The gun of an Israeli soldier rests on a window-like opening of the separation wall between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It is pointed toward Palestinian youth during a clash at the entrance to Bethlehem.
There is something particularly sad about this screenshot taken from a Reuter news video. During his pilgrimage to the Holy Land Pope Francis stopped at this very place to pray. Notice the closed window just to his right, and the “Bethlehem look …” just above his head.
It is the same place at which he fired a prayed to heaven. This time a gun fires.
Many, all too many, of those children have been innocent victims of war and violence, saplings cut down at the height of their promise.
Dear Presidents, our world is a legacy bequeathed to us from past generations, but it is also on loan to us from our children: our children who are weary, worn out by conflicts and yearning for the dawn of peace, our children who plead with us to tear down the walls of enmity and to set out on the path of dialogue and peace, so that love and friendship will prevail.
I am profoundly grateful to you for accepting my invitation to come here and to join in imploring from God the gift of peace. It is my hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new journey where we seek the things that unite, so as to overcome the things that divide.
Peacemaking calls for courage, much more so than warfare. It calls for the courage to say yes to encounter and no to conflict: yes to dialogue and no to violence; yes to negotiations and no to hostilities; yes to respect for agreements and no to acts of provocation; yes to sincerity and no to duplicity. All of this takes courage, it takes strength and tenacity.
History teaches that our strength alone does not suffice. More than once we have been on the verge of peace, but the evil one, employing a variety of means, has succeeded in blocking it. That is why we are here, because we know and we believe that we need the help of God. We do not renounce our responsibilities, but we do call upon God in an act of supreme responsibility before our consciences and before our peoples. We have heard a summons, and we must respond. It is the summons to break the spiral of hatred and violence, and to break it by one word alone: the word “brother”. But to be able to utter this word we have to lift our eyes to heaven and acknowledge one another as children of one Father.
On our HOPE (Holy Land Outreach Promoting Education) pilgrimage, our photographer-pilgrim would call out a command, to which we would all dutifully respond, “Okay, get together for a group picture.” After a while it was shortened to, “Group picture!”
on Mount Nebo at the Memorial to Moses
in Beit Jala with partner-teachers and their parish priest
in the Kidron Valley after praying the rosary
meeting Bishop Shomali at the Latin Patriarchate
at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after praying the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa
The Reuters news story begins, “At the entrance of Bethlehem, a frequent flashpoint of violence, youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired back with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.”
Ironically and sadly, at the very place at which Pope Francis prayed during his pilgrimage
and to which pilgrims return to pray
on Thursday night, the gate on which Pope Francis leaned and pilgrims lean was opened
and Israeli soldiers were entering and leaving Bethlehem.
Here is some raw video footage:
At every Sunday Mass at St. Andrew we will pray an intention: “For an end to all fear and hatred and hostilities between the Palestinians and Israelis.”
Archbishop Kurtz, during his homily on July 4 at the closing Mass of the Fortnight for Freedom at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception referred to the Little Sisters of the Poor as a “sterling example.”
My mother and father both were under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor, both dying under the prayer of the Sisters. I affirm and applaud the Archbishop’s words about the Little Sisters at 5:50.
Later in his message he returns to the Little Sisters at 11:20 and 13:15. But, as an admiring fan and advocate of the Little Sisters of the Poor, I find the minutes beginning at 5:50 to be the ones when my head was nodding in agreement and my heart was beating with affection and gratitude.
Today it is 75 years since New York Yankee Lou Gehrig stood in Yankee Stadium between two games of a doubleheader with the Washington Senators: July 4, 1939.
He was 36 years old and dying. He declared himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth – and he thanked the groundskeepers and the stadium ushers.
It is a declaration of independence of sorts, declaring his independence from much of what his world and our world declares important and upon which they and we can become so dependent for what we call happiness and fulfillment. He was dying, and he declared himself lucky. He declared himself independent of earthly health and earthly long life for his happiness. And in thanking the big shots and big guns of the baseball world, he spoke his gratitude to the little people in the baseball organization: the groundskeepers and the ushers.
“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been to ballparks for seventeen years and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t have considered it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat and vice versa, sends you a gift, that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in the white coats remember you with trophies, that’s something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that’s the finest I know. So I close by saying that I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for. Thank you.”
Watch major league baseball’s 75th anniversary tribute, with the first baseman from every MLB team speaking the words of the famous speech, including our own Cincinnati Reds first baseman, Joey Vuotto:
Our group of HOPE pilgrim-teachers did something in June that no other group has ever done. Others may have prayed the rosary in the Kidron Valley, but no one has ever prayed the “Agonizing Mysteries.” They were composed for this pilgrimage and prayed for the first time with these pilgrim-teachers.
The First Agonizing Mystery: Jesus is in the Upper Room.
The Second Agonizing Mystery: Jesus passes through the Kidron Valley the first time.
The Third Agonizing Mystery: Jesus is in Gethsemane.
The Fourth Agonizing Mystery: Jesus passes through the Kidron Valley the second time.
The Fifth Agonizing Mystery: Jesus is in the house of Caiaphas.
The complete set of reflections for the “Agonizing Mysteries” is found in a previous post: “12 to 11 to 3 to 0“
O God, you sent your Son to break down the barriers between us, to bring reconciliation between peoples. Make good on your intention and satisfy your desire that all divisions cease and all separations end.
When we build walls, teach us to want bridges. As we put up fences, move us to open gates.
Bring security and safety to your people on both sides of this wall. End the sadness and the frustration on both sides. End the hated and the violence from both sides. Give freedom of movement to all and bring an end to all humiliation.
In due time tear down this wall of mistrust and fear, this barrier to peace and justice.
On Saturday, June 14, in Bethlehem, right next to the Manger Square Hotel in which I was staying, the new ice cream shop of the Custody of the Holy Land called “Il Cantico” had its grand opening.
With Open Doors 