austraLasia #2099
Palms and Crosses - an Easter reflection
(The following is a 'letter from Jerusalem', from the Rector there, Fr Francis Preston: published with his permission. It was written on Palm Sunday, not 19th March!)
JERUSALEM: 19th March 2008 -- "After lunch today I travelled by coach with most of our Ratisbonne Community to the crest of the Mount of Olives and from there walked to Bethphage, a village some three miles due east of the Old City of Jerusalem, for the start of the annual Palm Sunday procession. In bright sunshine under a cloudless blue sky several thousand people – Religious, priests and seminarians, the local Catholic lay faithful and many pilgrims - joined the Latin Patriarch, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, in retracing the steps of Jesus' triumphant journey into the holy city of Jerusalem. There was a real atmosphere of joy and celebration, an almost tangible sense of belonging to a faith community that finds its hope and meaning in Jesus.
It was all so very different from what I had experienced less than 24 hours before. On Saturday evening I had been in Bethlehem to celebrate Mass for the De La Salle Brothers' Community there. The small group of Brothers, most of whom are from the USA, run Bethlehem University.
During supper after the Mass with the Brothers, they described the difficulties – strikes by the academic staff and students - the University had been experiencing after Wednesday’s assassination of four Palestinian activists in Bethlehem by the Israeli security forces. The prevailing mood in the University and in the town of Bethlehem, the Brothers told me, was one of sadness and a certain hopelessness.
But back to this afternoon. I walked in the procession with members of the local Philippino Catholic community in Jerusalem for whom we celebrate Mass every Sunday and provide whatever spiritual support we can. We sang almost every step of the way. As we entered the Old City of Jerusalem at Lion's Gate, almost at our destination, I noticed a film crew with their camera trained on us. At first I couldn't make out what was happening and then I became aware that someone had joined our group, an actor dressed as Jesus, who was walking silently with us, our companion on the last stage of our journey. I couldn't help reflecting that Jesus is always with us though we may not recognise him, and that his presence is both re-assuring and challenging.
Each of us has a cross to bear - and we don’t have far to search for it. That truth was brought home to me at the end of the afternoon when I was walking back through the Old City to Ratisbonne with a small group of Filipina mothers and children who live in the same part of the city as we Salesians do. At one point our route home took us along the Via Dolorosa, the traditional route of Jesus' final journey to Calvary. The Via Dolorosa climbs quite steeply, and at one point there are many steps to climb. One of the mothers was pushing a pram with her three year old daughter strapped in it because Annie, the little girl's name, was too tired to walk any further. There was nothing for it but for Annie's mother and I and another lady to manhandle the pram up the steps. When we reached the top, my back was aching, and I looked at the mother. I could see she was far more tired than me. And I thought to myself, yes, the daily struggle she faces in to earn a living and bring up Annie, in a foreign land, is the cross Jesus has asked her to bear. May she always know that he walks with her".
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org
Title: australasia 2099
Subject and key words: SDB General
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2099
Palms and Crosses - an Easter reflection
(The following is a 'letter from Jerusalem', from the Rector there, Fr Francis Preston: published with his permission. It was written on Palm Sunday, not 19th March!)
JERUSALEM: 19th March 2008 -- "After lunch today I travelled by coach with most of our Ratisbonne Community to the crest of the Mount of Olives and from there walked to Bethphage, a village some three miles due east of the Old City of Jerusalem, for the start of the annual Palm Sunday procession. In bright sunshine under a cloudless blue sky several thousand people – Religious, priests and seminarians, the local Catholic lay faithful and many pilgrims - joined the Latin Patriarch, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, in retracing the steps of Jesus' triumphant journey into the holy city of Jerusalem. There was a real atmosphere of joy and celebration, an almost tangible sense of belonging to a faith community that finds its hope and meaning in Jesus.
It was all so very different from what I had experienced less than 24 hours before. On Saturday evening I had been in Bethlehem to celebrate Mass for the De La Salle Brothers' Community there. The small group of Brothers, most of whom are from the USA, run Bethlehem University.
During supper after the Mass with the Brothers, they described the difficulties – strikes by the academic staff and students - the University had been experiencing after Wednesday’s assassination of four Palestinian activists in Bethlehem by the Israeli security forces. The prevailing mood in the University and in the town of Bethlehem, the Brothers told me, was one of sadness and a certain hopelessness.
But back to this afternoon. I walked in the procession with members of the local Philippino Catholic community in Jerusalem for whom we celebrate Mass every Sunday and provide whatever spiritual support we can. We sang almost every step of the way. As we entered the Old City of Jerusalem at Lion's Gate, almost at our destination, I noticed a film crew with their camera trained on us. At first I couldn't make out what was happening and then I became aware that someone had joined our group, an actor dressed as Jesus, who was walking silently with us, our companion on the last stage of our journey. I couldn't help reflecting that Jesus is always with us though we may not recognise him, and that his presence is both re-assuring and challenging.
Each of us has a cross to bear - and we don’t have far to search for it. That truth was brought home to me at the end of the afternoon when I was walking back through the Old City to Ratisbonne with a small group of Filipina mothers and children who live in the same part of the city as we Salesians do. At one point our route home took us along the Via Dolorosa, the traditional route of Jesus' final journey to Calvary. The Via Dolorosa climbs quite steeply, and at one point there are many steps to climb. One of the mothers was pushing a pram with her three year old daughter strapped in it because Annie, the little girl's name, was too tired to walk any further. There was nothing for it but for Annie's mother and I and another lady to manhandle the pram up the steps. When we reached the top, my back was aching, and I looked at the mother. I could see she was far more tired than me. And I thought to myself, yes, the daily struggle she faces in to earn a living and bring up Annie, in a foreign land, is the cross Jesus has asked her to bear. May she always know that he walks with her".
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2008 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http://sdl.sdb.org
Title: australasia 2099
Subject and key words: SDB General
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2099
