Retreat Time

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will be travelling to Mt Tabor (588m) to the Franciscan Convent over there to begin my week-long retreat. I will start Sunday evening and ending sometime Saturday morning. As a help for my reflections on the Word of God, I will be using the book by the late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, La Trasformazione di Cristo e del Cristiano alla Luce del Tabor. Esercizi Spirituali (Transformation of Christ and of the Christian in the light of the Tabor. Spiritual Exercises). I am sure that the natural environment will be a further help for my reflections. I hope it won’t be too hot! I kindly ask you to accompany me with your prayers that I may be fully open to the work of the Holy Spirit. Many thanks.

Today I went to the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. This wall was a retaining wall supporting the outer portion of the Temple Mount, upon which stood the Second Temple. When the Jews returned, they began praying at this exposed wall; according to rabbinical texts, the Shechina (divine presence) never deserted the wall. It is thus regarded as the most holy of all Jewish sites.

For me it was an amazing experience. I spent about an hour there praying some Psalms and reading some of the prayers the Jews said. I went also into the passage which runs under Wilson’s Arch where there is an available library of prayer books, mostly in Hebrew, but I did find a couple of books which were bilingual. I read a couple of introductions of these books which spoke of prayer. Amazing! I was really delighted to have had this time to pray and reflect with our “elder brothers”, as Blessed John XXIII called the Jews. Their movements, their singing, their wailing really caught my attention and invited me to “lift up my spirit” to the Lord. There was one particular moment where a group of men began chanting a very uplifting tune; and another moment when a man began wailing loud, catching the attention of all around.

Just one note from the introductions that struck my heart and which I never had reflected upon before. In Psalm 109,4 the Psalmist (David) identifies himself to prayer. The Hebrew says: ’ani tefillah: I prayer. There is, as it were, an identification between the one who prays and prayer. Translators struggle to translate this. These are some examples: KJV For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. NAS In return for my love they act as my accusers; But I am in prayer. NIV  In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. NRS In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them. For me it was something like what is said of t Francis and of St Dominic and other saints: they were so much caught in their relationship with the Lord that they became their prayer.

I prayed for peace, for mutual understanding, for tolerance, for communion among peoples. How much we need all this! I remembered Blessed John Paul II, frail as he was, approaching the Wall and placing a prayer card in a crack of the big stones. The same did Pope Benedict XVI when he visited the same place. This is his prayer on May 12, 2009:

God of all the ages,

on my visit to Jerusalem, the “City of Peace”,

spiritual home to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike,

I bring before you the joys, the hopes and the aspirations,

the trials, the suffering and the pain of all your people throughout the world.

God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

hear the cry of the afflicted, the fearful, the bereft;

send your peace upon this Holy Land, upon the Middle East,

upon the entire human family;

stir the hearts of all who call upon your name,

to walk humbly in the path of justice and compassion.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for him,

to the soul that seeks him” (Lam 3:25)!

Respecting the Jewish rules I did not take any pictures of the Western Wall today, which was their Sabbath.

In the evening I attended a beautiful concert held on the Mount of Olives, the Gethsemane. Beautiful on different levels: one I had a most fantastic view of the Old City of Jerusalem, especially at sunset; I discovered that the Franciscans have created a small hermitage site over here, right where Jesus made one of his most intense moments of prayer; and the beautiful music I heard. This concert was called “Eucharistic Symphony”. It was based on Church music coming from twelve Christian denominations present here in Jerusalem. On the basis of these liturgical pieces, Padre Armando Pierucci ofm composed some suggestive music for baritone soloist, mixed choir with four voices, flute and string orchestra. The Duni Orchestra and Choir of the Conservatory of Music of Matera, Italy, sang the polyphonic pieces while the liturgical pieces were sung by priests, lay persons as well as two Archbishops: the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop and Syrian Orthodox Archbishop.

Even during the concert itself we could hear the Muezzin singing at sunset, the bells of the Holy Sepulcher peeling and horns from the main road beneath the Gethsemane Garden honking! It was truly a representation of Jerusalem with a mingling of cultures, mentalities. Unfortunately, this living together is not always easy and it is marred by intolerance, violence, non-respect for the other, war. Coming down through St Stephen’s Gate, or Lion’s Gate, to the Gethsemane, I saw for the first time the shameful wall which has divided permanently (?!) the Israelites from the Palestinians … a new Iron Curtain! What a pitiful view! At the same time, roaming through the narrow (sometimes very narrow) streets of Jerusalem one could see men and women of different beliefs and cultures living side by side. May we recognize in each other God’s own creation!

“Peace be upon Israel” (Ps 128,6).

"Eucharistic Symphony": a Concert at the Gethsemane Garden

The Dome of the Rock at Sunset from the Garden of Gethsemane