Good Morning,

The reflections are from Tuesday and Wednesday, June 29 and 30. They reflect our time at the Western Wall of the Old City and our journey to arrive at this holy site.

With Tuesday came the realization that classes would soon begin and therefore another trip to the bookstore was in order. We found Jerome Murphy-Oconnor's book on "The Holy Land," our 4th author on this topic, and we were off to the Old City.

Sandra Schneiders in her book, "The Revelatory Text," suggest that when interpreting scripture, we will best see the scrripture through three worlds - "The World Behind the Text (The history and our imagination), The World of the Text (the witness and language) and the World Before the Text (the meaning and appropriation in our lives today)." With that in mind and sitting before the Holy Site of the Western Wall of the temple (parts of which are from the temple destroyed in 70AD), I found myself consumed with the history, the archeological discovery, the witness - both biblical and the witness of today's faithful and my personal emotion being felt as I am consumed by these images and actions of the faithful. I was at this place on both days - with Diane on Tuesday and then back to the wall with Diand and Mary and Joseph (my sister and brother-in-law who arrived Wednesday morning). I will be back again to place a prayer in the Wall - for those two days, I simply adsorbed the space and the people - the history and the faithful - the historical journey and today's journey for all (or should I say "the many").

In the picture at the top, notice the gold dome in the upper left-center of the picture. That is the "Dome of the Rock," the third most sacred place for Muslims to visit (after Meca and Medina). How close for me at this moment were the three faiths - my Christian faith, the witness of the Jewish faithful at the Wall, and the image of the Dome of the Rock. Why Lord have you brought me to this place? Who will I be introduced to at Tantur? What other images will stir my emotion? I sat and reflected on my life's journey, when at times I have expeienced fear when in the presence of Jews and Muslims and for no reason. These fears have long passed, but the reminder of that part of my journey leads me to realize that there is still much more work to be completed.

As the four of us headed home Wednesday evening I reflected that there will be 27 people at Tantur during this four week experience. Their journeys - or parts of them - will be unfolded as we taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Peace and blessings to all.

Good morning,

Yesterday Diane and I visited "Yad Vashem," the Israel Holocaust History Museum. We were encouraged to visit this place at the urging of some of the scholars at Tantur as well as Father Kane - a Tantur Scholar. Having spent the previous afternoon in Bethlehem - a controlled Palestinian community - the visit to "Yad Vashem" would prove spiritually and politically challenging. The Holocaust was a tradegy almost beyond description. Yad Vashem has done a remarkable job in re-creating the story.

The museum consists of nine galeries that recount the history starting with Hitler's rise to power and ending with the liberation of Europe in 1945. It was very busy and at the same time very spiritual - often with the calmness of a church service. The videos and pictures at Yad Vashem are very graphic and the stories are told with a great deal of emotion. The story told at the museum is a very detailed story through the eyes of the Jewish survivors. I was particularily caught up in the stories about the refugee camps in Poland- of how the Germans built a wall to "lock in" the Jewish community, of how the community was treated - no privledges (at the outset of Hitler's reign, their voting rights had been removed), of how their homes were taken from them without compensation, and of how their very humanity had been questioned.

History often repeats itself and in this case my reflection was on how similiar the day at Yad Vashem and the afternoon in Bethlehem had been. The Holocaust is a horrible part of the human and history and part of that history is the horrible genocide of the Jews. This makes the story of the Holocaust itself almost uncomparable. The story of the concentration camps in Poland and the plight of the people of Bethlahem offered for me some resonance. My mind and heart found a strange connection between these two wonderful peoples. The Palestinians now find themselves behind a wall; for me a wall of fear because the reason the Israeli Government built the wall was fear - a fear of car bombs, a fear of hostile attacks. The Palestinians have no voting rights in Jerusalem. The Palestinians have had their homes taken without compensation.

Dear Lord, what are the fears in my heart that prevent me from seeing by brothers and sisters in the light of your love? What fears prevent me from living a full life in the understanding of the mission of Jesus? Give me the grace to fight my fears and the courage to join with my brothers and sisters who are oppressed regardless of race, color, creed and national origin.

Peace to all and please continue to pray for Diane and me on this most unique journey.

We arrived safe and not-so-sound at 3:15PM Jerusalem time, which is 8:15AM New York time. After an uneventful 45 minute bus ride, we arrived at Tantur and were welcomed, fed and questioned by many. Where are you from, why are you here, what do you plan on doing, what is your work (Note to Rich and Noel - I told them my job was to mess things up), what do you think about the conflict (they were not referring to an US sporting event), and finally - the question that might need further reflection - when do you leave? We were fortunate to dine with three wonderful Notre Dame students who filled us in on our "Jerusalem Hilton" (Tantur Institute) and how to best navigate this beautiful complex as well as how and where to visit the various sites. The only thing these wonderful young people did not agree on was if Notre Dame's football team would be 10-2 or 8-4. But they did seem to agree that it would probably take 2-3 years before they would be competing for a national championship.

After dinner we relaxed and turned in (fell asleep) at 9PM. Periodically during the night we were awakened by chanting and we were told in the morning that the Muslims were chanting morning prayer which they complete before sunrise. There must not be a set time because it happened at 3:30 and 4:30.

Sunday morning came and if we are to have breakfast, it is up and out by 7:30AM. After breakfast, we walked to the roof, where we could see Jerusalem layed out before us. Diane commented on the wall and how it appears to wrap from the left point on the horizon to the right point. The city is built on a hill and the construction of both the wall and the homes within the wall is primarily stone. It is a desert climate and there is limited vegitation, unless intentional. There are various checkpoints along the wall, where Palestinians must enter and leave after being cleared through the checkpoint.

These checkpoints literally allow men, women and children to either get to work, shop or school or not. They control the very lives of the folks wanting to enter and leave. I briefly wondered how the checkpoint of my heart compared with these checkpoints. Who do I screen out and who do I let in? Perhaps more on that later. After inquiring about Mass in Jerusalem we headed for the bus. We were picked up by a small bus and were given our first experience at the art of driving-honking-turning-stopping and starting. The speed was always the same - foot to the floor, followed by a sudden jarring caused by the brake being applied. As we were cut off at one point and saved by our drive who layed on the horn and who at the following light stopped the bus, put on the emergency brake and got out to have a discussion with the driver of the bus that almost hit us. I do not believe they were discussing where to have lunch. After about five minutes we are off again and arrived at the entrance to the Old City where another exchange takes place. This time between our driver and a man armed with a machine gun. Our driver was yelling at him. I thought to myself - hey, he has the gun!


Finally we arrived at Notre Dame Church - whoops Mass was at 9AM not 10:30AM. Well we will head for the next choice and into the Old City we walked and walked and walked and walked! We walked part of the Via Dolorosa - that is believed to be the path that Jesus took to Calvery. We went into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the place supposed to be the burial grave of Jesus. These sites offer an interesting look into the spirituality of the world. Kneeling, kissing the stones at a particualr site, beating the chest, chanting - all happening by various pilgrims at the same time. I was more caught up in the moms and dads as they came with their children and encouraged them to "do as I do" at the various sites. The words of sacred scriptuire resonated within me as I watched these folks and I wondered - How is it that just a few short miles from here people are killing each other, food is being blocked from starving children, and Muslims and Jews are creating a history of distrust.

As we left this Christian quarter of the Old City, we went into the Muslim quarter and struggled down the narrow streets as the early morning shoppers were out in force. (The other quarters - the Armenian and Jewish quarters will be attempted at a different time.) Shopkeepers were interested in making an early sale and we were interested in understanding this maize of very narrow streets with high stone buildings and a ceiling in most areas. The languages of the world buzzed around us and we were obviously targeted as easy marks! We survived, found a bus and returned for lunch and a gentle afternoon to restore our bodies.

Sunday afternoon we made our first trip through a check point. Tantur is located next to the check point for Bethlehem. We walked to the check point and then entered as if entering Great Meadow Prison. The visitors to Bethlehem pass through this check point and walk between the Jewish community and the Palestinian community of Bethlehem. We entered without incident and later left without incident (although I did set off the alarm a couple of times - much to the annoyance of all). We visited the Church of the Nativity and Shepherd's field and Church of the Mother of God also called the "Milk Grotto" where tradition has said that a drop of Mary's milk fell on this floor (Father Sullivan should love that). These were interesting and very busy with tourists. We left and realized that the significant part of the afternoon was passing through the check point. The realization that many Palestinians pass through this place twice a day - on their way to and from work, caused us to reflect on this aspect of their life. We are told that in the evening if they are late arriving at the gate (after sundown) they can be arrested. Some of the staff at Tantur live in Bethlehem and the rector is very conscious to assure these workers are out timely. As we walked back for our second dinner, we realized that this experience will challenge our thinking as we walk on these holy grounds for Christians, Jews and Muslims and at the same time realize how much we may take freedom for granted.

We arrived back for a wonderful dinner, a walk and then off to rest. The end of our first full day and it was good!

Peace and love to all.

It is Sunday, June 27 - dinner time. We attempted to post our arrival experience and it failed to post. So this is a short test. More information to follow

Diane and I are leaving for Tantur in Israel on June 25, 2010. There will be a daily reflection on our experiences while we journey.