Weirdly though, yesterday while I took a short break on the terrace, I was thinking about belly-buttons. I remembered one of my pilgrims who is a doctor answered my question about belly-buttons and said it's a scar left from our umbilical cords - doesn't take too much to know that one!!! But the word "scar" struck me. It always carries a pegorative meaning - of struggles, pain, hurts...but also of survival. The belly-button is a scar - a scar that reminds us that once we were connected to another human being for life and sustenance; a scar that remains forever with us: eyes will go dim when we're old, hearing goes, teeth fall out, so does hair, skin wrinkles, memories lost .... but the scar of the belly button remains. It's such a powerful reminder isn't it, of our helplessness and need for others. And it should also remind us of our absolute need for God. In our moments of need and utter helplessness, we need to connect with God and others - love of God and neighbour - our umbilical cord. And when we cut off this relationship, we're scarred. So that's something for you all to think about before we start the 5th Sunday of Lent.

Peace

Received the sad news that one of my past pilgrims John Kwan died. He was a young man, and he carried his sufferings bravely for the past few years. May he rest in peace.

And the sad news continues. You all read about the killing of 8 Jewish teenagers in a rabbinic school here in Jerusalem. Soldiers have been more than usual here in the Old City for the past week. They knew something was about to happen. And it did. But it was outisde the Old City in the district of Kiryat Moshe. The cycle seems to be unending.

Yesterday worked the whole day on 2 verses. Can't imagine how complicated it can all be. Trudge trudge trudge....... And today my mum has gone for an operation - so pray for her.

Today's 1st reading is from the Book of Wisdom - my thesis book. We read the words of the impious who hate the righteous because his goodness is a constant reminder of their wickedness. They cannot live with their own guilt so they let it out on the innocent. I guess that's what happened to Judas as well - couldn't live with his guilt so he killed himself. There must be a better way out. Like making peace with oneself and with others. That's what we need here in Israel - but tha's what we all need in our own hearts too.

Work work work

Yesterday's 1st reading from the prophet Jeremiah was very interesting. It talks about God bringing peoples from the world over to come to Jerusalem where he will console them. "Some are from afar; others from the north and west, others from the land of Sinim". Some scholars think "Sinim" refers to China (cf "sino - ", though this interpretation is not generally accepted. I remember many years ago when I was living here in jerusalem, I went to visit the Last Supper Room. In there was a Jewish couple and when they saw me, they started singing "halleluia" and I wondered what was all that about. They grabbed my hands and welcomed me - me still in a state of utter confusion. Then the guy opened up Jeremiah 49 and read this passage and said God's word is fulfilled because the Chinese have come to Jerusalem. OK so he was a little carried away - but it does show two things - one, we should really take seriously the prophecies and its fulfilment especially in Jesus Christ; secondly God wills that everyone including far away China be part of his plan of salvation. So that's a consolation for us who live in the Far East - we aren't left out in the cold.

And yesterday was another crazy day (and it wasn't even Friday). Worked non-stop on my analysis of the text. Then the guys came to upgrade my Internet bandwidth to 2/2 (that's the highest we can go here in the Old City - the wires are just too old and incapable of higher bandwidths). But the monthly cost is going to rise like triple! So I'm going to need you guys to help me out if our VC classes are going to continue!

The weather is also warming up alot but I'm locking myself in my room - nothing has to disturb my work now - serious! Not going out for anything! Unless the house burns down! I've put up a print out of Fr Allegra's motto on my wall (in italian of course) "Want little - but want it at all cost". What I want now is to finish my paper.

After dinner I wanted to get back to work but Massimo Carlino caught me at the roof terrace and we chatted till 10pm. Hmmmmm must avoid that in future - not that it's a waste of time - but I must get my priorities right - work first, there'll be time to chat in between.

So here goes .... am working on my paper even as I'm writing this.

Today's Gospel from John says "You place your hopes in Moses and Moses will be your accuser; if you really believe in him, you should believe in me too, since it is I whom he was writing about; if you do not believe in what Moses wrote, how can you believe what i say?" - Jesus was talking to the Judeans (Jews in most translations). Well here is an interesting concept of understanding the Old Testament - interpreting it in the light of Jesus Christ (what we call a Christological exegesis). It was used by most of the early Church Fathers but slowly lost ground when modern historical and literary analyses of the bible became widely used. But I think for our own spiritual growth, it is a good method - reading the Old Testament and understanding it in view of our faith in Jesus Christ. It's a little of what I said at the beginning of this blog - to understand the prophecies as fulfilled in jesus Christ. of course we shouldn't force everything Old Testament passage to fit into the Christ event, but neither should we abandon it totally. After all we are christians, and we should read the bible in the light of our Christian faith. So when you are studying the bible, don't get carried away by too much explanations, that though are interesting but leave out Jesus; if so, there is the risk of the Bible as simply being treated as any other ancient literature book. As a book of faith, we should allow our christian faith to be involved in our understanding of the Sacred Scriptures called the Old Testament. End of lecture. Now start reading the Bible!

Busy as usual

So I missed yesterday's blog. I was extremely busy and had no time for anything. Work is piling up and I want to complete as many as possible. Too bad I only have 2 hands - could do with a few more!

So Holy Week is round the corner. Groups are packing Jerusalem like a sardine can. Yesterday there were over 1,000 Africans and lots and lots of Indonesians. And there was even a small group of Buddhist monks frm Mainland China! Had a short talk with them when they visited our Chapel - couldn't say much becuase a couple of Chinese officials were accompanying them and they were obviously nervous. Gave them our chinese pamphlets explaining our chapels.

Today is our franciscan pilgrimage to our Flagellation Chapel - that means lots of friars and others coming for Solemn Mass at 5pm. It's going to be packed

Will post a brief refleciton for you guys later today. Gotta start work now!

Laugh a little

Yesterday was Sunday......hhmmmmm so what did I do? I was busy as usual with alot of reading and writing .... but didn't seem to getting anywhere. It was pretty frustrating. Anyway trudged through the whole afternoon through the mountain of books till Vespers. Got down to the chapel, sang vespers and then had dinner. Couldn't eat much. Massimo Carlino asked me to take a walk on the terrace after dinner so we went and we talked and talked till like over 10pm! Went back to my room and read a few more pages of a book on Hellenisation and the Jews before falling asleep.

Must have been tired because i couldn't wake up this morning! Missed Mass - the first time ever! Oh ... and Darko is sick. We visited him in his room after dinner and I saw he didn't have enough blankets so I gave him one of mine. He's running a fever.

So now I'm off to the Missionaries of Charity to give them the weekly bible study and then I'll go to the Holy Sepulchre to say Mass.

In the course of my conversation with Carlino, a phrase kept popping up - what else do we need? We have more than sufficient in terms of food, clothing, education... if you look at it, we were never the worse off when we did not have cellphones or computers or tv. Just look back at your life and see how many things crept into your lives that you didn't once have. And they are not technically essential - they help make life alittle more easier to manage but believe me, you won't die without it. So what else do we need? I've been reading about Lydia Sum's death and frankly we all grew up with her. Some papers say she embodied the spirit of Hong Kong. I would rather see her as the spirit BEHIND Hong Kong. When things got bad, people were poor, lining up "under Lion's Rock" for water - she gave HongKongers something to smile about; something to laugh away the pain; she made life more bearable by looking at the funner side of life. The spirit of Hong Kong was flagging but she gave people a reason to wake up everyday, raise your head up high and laugh it all off. The laughter carried Hong Kong through the dark period of the 70s and into the restoration 80s and into the properous 90s.

So what else do we need? A little laughter, a little joy to make the world a little happier.

Shepherd of canaries?!

Yesterday I was busy with so many things (at the computer) - reading, writing, translating... I had no time for my thesis. Found Matthew slogging his qualification paper in the library. He came up to my room and said he had a terrible headache and couldn't study ...... good because i didn't do anything on thesis either! That makes us equal! I suggested going to the Holy Sepulchre and he said maybe at midnight. Though I've been trying to join in the Lenten rigours of Jerusalem, I never got round to it; so last night was my last chance. The midnight Office of Readings, processions and Mass ends before Passion Week begins. Giovanni Loche was egging me to go. So I cooked some rice with lap cheong, ate it at 6.30pm, slept at 8.30pm and woke up at 10.30pm. Went to the Holy Sepulchre with Matthew. Helped prepare the benches and booklets. The crowd of Russian Orthodox pilgrims was incredible. They were everywhere.

Anyway the friars came in procession with the Custos. The bells were ringing - really loud because midnight was so quiet around here. The sound was so beautiful - I couldn't help thinking "That is a Catholic sound!" The Catholic crowd was impressive - lots of young people. Whoever thinks the Church is dying, look again! I was so impressed by these young people from around the world, seriously and silently praying...intensely. They're the John Paul generation of Catholics. That Pope really touched many young lives - he should be a saint. So we sang the entire Office (3 psalms, one Old Testament reading and one reading from St Augustine), then there was Lauds (2 psalms, 1 canticle, a New Testament reading, intercessions and the Benedictus) followed by the fantastic candlelight procession around the Tomb of Christ. When it all ended, The Custos celebrated Mass on Mt Calvary (1.30am) but there were so many priests concelebrating I couldn't join in. Meanwhile Matthew had gone home halfway through the Office because he needed to get up early to go on excursion to Taybe (biblical Ephraim where Jesus hid for some time cf John's Gospel). Our black/white sisters were all present, as were nearly every other nun in Jerusalem! They stayed back for the Custos' Mass. I went home. It was good to see the Custos again, though we couldn't talk to each other. And finally I met William again. haven't seen him for over 3 months. He was back in Lebanon but when he got back, he never came over to say hi.

Got back at 2am, tried to sleep and at 4.30am, got up and went to the Holy Sepulchre again to celebrate Mass. We had to setup the Mary Magdalene altar for solemn Mass at 8am. So practically I had 4 hrs of sleep, 2 hrs before 10.30pm and 2 hrs after 2am. That's how rigorous Lent is for us! It's just prayers and prayers. And why not? All the pomp, all the candlelights and organ music ...... fantastic, one of a kind ..... because it all happened HERE! The Passion, the burial, the Resurrection. Nowhere else in the world can celebrate the Passion like in Jerusalem.

On my way back from Mass (7am), I stopped at the Ethiopic Orthodox Church to hear a bit of their Mass - beautiful, haunting chanting in a very ancient language. Then I stopped to buy some apple buns at the 8th Station - something I hadn't done for almost 3 months. Got back home and some guys were already having breakfast. Chatted, ate, fed the birds (Fr Ravanelli our emeritus professor was announcing "Lionello, the birds are waiting!" - somehow I'm getting the title "shepherd of the canaries"). So now I'm thoroughly exhausted and want to rest a little before I start my work (Matthew's not home today, so I can catch up! Typical Singaporean Kia-su, right?)

And today's readngs all focus on Jesus as the Light. St Paul says in the 2nd reading "Be children of light!" You guys are so lucky never to have blackouts. Try and remember when was the last time you had a blackout in HK or S'pore .... like you can't right? Well here blackouts, like I told you in the last few blogs, occur all the time during winter. And when that happens, light becomes such a precious commodity. You can't possibly imagine what it means to have light until you live in total darkness. Be children of light! Light is clear, transparent, no hidden agendas, no secrets. Try living that kind of life - it's the life of baptism, it's the resurrected life.

Meeting the Custos

The weather is changing to warm now. People are going out in short-sleeves, so I think the cold will not return. That means keeping away the winter stuff. Spring flowers are blooming everywhere along the streets - anemones, cyclamen, mustard. Absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday I had a long day. had to go to Terra Santa College for a meeting; but stopped off at the supermarket first because one of the fathers asked me to help him buy something. After the meeting, I decided to stay back for lunch - the food at Terra Santa College is stupendous, the sisters here are incredibly creative with their cooking. Yesterday we had pasta in tuna but with soya and sesame oil - fusion food!!!!! It really tastes great! Then of course there's a whole range of other dishes for vegetarians or carnivores. And anyone who wants to fast, well just don't come and eat! After lunch I continued with the meeting till about 3pm and then I had to rush off to St. Saviour's Monastery to meet with the Custos Fr Pierbattista. It was a last minute arranged meeting but I needed some information from him. His secretary was a little nervous that I showed up without confirming the appointment, because Pierbattista has another important meeting an hour later and was busy preparing for it. Anyway she went and spoke with him, and returned to tell me to wait for another 15 minutes and he'll see me for 2 minutes. But before she could finish, there was his loud voice behind me saying "Hurry up! My time is precious! Only 2 minutes for you!" He was actually grinning and standing behind me! We had a good conversation and I got my information I wanted. Actually knowing how anxious he was over the coming meeting, I had to make him relax before asking him for the info. So I started with, "hey, we've not met for a long time to chat. I miss the old times when we were great friends and spend lots of time studying and chatting" (that was 12 years ago!) He melted and hugged me and said now that he's the Custos he now has little time for all this. Then of course, I asked for what I wanted and got it! Poor Pierbattista - he has such a difficult job as Custos; his hair and beard is now all white and his eyes are all tired. And he's 3 years younger than I!

Anyway all that walking yesterday (4 km up and down the hills) wore my knees down because once I sat down on my bed I couldn't get up. Both my knees just wouldn't work. They were alittle swollen and couldn't hold up my body. So I stayed in bed for an hour, put anagelsic cream and slept for an hour before going down for Vespers and dinner.

This morning heard the bad news that Osvalda's mother died. Prayed for her.

Today's 1st reading from Hosea is powerful. God says "What I want is love, not sacrifices; knowledge of God, not holocausts!". How much time a day do you spend loving God and neighbour? How much time a day do you spend knowing God - by reading the Bible and praying?