Shabbat on the 4th of July

After class yesterday afternoon, we did the Friday Stations of the Cross procession led by the Franciscan friars. This picture of the Haram is from the school yard that is the First Station. (A note on historicity: the Via Dolorosa as it is currently laid out in the Holy City is probably not the actual route Our Lord took. It begins at the Antonia fortress, which in the Middle Ages was identified as Pontius Pilate's residence; archeology suggests it much more likely that Pilate lived in the Citadel fortress across town. Never mind: centuries worth of pilgrims have sanctified this route by their prayers and focus on Jesus' Passion.) The Stations were conducted in Italian and English, with the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be's in Latin. It was a moving experience to pray the Stations with other pilgrims, amid all the distractions of going through the suqs (pronounced "sooks," streets lined with shops of every kind) as we prayed. The last stations are, of course, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Some people seem surprised when this large procession entered! The Stations end with a blessing from the Custos, the Franciscan in charge of all of the Catholic Holy Sites in the Holy Land. He is arguably the most powerful and influential Catholic in the Holy Land. (No disrespect intended toward His Beatitude, the Latin Patriarch!)

After returning to St. Stephen's and changing out of our habits (you'll see why in moment), we had dinner at what is becoming almost a hangout for us (this was our 3rd visit). You know you're more than a tourist when proprietors of the restaurant recognize you and seat you at your "usual" table without even asking! Such is Arab hospitality. After a great meal, we entered in the plaza of the Western Wall. We had been told it was quite an experience at sundown beginning Shabbat. It did not disappoint! When we arrived, the men's and women's sections immediately before the wall were filled with Ultra-orthodox praying; most of the men and a few of the women were davening (the rapidly repeated shallow bows) while reciting Psalms or other prayers. Toward the main entrance to the plaza (from the Dung Gate, the picture is above the entrance looking toward the Western Wall), there was already a large gathering of Israeli soldiers, both men and women. Some of the men were already gathered and dancing. It was a carnival atmosphere. It was an eclectic gather of people: the pious, recollected Ultra-orthodox, the tourists (like us!), Jewish spectators (men in kippas, or yamulkas), settlers with M-1 rifles (we spotted one with an M-16), and the inordinate number of soldiers in uniform, all of whom were of course armed with automatic rifles. We were approached by a group of soldiers (who were happy to talk to us and no more than 23 or 24) and found out they were a class of officer candidates preparing for their commissioning in a few days. At signal, all of the male soldiers went en masse (maybe 150 - 200 guys) to the wall, where they immediately began dancing! The scripture that immediately came to mind was David dancing with abandon before the Ark of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6:14). It was like having a 7:00 (or other early Sunday morning) Mass, a Baptist Revival and a carnival all going on at the same time! We were slightly worried about going (being non-Jews), but there was absolutely no problem (until Fr. Bart tried to take a picture, which violates the Sabbath prohibition on work). I am very glad we went.

Today we celebrated the 4th of July by sleeping in! We gathered for Mass in English at 9:00, just the four of us. After a slight breakfast, we headed out for our chores for the day: haircuts all around, visiting the Rockefeller Museum and buying a fan. A couple of interesting tidbits at the museum: an inscription from a 1st century Jerusalem synagogue (until the destruction of the Temple, synagogues functioned as Jewish "community centers," neighborhood gathering and social places, rather than strictly places of study and worship they are today), the lintels from the Holy Sepulcher (they needed to be removed in order to be preserved) and artifacts from Hishram's Palace, which we are going to visit on Monday. The barber Fr. Gregory wanted to take us to was closed, so we ended up at one near St. Stephen's. The owner's older son was the other barber; his younger son served us coffee, swept the floor and brushed off the clients when his dad or brother finished with them. One of the other clients was a Greek Orthodox Palestinian who used to run the optical department at Herrod's in London! (This was fortuitous, as Fr. Bart had broken his glasses yesterday, so he sent him to a friend of his who fixed his glasses on the spot.) After our shrivings, we met a friend of Fr. Gregory's, an Albright Fellow, and went to lunch at Zuni's, a 24 hour restaurant and bar, in the Jewish quarter whose advertisement is simple: "We Serve Bacon." Needless to say, we all got bacon cheeseburgers and fries to celebrate the Fourth of July! (It is funny, but has a serious side too: there is an Israeli policeman outside the door with a metal detecting wand you have to pass before entering the place. There was also a private security guard outside the Irish pub we went to last week that also serves cheeseburgers.)

Tonight (in a few minutes actually), we are heading up to the American Colony Hotel for some good ol' 'Merican drinks: Manhattans made with Jack Daniel's. We hoping that once the sun sets there might be some fireworks. On that subject, fireworks are common here: both Jews and Arabs love them. There was a big wedding last night, we found out, when we asked about the fireworks we seen and heard last night. Watermelon (which we've had and it's delicious) and milkshakes were also on our minds, but we don't want to be gluttonous!

Have a happy fourth of July. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for the people and government of the United States. The prayer is by the first bishop of the United States.

The Ascesis of Study

Study is a central ascesis of Dominican life. It is one that I have frankly let slip since leaving St. Albert's, our house of studies, over a decade ago. I have by no stretch of the imagination stopped reading good solid books on a wide variety topics; I have read what I hoped to be useful to me, to my ministry, to those around me, etc. or in areas where I find God "outside" of theology (like mathematics). However, this time in Jerusalem has pointed out to me that my approach has not been ascetic, at least in the Dominican sense. I have reduced my study to an utilitarian activity.

Ascesis and ascetic are not bad words. Modern culture may think so, but it's because it has a distorted view of asceticism. Being ascetic, or even an ascetic, is NOT about inflicting punishments on oneself (or having them imposed by another) in hoping of pleasing or satiating a masochistic God (or institution, superior, etc.) in order to be temporarily or permanently miserable and thereby somehow to gain merit. It comes from the Greek word askein, which means "to exercise"; when used as a nominal form, it is the word for monk or nun. St. Paul tells the Corinthians, "Every athlete exercises discipline in every way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive my body and train it..." (1Cor. 9:26-27a) Religious asceticism, then, trains the whole person for the encounter with God; "From my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing." (Job 19:26)

The genius of St. Dominic in answering the needs of his time was to replace physical asceticism of traditional monasticism with intellectual asceticism, specifically study and preaching. Both forms are practiced by the individual in the context of community life and its fruits benefit the community. Their tangible "fruits" (e.g., raising wholesome food for the monastery or a particularly learned homily on the feeding miracles) are of secondary importance. Their primary aim is the sanctification (bringing to closer to God) of the individual and his/her community in and through a particular discipline.

For a Dominican friar, study is a discipline that is meant to keep him in shape for encountering the Living God and hopefully, to actually encounter the Father of Mercies in that exercise. If you have heard me preach or sought my counsel recently, you have heard me quote Bl. Teresa of Calcutta, "God does not ask us to be successful; God asks us to be faithful." I have replaced success (i.e., utility) for fidelity to my discipline to study.

It's probably no accident that I am also not in great physical shape at the moment either. Funny how that works! I need to bring this to prayer: since God has seen fit to show this to me, it also means God is wanting some action on my part...

Not MIA, just busy

These last few days have been packed. Saturday was a free day (no tours or class). I must admit that I did something I rarely do: I took a nap after breakfast. It lasted 2.5 hours! I guess I needed the sleep. That's what I did instead of sorting and captioning pictures. Honestly, I don't know where Fr. Bart gets the energy! Saturday afternoon we got a surprise treat: a tour of the tombs and archeology "department" of the Ecole. Fr. Jean-Baptiste is the resident expert Dominican archaeologist. This is the second time he has invited over to his office; every visit begins with coffee! He showed us the tombs on the property (of which the Garden Tomb next door is actually a part). His research indicates they are Byzantine age; others (including the Israeli government) believe they are Iron Age (Solomonic). The real treat of the afternoon was when Fr. Jean-Baptiste had Fr. Steven "model" a suit of Crusader chain armor! He marveled how well it fit and how easily he could move despite it's 35 kg weight. (Steven's left hand is covering the exit hole made by an arrow that pierced a previous wearer's thigh.)

Sunday was in many ways a watershed day. We visited Hebron and the Tombs of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, etc.). Arab roads (as opposed to Israeli) are poorly marked, so we had some difficulty finding our way. Fortunately for us, a car of young Arab men (one of the only other cars we had seen) graciously led us to Hebron. Fr. Gregory told us on the way that this is actually common in Arab culture, for people to not just lead you, but drop whatever they're doing and take you where you are going. (Kind of like the folks in Safeway, but only natural.) They deposited us in the center of city and promptly disappeared! It took us another 45 minutes to make our way through the modern city toward the Tombs, which were, as it turned out, on the opposite side of town from where we arrived. We learned a bit of Arabic that day (this is a tranliteration, not an attempt at spelling): doogree, doogree, which seems to mean, keeping going straight!

The old city of Hebron (actually all of Hebron, but especially the old city, which is near the Tombs) is the shame of the state of Israel. Here, Israeli settlers literally live on top of the Palestinians and try with all of their might to make life hell, so they will leave. The Palestinians were happy, if surprised, to see us. (This actually surprised me, given how much money the US gives to Israel and how much of that money actually goes to settlements. They seem to make the distinction between a nation's government and its people.) I got the sense that the Jewish people just wished we would go away. To date, this was the most visceral, intense and obvious example of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict we have yet experienced. In this photo, taken from a Palestinian roof, you can see a settler's house wall to the right, empty water canisters and some of the netting the Palestinians use to protect themselves from the trash and other refuse the settlers throw on them.

That night, we stayed in Arad. It is a beautifully planned and executed Israeli city in the middle of the Negev desert. You could have been in any middle/upper middle class neighborhood in the US. We encountered a group of students on a Birthright Israel trip at our hotel; one student in particular talked with us for quite a while. (Birthright is a group that believes every Jewish child should visit Israel and takes high school and college students there whose families cannot afford the trip.) We were reflecting that Birthright would not, even if its Israeli guides were permitted in Hebron, take its students there.

We also went to Tel Arad that afternoon, instead of Mamre as originally planned. It is the best example of a Bronze age city (9th - 8th century BC). It is right on the "border" between the Judean foothills and the Negev desert. There is also a Canaanite temple, complete with an altar and a Holy of Holies in a similar arrangement to the later Jerusalem Temple. (The altar of sacrifice is just out of the viewer's sight, to the viewer's right in the foreground.)

On Monday, we did Mamshit, Tel Beer Shiva and Bet Guvrim. Mamshit (yes, we made all of the off-color jokes you'd expect, even though it's a long "i") is along a major trade route and is magnificently built; many ruins survive today, including two churches. The mosaics in the churches are amazing (even though they look drab because of the dirt on them), as are two frescos. These are a pair of surving arches of Mamshit.

Tel Beer Sheva is important for two reasons: 1) it marks the scriptural southern boarder of the Promised Land (e.g., Judges 20:1, "from Dan to Beer Sheva") and 2) it association with the Patriarchs (Abraham's & Isaac's treaties with the Phillistines in Gen. 21:25-33 & 26: 15-33 and Jacob's vision to go Egypt in Gen 46:1-7). Bet Guvrim is amazing for it's so-called bell caves (caves left behind after mining limestone) and two Sidinion tombs. It was "bonus" Fr. Gregory decided on it since we missed Mamre and were able to get to Tel Arad the day before. From the picture you can see how they get their names.

Because of our extra stop on Monday, we did not get home until late in the afternoon. The Ecole was hosting a special event that night: Solemn Vespers of Ss. Peter and Paul to formally close the Pauline Year. The celebrant was His Eminence Walter Kaspar, Pope Benedict's personal representative in the Holy Land for these events. Although I was beat, I decided to go just to say I was there. I even made it into a couple of the photos. (I will try and get the link: they are great photos of the Basilica.) It also meant that we got Tuesday "off" to study, since we had no time to do so since our last time in the classroom!

Today was our class on the Epiphanies. Like the rest, each day is filled with "Ah ha!" moments, both through our individual preparations for class and in the discussion we have together. I have not been this excited about (formal) study in very long time. There is always more we want to do, but cannot! Tomorrow we will do the Feeding Miracles and Table Fellowship (in case you're following the outline, which in case you haven't noticed has been altered since we arrived) and the Controversies on Friday.

Our first visit outside of Jerusalem

After the incredible celebration of Mass at the Edicule of Christ's Tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we did our first road trip. Our first stop was Caesarea Maratima. The fact that so many of the ruins survive testifies to the fact that the city was built by Herod the Great (who built for eternity). It was apparently a splendid city (e.g. Josephus Wars 1:408-15 & Antiquities 15: 331-41), which is easy to see from the ruins and the beautiful location on the Mediterranean.

We stayed at a Carmelite Guesthouse in Haifa. The sisters were most gracious hosts. It was also a lovely luxury to have air conditioned rooms, especially since the temperature was in the low 90's and the humidity was very high! Our next stop was Acre (modern Akko). Acre was the major port city before Caesarea was built. In medival times it was shaped by the Crusaders and the maritime powers of Europe. There is a large ruin of a fortress of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John that is most impressive. The el-Jazzar mosque is also very beautiful. This part of the trip, while not directly related to the Gospels, helps to contextualize the world at the time of Jesus through the 1st century.

Our first stop yesterday was to the Carmel on southern edge of Mt. Carmel at Muhraqa. This cite is traditionally identified with where the Prophet Elijah challenged and slew the prophets of Baal (1Kings 18:19-40). There is a statue of Elijah slaying a prophet in the courtyard of the monastery. This the chapel; the brass relief on the wall to the right is Elijah receiving food from the angel prior to his journey. It is a very simple and pretty chapel.

Our last stop was the famed ruins of Megiddo. The city was important because of it's location along the plain of the Valley of Jezreel at the head of a pass through the Carmel range along the ancient route between Mesopotamia and Egypt. King Solomon's city here was the 16th! There were a total of 24 cities built one on top of the other, making it an extraordinarily rich archeological site. Many, many battles have been fought there throughout history. In fact, the visionary St. John places the Last Great Battle (Rev. 16:16) here (har is mountain, so har-megedon is the Mountain of Megiddo).