Showing posts with label Eastertide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eastertide. Show all posts

Sunday 10 May 2015

Fr. Raymond Sunday 10th, Homily

Reception 3 p.m.
Raymond at crossword



Gospel   John 15:9-17


 

Sun 6 Easter 2015
Fr. Raymond Homily

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you." Then he launches into an all embracing description of love. His description covers not only love as found among men, love as the world knows it, but also that love which is the source and the origin of all love: the love that is the inner life of the blessed Trinity itself; This is as much as to say that "The Love that binds the Blessed Trinity itself together is the blueprint for all created love, whether it is found among men or even among angels. There is no other source or fountain of true love. There is no other way we can genuinely love other than as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.
We are made in God’s image and likeness.

The next point Jesus makes is to say that love and joy go together, where one
is loved and knows oneself to be loved, then although the whole world may collapse around us, we will still be at peace deep within ourselves, because the very groundwork of our existence, the sense of our self worth is assured for us. "My joy will be in you" He says.

But then comes another aspect of the picture of love: Jesus teaches us the essential altruism of love. "A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends" he says. Love gives and doesn't count the cost, and who was to be a greater example of this than himself on Calvary? "And it is you who are my friends" He says. I will not call you servants any more. You are my friends.

Jesus then defines this friendship in terms of the intimate knowledge and sharing that true friends have with each other. And again he compares this knowledge with the mutual knowledge that exists between himself and his heavenly Father. "I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father" he says. The mind boggles and the heart misses a beat at the import of these words: "I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father". They underline and confirm for us those other 'unbelievable' words of St John: "We will be like Him for we shall see Him as he is."

Saturday 9 May 2015

Gospel Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 10, 2015 Fr. Bill Grimm

COMMENT:  

U.K. General Election 7 May 2015
The village of Garvald. East Lothian, had the Polling Station.
The community of Sancta Maria Abbey, all who wished, made their votes. 


Frs. Leonard and Raymond at the exit Polling


Religious orders:
Monks from Sancta Maria Abbey in Nunraw cast their votes at a polling station in Garvald, East Lothian,


while Tyburn nuns vote at St John's Hyde Park,
Central London


The Sisters of Tyburn Convent, London
 The Scottish Mail

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3071533/Now-talking-stops-Britain-goes-polls-unpredictable-election-generation-one-four-don-t-know-vote-for.html#ixzz3ZeYYyEi5 

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Sunday Gospel Reflection With Fr. Bill Grimm
International
May 08, 2015
Today's continuation of our Easter celebration is a joyous proclamation of the great love God shows in calling us to be united with Christ. It is a day to look at our faults and failings and put them in perspective.
 



DGO Gospel:
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John15:9-17.

Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love.  ..... Commentary of the day : 

Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church 
Sermons on St. John, no. 65 


“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Live on in my love.”

The Lord Jesus affirms that he is giving his disciples a new commandment: that of mutual love… Did this commandment not already exist in the Old Law, since it is written: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18)? So why does the Lord call "new" a commandment that was so obviously old? Is it a new commandment because, in stripping us of the old man, he clothes us with the new one (Eph 4:24)? Certainly, the person who listens to this commandment, or rather, who obeys it, is not renewed by just any love but by the love that the Lord carefully distinguishes from purely natural love, when he says, “as I have loved you.” … Christ gave us the new commandment to love one another as he has loved us. This is the love that renews us, that makes us into new persons, heirs to the new covenant, singers of the “new song” (Ps 96:1).

Dearly beloved, this love renewed even the righteous ones of past times, the patriarchs and the prophets, just as it later renewed the holy apostles. It is the love that now renews the pagan nations. This love raises up and gathers together a new people from the entire human race scattered over the whole earth, the body of the new Spouse of the Son of God.

Saturday 2 May 2015

May of Mary. Gospel Fifth Sunday of the Easter B - May 3, 2015

Our Lady of Month of May; Remember,
China,  "Our Lady of Sheshan".

Sunday Gospel Reflection With Fr. Bill Grimm 2015.05.03   


Published on 27 Apr 2015
In the Acts of the Apostles, Saul shows what love calls for. He continues to proclaim the fact that he has met the Lord though no one trusts him and some even want to kill him. That is the basic vocation to which all followers of Jesus are called.
_________________________________________
OUR LADY OF SHESHAN PRAYER
FOR THE CHURCH IN CHINA –
Shanghai Basilica of Mary
 Our Lady of Sheshan  

campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/.../China-OL-SheShan.htmlCached
... Our Lady of Sheshan  was
proclaimed the patron ... The Image of Our Lady of She
... to bring our testimony of love in connection with this chosen
corner ...

The Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan

Location:
   
Shanghai_-_Basilique_de_She_Shan_Our Lady of Sheshan   


 Sheshan Basilica of Mary, Help of
Christians is located on the peak of Sheshan in Songjiang district in
Shanghai. It is One of the most prominent pilgrimage shrines in China, it is
well-known both far and wide in China and overseas.
History
The
Catholic faith was introduced in the Songjiang district for a long time. For
more than one-hundred years, when the Catholic religion was banned, Catholics
had been practicing their faith underground. In 1844, a Jesuit priest Fr.
Claude Gotteland, SJ, came to Sheshan and was very much impressed by the
serenity and beauty of the area. He decided to build a house of prayer for
the retired priests. However, he died in 1856 before his dream was realized.
In 1863, his successor, Fr. Joseph Gonnet, SJ came to Sheshan. He purchased
the whole hill top as well as the southern slope and began to build religious
houses with a chapel half way on the slope for convalescence of missionaries.
The following year, Fr. Desjacques Marin built a hexagonal pavilion for the
statue of our Lady. On Mar 1 1868, Bishop Msgr. Adrien Languillat, SJ
consecrated the chapel and blessed the portrait of Our Lady, Help of
Christians, which was copied from Our Lady of Victory, in Paris On the feast
day of Our Lady, Help of Christians, hundreds of pilgrims came and
participated outside the chapel where Mass was held in a tent. During the
Taiping Uprising, the Catholic Church was being attacked. In Shanghai, there
were many incidents of prejudice and unrest. The Jesuit Superior Fr. A. Della
Corte, SJ climbed up the mountain of Sheshan. He went in front of the statue
of Our Lady and made a vow that if the area was spared in this turmoil and
danger, he would build a church on the location. The prayer was heard and the
diocese stood unharmed. In September 1870, he appealed to the generous
Catholics to fulfill his vow and to thank our Lady for her protection.

Easter Daffodils, Nunraw
PRAYER OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

TO OUR LADY OF SHESHAN

ON THE OCCASION OF THE WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

FOR THE CHURCH IN CHINA (24 MAY 2008)


Virgin Most Holy, Mother of the
Incarnate Word and our Mother,

venerated in the Shrine of Sheshan under the title "Help of
Christians",

the entire Church in China looks to you with devout affection.

We come before you today to implore your protection.

Look upon the People of God and, with a mother’s care, guide them

along the paths of truth and love, so that they may always be

a leaven of harmonious coexistence among all citizens.
When
you obediently said "yes" in the house of Nazareth,

you allowed God’s eternal Son to take flesh in your virginal womb

and thus to begin in history the work of our redemption.

You willingly and generously cooperated in that work,

allowing the sword of pain to pierce your soul,

until the supreme hour of the Cross, when you kept watch on Calvary,

standing beside your Son, who died that we might live.
From
that moment, you became, in a new way,

the Mother of all those who receive your Son Jesus in faith

and choose to follow in his footsteps by taking up his Cross.

Mother of hope, in the darkness of Holy Saturday you journeyed

with unfailing trust towards the dawn of Easter.

Grant that your children may discern at all times,

even those that are darkest, the signs of God’s loving presence.
Our
Lady of Sheshan, sustain all those in China,

who, amid their daily trials, continue to believe, to hope, to love.

May they never be afraid to speak of Jesus to the world,

and of the world to Jesus.

In the statue overlooking the Shrine you lift your Son on high,

offering him to the world with open arms in a gesture of love.

Help Catholics always to be credible witnesses to this love,

ever clinging to the rock of Peter on which the Church is built.

Mother of China and all Asia, pray for us, now and for ever. Amen!


Jiangsu Province, the Shrine of Our
Lady of.























      

Friday 24 April 2015

Eastertide; " ... to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son!". Mysteries; Resurrection and Mass (Redemption)

Sent: Friday, 24 April 2015, 13:09
Subject: act Resurrection as all Eastertide

Mystic prayer "act Resurrection".
Queen of Heaven lessons on, first Resurrection,  second the Mass, below....
Not with picture missing.

Sent from my iPad.   
   Piggy Back

COMMENT:
the highest and most sublime mysteries of our holy religion are:  Jesus in the Sacrament and the resurrection of our bodies to glory.  These are profound mysteries, which we will comprehend only beyond the stars; but Jesus in the Sacrament makes us almost touch them with our own hands, in different ways.  First, His Resurrection; second, His state of annihilation under those species, though it is certain that Jesus is there present, alive and real.  (Quote from Book of Heaven - Volume 1).




Feast of Easter               (act Resurrection)

Feast of Easter


From the Writings of
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will
     http://luisapiccarreta.me/feasts/feast-of-easter    

 The Resurrection is the Confirmation of the Fiat Voluntas Tua on earth as It is in Heaven.


The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will. Limbo.

Day 28 – The Expectation.
Victory over Death: the Resurrection.

The soul to her Queen Mother:
My pierced Mama, your little child, knowing that You are alone, without your beloved Good, Jesus, wants to cling to You to keep You company in your most bitter desolation. Without Jesus, all things change into sorrow for You. The memory of His harrowing pains, the sweet sound of His voice which still resounds in your ear, the charming gaze of dear Jesus, now sweet, now sad, now swollen with tears, but which always enraptured your maternal Heart – as You don’t have them with You any more, they are like sharp swords which pierce your maternal Heart through.
Desolate Mama, your dear child wants to give You relief and compassion for each pain. Even more, I would like to be Jesus, to be able to give You all the love, the comforts, the reliefs and the compassion which Jesus Himself would have given You in your state of bitter desolation. Sweet Jesus gave me to You as your child; therefore, put me in His place in your maternal Heart, and I will be all for my Mama; I will dry your tears, and I will always keep You company.
Lesson of the Desolate Queen and Mother:
Dearest child, thank you for your company; but if you want your company to be sweet and dear to Me, and bearer of relief to my pierced Heart, I want to find in you the Divine Will operating and dominating, and that you do not surrender even one breath of life to your will. Then will I exchange you with my Son Jesus, because, His Will being in you, in It I will feel Jesus in your heart. Oh, how happy I will be to find in you the first fruit of His pains and of His death! In finding my beloved Jesus in my child, my pains will change into joys, and my sorrows into conquests.
Now, listen to Me, child of my sorrows. As my dear Son breathed His last, He descended into Limbo, triumpher and bearer of glory and happiness to that prison in which were all the Patriarchs and the Prophets, the first father Adam, dear Saint Joseph, my holy parents, and all those who had been saved by virtue of the foreseen merits of the future Redeemer. I was inseparable from my Son, and not even death could take Him away from Me. So, in the ardor of my sorrows I followed Him into Limbo, and was spectator of the feast and of the thanksgivings which that whole great crowd of people gave to my Son, who had suffered so much, and whose first step had been toward them, to beatify them and to bring them with Himself into celestial glory. So, as He died, conquests and glory began for Jesus and for all those who loved Him. This, dear child, is symbol of how, as the creature makes her will die through union with the Divine Will, conquests of divine order, glory and joy begin – even in the midst of the greatest sorrows.
Even though the eyes of my soul followed my Son and I never lost sight of Him, at the same time, during those three days in which He was buried, I felt such yearning to see Him risen, that in the ardor of my love I kept repeating: “Rise, my Glory! Rise, my Life!” My desires were ardent, my sighs, of fire – to the point of feeling consumed.
Now, in these yearnings, I saw my dear Son, accompanied by that great crowd of people, leaving Limbo and going back to the sepulcher. It was the dawn of the third day, and just as all nature had cried over Him, now it rejoiced; so much so, that the sun anticipated its course to be present at the act in which my Son was rising. But – oh marvel! – before rising again, He showed that crowd of people His Most Holy Humanity – bleeding, wounded, disfigured; the way it had been reduced for love of them and for all. All were moved, and admired the excesses of love and the great portent of Redemption.
Now, my child, oh, how I wish you to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son! He was all Majesty; from His Divinity, united to His soul, He unleashed enchanting seas of light and beauty, such as to fill Heaven and earth. Then, triumphantly, making use of His power, He commanded His dead Humanity to receive His soul again, and to rise, triumphantly and gloriously, to immortal life. What a solemn act! My dear Jesus triumphed over death, saying: “Death, you will be death no longer – but life!”
With this act of triumph, He placed the seal on the fact that He was Man and God; and with His Resurrection, He confirmed the Gospel, His miracles, the life of the Sacraments, and the whole life of the Church. And not only this, but He obtained triumph over the human wills, weakened and almost extinguished to true good, to let triumph over them the life of that Divine Will which was to bring the fullness of Sanctity and of all goods to creatures. And at the same time, by virtue of His Resurrection, He sowed into the bodies the seed of resurrection to everlasting glory. My child, the Resurrection of my Son encloses everything, says everything, confirms everything, and is the most solemn act that He did for love of creatures.
Now, listen to Me, my child; I want to speak to you as a Mother who loves her child very much. I want to tell you what it means to do the Divine Will and to live of It; and the example is given to you by my Son and by Me. Our life was strewn with pains, with poverty, with humiliations, to the point of seeing my beloved Son die of pains; but in all this ran the Divine Will. It was the life of our pains, and We felt triumphant and conquerors, to the extent of changing even death into life; so much so, that in seeing Its great good, We voluntarily exposed ourselves to sufferings because, since the Divine Will was in Us, no one could impose himself on It, or on Us. Suffering was in our power, and We called upon it as nourishment and triumph of the Redemption, so as to be able to bring good to the entire world.
Now, dear child, if your life and your pains have the Divine Will as their center of life, be certain that sweet Jesus will use you and your pains to give help, light and grace to the whole universe. Therefore, pluck up courage; the Divine Will can do great things where It reigns. In all circumstances, reflect yourself in Me and in your sweet Jesus, and move forward.
The soul:
Holy Mama, if You help me and keep me sheltered under your mantle, acting as my celestial sentry, I am certain that I will convert all my pains into Will of God; and I will follow You, step by step, along the unending ways of the Supreme Fiat, because I know that your charming love of Mother and your power will win over my will, and You will keep it in your power and exchange it with the Divine Will. Therefore, my Mama, I entrust myself to You, and I abandon myself into your arms.
Little Sacrifice:
Today, to honor Me, your will say seven times: “Not my will, but Yours be done”, offering Me my sorrows to ask Me for the grace always to do the Divine Will.    

      
Ejaculatory Prayer:
My Mama, for the sake of the Resurrection of your Son, make me rise again in the Will of God   

http://luisapiccarreta.me/
on the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta on the occasion of the ... Towards evening of February 11, I heard these words addressed to me by Our Lady: “I am the ...     

Book of Heaven – Volume 1
…Now, while seeing Jesus or the priest celebrating the Divine Sacrifice, Jesus would make me understand that in the Mass there is all the depth of our sacrosanct religion.  Ah! yes, the Mass tells us everything and speaks to us about everything.  The Mass reminds us of our redemption; It speaks to us, step by step, about the pains that Jesus suffered for us; It also manifests to us His immense love, for He was not content with dying on the Cross, but He wanted to continue His state of victim in the Most Holy Eucharist.  The to be present in the act of the Resurrection of my Son!also tells us that our bodies, decayed, reduced to ashes by death, will rise again on the day of the judgment, together with Christ, to immortal and glorious life.  Jesus made me comprehend that the most consoling thing for a Christian, and the highest and most sublime mysteries of our holy religion are:  Jesus in the Sacrament and the resurrection of our bodies to glory.  These are profound mysteries, which we will comprehend only beyond the stars; but Jesus in the Sacrament makes us almost touch them with our own hands, in different ways.  First, His Resurrection; second, His state of annihilation under those species, though it is certain that Jesus is there present, alive and real.  Then, once those species are consumed, His real presence no longer exists.  And as the species are consecrated again, He comes again to assume His sacramental state.  So, Jesus in the Sacrament reminds us of the resurrection of our bodies to glory:  just as Jesus, when His sacramental state ceases resides in the womb of God, His Father, the same for us – when our lives cease, our souls go and make their dwelling in Heaven, in the womb of God, while are bodies are consumed.  So, one can say that they will no longer exist; but then, with a prodigy of the omnipotence of God, our bodies will acquire new life, and uniting with the soul, will go together to enjoy the eternal beatitude.  Can there be anything more consoling for a human heart than the fact that not only the soul, but also the body will be beatified in the eternal contentments?  It seems to me that on that day it will happen as when the sky is starry and the sun comes out.  What happens?  With its immense light, the sun absorbs the stars and makes them disappear; yet the stars exist.  The sun is God, and all of the blessed souls are the stars; with His immense light, God will absorb us all within Himself, in such a way that we will exist in God and will swim in the immense sea of God.  Oh! how many things Jesus in the Sacrament tells us; but who can tell them all?  I would really be too long.  If the Lord allows it, I will reserve saying something else on other occasion.    
    

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)     

        
   

Saturday 18 April 2015

Third Sunday of Easter (B) - April 19, 2015

Shelter Belt - spring lambing    
Asia News in Audio Today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 6:16-21.
When it was evening, the disciples of Jesus went down to the sea,
embarked in a boat, and went across the sea to Capernaum. It had already grown dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
The sea was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.
When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they began to be afraid.
But he said to them, "It is I. Do not be afraid."
They wanted to take him into the boat, but the boat immediately arrived at the shore to which they were heading. 



Let's face it — the Resurrection is unbelievable. Even seeing the risen Lord is not going to convince us otherwise. It's easier to believe in ghosts or to doubt one's own sanity.  
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Wednesday 15 April 2015

Christ lives in his Church - sermon by Saint Leo the Great

15/04/2015 
Patristic Lectionary, Eastertide Night OPffice,
COMMENT: I would like to hear other interesting words of  "Christ lives in his Church - sermon by Saint Leo the Great".........

iBreviary

Office of Readings

From the Book of Revelation
2:12-29

To the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira


I, John, heard the Lord saying to me: “To the presiding spirit of the church in Pergamum, write this:

“‘The One with the sharp, two-edged sword has this to say: I know you live in the very place where Satan’s throne is erected; ....

RESPONSORY
Revelation 2:18, 23; 22:12


These are the words of the Son of God
whose eyes are like flames of fire:
I search the mind and the heart,
 and I will repay each one as his deeds deserve, alleluia.

Behold I am coming soon
and I bring my reward with me.
 And I will repay each one as his deeds deserve, alleluia.
SECOND READING

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope
(Sermo 12 de Passione, 3, 6-7: PL 54, 355-357)

Christ lives in his Church


My dear brethren, there is no doubt that the Son of God took our human nature into so close a union with himself that one and the same Christ is present, not only in the firstborn of all creation, but in all his saints as well. The head cannot be separated from the members, nor the members from the head. Not in this life, it is true, but only in eternity will God be all in all, yet even now he dwells, whole and undivided, in his temple the Church. Such was his promise to us when he said: See, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

And so all that the Son of God did and taught for the world’s reconciliation is not for us simply a matter of past history. Here and now we experience his power at work among us. Born of a virgin mother by the action of the Holy Spirit, Christ keeps his Church spotless and makes her fruitful by the inspiration of the same Spirit. In baptismal regeneration she brings forth children for God beyond all numbering. These are the sons of whom it is written: They are born not of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

In Christ Abraham’s posterity is blessed, because in him the whole world receives the adoption of sons, and in him the patriarch becomes the father of all nations through the birth, not from human stock but by faith, of the descendants that were promised to him. From every nation on earth, without exception, Christ forms a single flock of those he has sanctified, daily fulfilling the promise he once made: I have other sheep, not of this fold, whom it is also ordained that I shall lead; and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

Although it was primarily to Peter that he said: Feed my sheep, yet the one Lord guides all the pastors in the discharge of their office and leads to rich and fertile pastures all those who come to the rock. There is no counting the sheep who are nourished with his abundant love, and who are prepared to lay down their lives for the sake of the good shepherd who died for them.

But it is not only the martyrs who share in his passion by their glorious courage; the same is true, by faith, of all who are reborn through baptism. That is why we are to celebrate the Lord’s paschal sacrifice with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The leaven of our former malice is thrown out, and a new creature is filled and inebriated with the Lord himself. For the effect of our sharing in the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive. As we have died with him, and have been buried and raised to life with him, so we bear him within us, both in body and in spirit, in everything we do.

RESPONSORY
John 10:14; Ezekiel 34:11, 13


I am the good shepherd;
 I know my sheep and my sheep know me, alleluia.

I shall look after my sheep
and seek them out.
I shall bring them out from among the peoples
and lead them to pasture.
 I know my sheep and my sheep know me, alleluia.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Let us pray.

God of mercy,
you have filled us with the hope of resurrection
by restoring man to his original dignity.
May we who relive this mystery each year
come to share it in perpetual love.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
 Amen.

Paschal Message of Three Syrian Patriarchs

Paschal Message of Three Syrian Patriarchs
In a powerful Easter Message from Damascus, the three Syrian Patriarchs: Patriarch Gregorios III, Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II and Patriarch John X rejoice in the Good News of the Resurrection and then call for an end to the violence in the Middle East, especially Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Palestine. They appeal for greater support for Christians struggling to survive in the birthplace of Christianity and urge world governments and international organisations to assist in the search for kidnapped church leaders...

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Dom Donald's Blog: Emmaus Easter Week

 
Patriarch_Fouad_Twal_Latin_Patriarch_of_Jerusalem_Credit_Latin_Patriarchate_of_J
   This morning, Easter Wednesday 2015, the very name of Cleopas  reminded me of Sabbatical at Latroun Abbey, Emmaus, and reinforced by the time hour by Luke, "It is early evening," they said, "and the day is almost over".


As on the occasion in 2004, and traditionally the Patriarch from Jerusalem celebrates the Mass......

      

Dom Donald's Blog: Emmaus Easter Monday:       Website: Latroun perso.wanadoo.fr/augustin.tavardon/ + + + Emmaus (Nikopolis)  http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/emmaus.htm ...     

     



Wednesday, 11 April 2012


Emmaus Easter Monday

 

+ + +

Emmaus (Nikopolis)

 http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/emmaus.htm                 

Supper at Emmaus (Bassono J.)

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Wednesday in the Octave of  Easter



Wednesday in the Octave of Easter
  
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24:13-35.

Dear William,
Thank for the greeting from your Paschal Tide break in Parma, at the Cistercian Abbey (under1560) at FONTEVIVO.
This morning, in the Intersessions we prayed for:
"The Monks of Latroun Abbey, Israel, remembering Cleopas and his companion meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus, and Latronus, the Good Thief."
And at the Gospel today, I am awakened all the experiences of the Holy Land Sabbatical which surges to the surface.
Below, the account of Emmaus from the Chronicle.

Yours ...
Donald



 (Email of May 2004)
Latroon Abbey

DEAR LIAM,
- - -
Of interest is the collection of pictures which seems to use help memory.

I hope you are all enjoying Venice.
Best Paschal Tide wishes.
 ...
My time is getting short in the Holy Land  - deadline 29th May.
I should be winding down but the opposite is more the case
I could use all my days here with so much interest, and making up for 33 missed years of Biblical study.
   
News from an Email correspondent tells me that six priests in Scotland have had threats on their lives.
IT IS MUCH SAFER TO LIVE IN ISRAEL!

God Bless.


Emmaus Easter Monday 2004
On the strength of the Night Office Reading on Easter Monday, I thought this must be the special day of Latroun, the day of Latronus, the Good Thief. (“The Cross opens to us today the locked paradise. For today God introduces there, the thief. So that He achieves two great wonders; He opens paradise and he brings in the robber. He gives to him His own heritage, He leads him in to the city of his Father. “Today, he says, you will be with me in paradise” John Chrysostom).
Br. Benoit had fuller information on the situation for me. This is also Emmaus Day, recalling the Resurrection meeting of the two disciples with Jesus. What is in a name? Historically there is a whole string of ancient interpretations of the name ending with the decision of a British Cartographer fixing on Latroun. Br. Benoit looks back further than even his 86 years. In the Hebrew the ancient name signified a ‘look out’, a spot from which one could keep guard over a wide vista. The Romans had a fortress here-abouts long before the Crusaders’ Templar Toron (Tower). And before the Jordanians and Israelis were locked together in disputing the same location, evidently, the British made their mark. Maybe that Cartographer who specified Latroun on his Map was a Welsh Methodist from the Rhonda Valley. It is said that, “Lloyd-George’s political advisers were unable to train his mind on the map of Palestine during negotiations prior to the Treaty of Versailles, due to his training by fundamentalist Christian parents and churches on the geography of ancient Israel. Lloyd-George admitted that he was far more familiar with the cities and regions of Biblical Israel than with the geography of his native Wales, or of England itself” (from an essay on the British and Christian Zionism).
Emmaus
      
So bridging the gap between the Biblical origins and modern history is the Christian tradition in which Latroun is well established. Br. Benoit went on to explain that the Good Thief was named Dismas and lived nearby. His wife was Egyptian and she and the family received the faith as a result of the death of Dismas beside Jesus on the Cross. And complete this setting of the scene, the Church of Latroun is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, the transept on one side is dedicated to St. Dismas, the Good Thief, and the other transept is dedicated toSt. Cleophas and his friend, the disciples who joined Jesus at Emmaus, (Lk. 24:18, Jn. 19:25). Since the altars are stripped in good post Vatican II style, it would be nice to replace them with a good icon designed for each transept. The subjects would be very relevant even if the geography and other details may not be all that Canonical. Who is going to quibble about such problems? Certainly not His Beatitude Michel, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. He is coming the this afternoon on his Easter Monday round of the three places commemorating Emmaus, i.e. Emmaus (Latroun), Emmaus Qubeibah (OFM), and Emmaus Abu Gosh (OSB). Cleophas, according to tradition, was martyred for his faith and is also buried here. So I am quite happy with Emmaus-Nikopolus (Latroun), knowing full well that the other locations were only heard of at the time when the Crusaders first brought their own latest Exegetes from Europe.
I heard the French Gospel this morning and it mentioned a 2 hour walk from Jerusalem and that would fit perfectly - not that I intend to test it by walking. (TOB, Ecumenical Bible used in Liturgy  “Ephata – Missal of the Christian Life”, “towards a village called Emmaus, a two hour walk from Jerusalem. Lk. 24:13”. Sadly this favoured version cannot be accepted by the textual critics. )

 Community of the Beatitudes at Emmaus
In the evening of Easter Monday any of the community at Latroun who wished could go along the road to the site of the ancient Byzantine Basilica, to join the Community of the Beatitudes and the Pilgrims for this Easter Evening Mass.
While we waited for transport, Alex and I looked for a CAROB tree I was curious to identify. Sure enough there was one right there and plenty of these evergreen trees here and at Emmaus. And the HUSKS of last year were still to be seen to satisfy my curiosity about Luke  15:16, (And he would willingly have filled himself with the husks the pigs were eating but no one would let him have them), to complete a detail of the “Prodigal Son”.It is also recounted of Saint Sabas, when he first came here, to Nikopolus c. 500, that he lived off the husks and leaves of the carob tree.
Baptismal fondations of the Emmaus Basilica
Titular Bishop of Emmaus. For the Mass, there was plenty of space in the ancient nave but one could only call the congregation a “little flock”. One of the two assistant Bishops, Mgr. Marcuzzo, is based in Nazareth but he is the Titular Bishop of Emmaus. His Homily was beautifully appropriate to the place and to the occasion. He looked out on the plain of Ayalon all around us and recalled the Biblical instance here in which Joshua delayed the sun in order to attain the rout of his enemies, (Jg. 1:35, Jos. 10:12). Bishop Marcuzzo had a lovely thought on,  “Rest here a while with us”, see Lk. 24:29, drawing the parallel of the “SUN” waiting until the Israelites reached their aim, and the “SON” of God in the soul warming account of the encounter with the disciples.

Tiles preserved in the Basilica
 Incidentally, St. Cleophas’s companion is not left anonymous in the Liturgy of the Holy Land, - The name of St. Simeon appears on the stage at this point in the prayers. When it is said to be apocryphal I begin to see that the word is not entirely negative. Taken in the technical sense of an Apocryphal source it can be understood among other respected traditions.   
The evening sun, 5.00 p.m., was so hot that there was a shift of seats to allow the Bishops and Concelebrants to use the shade of the ruins. I watched the Paschal Candle, in the full blaze of sun, gradually bend over in the heat and I felt urged to move it. Eventually it wilted, and fell over - at the point where it was ‘well caught, Sir’ in one hand by one of the Brothers, who had the very ornate Patriarch’s Crosier in his other hand. - This sleepy observer picks up the most peculiar things, - and forgets the impressive things like the music.
Latroon View the Crusader Fort
The Community of the Beatitudes gave us great singing. The first two Readings were in Arabic, the Gospel in French. At the conclusion all were invited to the Museum for a ‘party’ i.e., refreshments. The mini-bus brought us and the borrowed vestments and altar fittings back home to Latroun, just as the abbey Vespers ended.



Old Crusade Fort above the Abbey