Easter Greetings - An Unnamed Disciple

May Resurrection joy be yours this Easter, fr. Donald

Supper at Emmaus

Caravaggio painted this second version of the Supper at Emmaus in 1606. It is more modest than his most famous painting of 1601.

By comparison, the gestures of figures are far more restrained, making presence more important than performance. This difference possibly reflects the circumstances of Caravaggio's life at that point, recognising the ongoing evolution of his art. In the intervening five years he had come to recognise the value of understatement.

The narrative is well known:

The two men at the sides of the table suddenly realize that the man they have spent most of the afternoon with is their deceased master. One of them raises his hands, the other clutches the table. The innkeeper and his wife remain calm, as they do not know what is happening.

   And it occurred that as He reclined at table with them, He took [a loaf of] bread and praised [God] and gave thanks and asked a blessing, and then broke it and was giving it to them when their eyes were [instantly] opened and they [clearly] recognized Him, and He vanished (departed invisibly). Luke 24:30. (1 Corinthians10:16)

 Easter Greetings

The cup of blessing [of wine at the Lord’s Supper] upon which we ask [God’s] blessing, does it not mean [that in drinking it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the blood of Christ (the Messiah)? The bread which we break, does it not mean [that in eating it] we participate in and share a fellowship (a communion) in the body of Christ?        [Amplified Bible translations]

An Unnamed Disciple

           

After the days of the Passion of Our Lord, we have need to leave the turmoil in Jerusalem and take to the road to Emmaus, to become one with the two disciples, in order to reflect upon ‘the things that have occurred there in these days’1. On our journey we will meet the Risen Christ in a deeply personal way, for only He can guide us in our understanding of the meaning of His Passion and reveal Himself to us. At the inn of Emmaus, the stranger is revealed and recognized to be the Risen Lord as He breaks bread before Cleopas and his companion, an unnamed disciple.

Luke 24:15 And while they were conversing and discussing together, Jesus Himself caught up with them and was already accompanying them [AMP translation]

I love to remain hidden upon the hillside remembering that night

Watching silently as You made Your Way through the olive groves,

Sensing the foreboding of the disciples from whom You had withdrawn,

Their hearts sharing Your Mother’s fears as to where all this was leading

As the shadows lengthened and the darkness of that night descended

They lay exhausted, their sacred source of energy deserting them,

Unable to comprehend Your ‘baptism’2 of which You had forewarned,

Attending only to the whispering trees that told of all that was to befall

I witnessed Your final hours as the sword pierced through the soul of Mary3

The portents and earthquake telling of the death of her beloved son and Lord

The livid force of evil exacting its final cruel vengeance upon You,

Stunning me with terror as I turned unseen and fled along the open road…

Along the way I was startled by a stranger who brought my Lord to life for me

Discovering the meaning in the Scriptures of the suffering of the Messiah,

Revealing Yourself in a moment of recognition as You broke the bread

Manifesting Your Eucharist presence to one who remains an unnamed disciple

1 Lk 24:18        2 Lk 12:50          3 Lk 2:35

Luke 24:30 And it occurred that as He reclined at table with them, He took a loaf of bread and praised God and gave thanks and asked a blessing, and then broke it and was giving it to them when their eyes were instantly opened and they clearly recognized Him...[AMP]

2 Cor 4:6b…  the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God as it is manifest

                 in the Person and is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ the Messiah [AMP]

Key words:        of the Messiah: Your Way, withdrawn, ‘baptism’, revealing, manifesting

            of Mary: Mother’s fears, pierced through, death of her beloved son and Lord

            of the Disciples: foreboding, exhausted, …deserting, unable to comprehend

of the events: all this (preceding), all that (following)

            of the one unnamed: remain hidden, witnessed, unse

William - POEM, ‘my jotting’

Holy Week 2014 Horarium

Timetable for Holy Thursday - Easter Sunday

Holy Thursday              5.00pm     Mass of the Lord's Supper
                  (No Vespers)
7.30          Compline

Good Friday                (Day of fast and abstinence)
            3.00pm      Liturgy
            (Holy Communion may be received
            only during today's liturgy)
           
            7.30 Compline

Holy Saturday             (No morning Mass)
            5 .30pm     Vespers
            (6.00pm     Church closes)
            (l0.30pm Church reopens)

            11.00pm    Easter Vigil
            (This Mass fulfils the Sunday Obligation)

Easter Sunday
                10.00am    Community Mass
                6.00pm      Vespers

Necrology Dom Aengus Dunphy, Father Stephen Peate

Bethlehem

Sunday, 09 February 2014 09:33

February 8, 2014: Dom Aengus Dunphy was born in 1921 in Co,. Laois (Ireland). He entered Mount Melleray in 1943, made his solemn profession in 1948 and was ordained that same year. He was abbot of O.L of Bethlehem 1958-1977. From 1979-1991 he was chaplain in O L of Praise, Butende. Dom Aengus was 92 years old. He had been in monastic vows for 67 years and a priest for 64.

RI News Letter 

         Aengus' Spade

I found the spade dug deep,

Where he had left it months ago,

Beside the ice hill.

Waiting, rusting, thinking

He won't be back.

Will another foot press my lug

Deep, into new ground:

Sow other possibilities;

Or must I stand and pray,

A silhouetted memorial;

To sweat spilled, sincerity sown

To harvest love

In Portglenone.

  

Dom Aengus up until he was into his eighties liked nothing better than breaking up a plot of rough ground with only a spade .The more briars the better. The last plot he dug up was beside the Ice Hill. That was where he left his spade, never to return to it.

Br Columba, Portglenone •••

Caldey

Saturday, 05 April 2014

  

April 4, 2014: Father Stephen Peate was born in 1924 in Brownhill-Leeds (Great Britain). He entered Caldey in 1948, made his solemn profession in 1955 and was ordained a priest in 1956. Father was 89 years old, had been in monastic vows for 62 years and 58 years a priest when the Lord called him.

Father Stephen (Geoffrey Xavier Peate)

17 November 1924 – 4 April2014

 Obituary

CALDEY WAS AT A LOW EBB when Geoffrey Peate, a young Yorkshire man, joined the community in 1948. It had only nine members. Since the foundation from Scourmont in 1929, only one British recruit had persevered, the legendary Br Thomas Moore.

A convert to the faith, the future Father Stephen served in the Air Force and was confirmed in Calcutta. When he entered Caldey on 4 October 1948, it took months for his Confirmation certificate to arrive ... Father Stephen made his junior profession on 17 June 1951, his Solemn Profession on 11 June 1955, and was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John Edward Petit of Menevia on 23 March 1956. From 1956 to 1958 Father Stephen studied theology at the Gregorian University in Rome.

When Br Thomas Moore died unexpectedly in 1966, Father Stephen was left as Procurator for the next 32 years ... He was now at the heart of the island's economic life, with the continu­ing prosperity of the perfume business and the expansion of the tourist industry. When Dom lames Wicksteed resigned his abba­cy in 1980, Fr Robert O'Brien was appointed Superior, who, after he was elected Abbot four years later, appointed Father Step hen as Prior in 1984. He remained in this post for almost 15 years. These are the facts, easily written down in a few lines. But to describe the man, the monk and the person of Father Stephen is something that requires so much more.

He himself was a man of a very few words, although, during the last days of his life he felt more free to express his thoughts and feelings verbally.

There is a line in the Book of the Psalms (his prayer book!) that may sum up the essence of Father Stephen's life, and the way he tended to think about life in all its ambiguities. It is the line where the Psalm speaks about God - 'He who sits in the heav­ens, He laughs' (Psalm 2:4). For Father Stephen, in the real life, and the essence of the real life is necessarily connected with the Kingdom of heaven, there has to be laughter!

No doubt, this conviction must have had its origins in the fact that his early life was exposed to violence and danger during his service in the Air Force in World War 11. Experience taught him and many of his contemporaries that life itself was not a joke, and that life could never be treated as something cheap and disposable. With these deeply ingrained impressions Father Stephen began his search for the meaning of life, and in this search he never wavered. He searched indefatigably for truth in God without ever letting go of the search for meaning in his human interactions. He was an avid reader of the classics, and kept reading the works of e.G. Jung on psychology, with the earnest desire to arrive at a deeper self-knowledge and a pro­found understanding of others ... Father Stephen was always prepared to listen with sympathy, and allowed others to speak until he felt the time was ready to react as he believed God would react ... he laughed, and we laughed with him, always reminding us not to take ourselves too seriously.

His last moments were spent in the company of his brothers whom he loved, and in the company of his favourite composer Joseph Haydn, whose string quartets he knew inside out ...

Rest in peace, Father Stephen - brother, mentor, and friend ­your time for genuine laughter has come ... and a good game of cricket!

Fr Daniel Caldey

With thanks from

PALM SUNDAY JERUSALEM 2014 at the Church of Holy Sepucher

Palm Sunday at the Church of Holy Sepulcher - Jerusalem | Demotix.

www.demotix.com800 × 533Search by image

Armenian priests hold palms after the celebrations and mass of the holy Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

http://en.lpj.org/2012/04/02/blessing-of-palms-at-holy-sepulcher/ 

JERUSALEM – The March 31 Vespers and Sunday, April 1 marked the beginning of Holy Week with Palm Sunday. His Beatitude the Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal blessed Palm and olive branches and trees at the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday morning. He presided then the Mass of the Passion. For all, it’s time to enter together in the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Photo report. 

 https://picasaweb.google.com/medialpj/20120401RameauxSaintSepulcre?fgl=true&pli=1&fgl=true#slideshow/5726357195639515986

Palm Sunday Holy Sepulcher Jerusalem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wAksgP-XsI

Palm Sunday 2 2014 Jerusalem

 nawal sophia·11 videos
2

Before Palm Sunday. The Gospel of John says Jesus went to Taybeh — then called Ephraim — after he raised Lazarus to life and the Jewish authorities planned to put Jesus to death.

Mosaic of the choir of the Latin Church,
 Jesus and his disciples are welcomed
to the inhabitants of Taybey-Ephraim

Memories come back from visiting to the Charles de Faucauld Centre.  (Holy Land Chronicle) 

(http://www.taybeh.info/en/latin.php

John 11:54 Therefore Jesus no longer moved ... - Bible Hub

biblehub.com/john/11-54.htm‎

public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. ... Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to ... Instead, he went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the ... near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 

54Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the country near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

Priest’s retreat is remembered

Another celebrated visitor to Taybeh was Charles de Foucauld, a French-born priest, explorer, linguist and hermit who was beatified by the Catholic Church in 2005.

De Foucauld passed through Taybeh as a pilgrim in 1889 and returned in 1898 for an eight-day retreat that is recorded in 45 pages of his spiritual writings.

After his death (he was shot dead by raiding tribesmen in Algeria in 1916, aged 58), his example inspired the founding of several religious congregations.

In 1986 a pilgrims’ hostel called the Charles de Foucauld Pilgrim Centre was opened in Taybeh.

Taybeh

West Bank

The Palestinian village of Taybeh, the only Christian town left in Israel or the Palestinian Territories, holds fast to its memory of Jesus seeking refuge there shortly before his crucifixion.

The Gospel of John says Jesus went to Taybeh — then called Ephraim — after he raised Lazarus to life and the Jewish authorities planned to put Jesus to death.

“Jesus therefore no longer walked about openly among the Jews, but went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness; and he remained there with the disciples.” (John 11:54)

Ephraim-wilderness-to-east

   Taybeh (pronounced Tie-bay) is 30 kilometres northeast of Jerusalem and 12 kilometres northeast of Ramallah. From its elevated site between biblical Samaria and Judea, it overlooks the desert wilderness, theJordan Valley, Jericho and the Dead Sea.

Living amidst Muslim villages, Israeli settlements and military roadblocks, Taybeh’s inhabitants (numbering 1300 in 2010) are intensely proud of their Christian heritage.

The village’s Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin) and Greek Catholic (Melkite) communities maintain an ecumenical spirit — even celebrating Christmas together on December 25 according to the Western calendar and Easter according to the Eastern calendar.

Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent. Saint Nerses Chnorhali, "You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above"

Nerses IV the Gracious

Fw: DGO stunning reflection    

William Comments 

On Tuesday, 8 April 2014, 

williamw > wrote:

Dear Father Donald,

Just to say that there is a stunning reflection today on DGO, a poem by:-

Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian patriarch or Nerses Shnorhali [Wikipedia]

Nerses is remembered as a theologian, poet, writer and hymn composer. He has been called "the Fenelon of Armenia".

I am picturing you working by day in your book store, should a guest wing be in planning stage.

Yours,

William

Tuesday, 08 April 2014

Tuesday of the Fifth week of Lent

Commentary of the day : 

Saint Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173), Armenian patriarch 
Jesus, Only Son of the Father, § 708-724 ; SC 203 

"You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above"

Because of sin, O innocent one,
You were set before the criminal's judgement seat;
When you return in the Father's glory
Do not judge me together with him.

You were put to scorn with sacrilegious spittle
On account of the first created man's shame;
Wipe away the dishonor of the impudent man's sins
With which my face is covered...

You have put on crimson,
Set the scarlet cloak over you
As a dishonor and an affront,
As Pontius Pilate's soldiers thought it to be (Mt 27,28).

Remove sin's shirt of hair from me,
Crimson red, color of blood,
Reclothe me in the garment of joy
With which you clothed the first man.

Kneeling, they made sport,
Fooling around, they mocked;
When they saw it, heaven's armies
Worshipped in fear.

This you underwent that you might remove
The shame of being sin's accomplice from Adam's nature in us
That, from my soul and my conscience,
You might suppress my sorrowing shame...

Following the judge's verdict,
You received the terrible blows of flagellation
Over your whole body
And on your limbs' every part.

As for me who, from foot to head
Suffer unbearable pain:
Be pleased to heal me once again
As through the grace of baptism's fount.

In exchange for the thorns of sin
That the curse caused to grow up for us (Gn 3,18)
A crown of thorns was set on your head
By the laborers in Jerusalem's vineyard (Mt 21,33f.).

Pull out the thorns of sin from me,
Which my enemy planted within me,
And heal in me the bite of the wound
That the marks of sin might be erased. 

website www.dailygospel.org