tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22451379822360444682012-02-27T22:06:10.521+01:00Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-64962203396745914092012-02-27T22:04:00.003+01:002012-02-27T22:06:10.556+01:00

THE REV. EDWARD BABCOCK stood beside one of the lounge windows of the hotel on the Mount of Olives looking across the Kedron Valley to the city of Jerusalem on the opposite hill. Darkness had come so suddenly, between the time of arrival with his small party, the allotting of rooms, unpacking, a quick wash; and now, with hardly a moment to get his bearings and study his notes and guidebook, the

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-68793912657429697792012-01-25T11:27:00.000+01:002012-01-25T11:27:07.158+01:00

Catholics for Israel Blog: Patriarch's New Year Message: Elephants Still in t...: On the morning of January 1st, also traditionally known as the World Day of Peace, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Msgr. Foual Twal presid...

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-29778194644061100922012-01-10T21:51:00.001+01:002012-01-10T21:51:32.598+01:00

A few impressions from a weekend trip to Dublin in December 2011…

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-34299719008388015352011-12-06T22:18:00.003+01:002011-12-07T21:13:24.019+01:00

Vi reiser med p. Piotr Krysztofiak. Daglig messe og mulighet for bønn og refleksjon. Detljert program følger under, på engelsk...    Holy Land Pilgrimage, October 14th to 23rd, 2012 Itinerary may be altered as a result of security, logistics or weather concerns                                                       Sunday , 14th  October, 2012            Arrival at the Ben Gurion

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-27477053808067343252011-12-06T10:19:00.001+01:002011-12-06T10:34:51.580+01:00

I came across this alternative guide to the best places in the Russian capital by accident, and was totally enamoured. The compilers managed to put together some of the most romantic, soulful and "old-Moscow" places I know. This is Moscow as I love it and remember it. In addition, great suggestions for museums, places to eat, etc. Check it out: http://www.bg.ru/moscow/1/ In Russian and English.

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-75387666609717969402011-11-08T19:50:00.004+01:002011-11-08T20:06:09.469+01:00

1. When I was in Jerusalem volunteering for three months, my friend introduced me to Shabbat meals at the Machlis family. They are somewhat of a legend in Jerusalem, especially among backpackers, hippies, searching souls and all sorts of crazy people of the type I love so much. That day was one of my last times, towards the end of my stay in Jerusalem. Rabbi's wife, Hennie, is a great cook, and

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-91149742351235613402011-10-28T19:26:00.002+02:002011-10-28T21:36:02.775+02:00

  A Nubian gospel discovered by Boissiere tells of a young philosopher to whom a Semitic dancer sends, as homage, the head of an apostle. The young man bows and says, smiling, "What I really want, beloved, is your head." She quails and goes off. The afternoon of the same day a slave presents the philosopher with his darling's head on a gold platter. And the philosopher asks, "Why are they

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-19182683671014273972011-10-22T21:02:00.001+02:002011-10-22T21:02:37.550+02:00

A speech by Pilar Rahola at the Daniel Pearl Award, 07/10/2010  Dear friends, good morning. Without doubt, he must be afraid. He faces the camera, but... where is his gaze aimed? Perhaps towards his family, his ancestral memory, his identity... or perhaps he is looking beyond, towards the broken future, the woman he loves, the son he will never know... His last words... “My name is Daniel Pearl.

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-42647317501781484242011-07-26T20:05:00.000+02:002011-07-26T20:08:51.959+02:00

  In the aftermath of the Oslo tragedy, my good friend, an Arab Muslim woman from Jerusalem, sent me a concerned e-mail. Her kind and encouraging words were a ray of light, one among many during these days. It is in times like these that love overflows. She wrote me, among other things, that she believes in Good God – meaning that something good will come even from this horrible thing, that every

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-53956071787063070392011-06-07T12:22:00.002+02:002011-06-07T12:32:33.494+02:00

The taxi driver who took me to Ben Gurion said Israel needs advocates. He told me how he would often take tourists on free trips and show them around in his free time. People ask him, why. Because I have children, he answers. And how do I raise my four children to be good people? How do I tell them that their neigbours hate them? On the bus to the base, a French Jew who barely spoke English

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-35492371678290949642011-04-30T21:13:00.001+02:002011-04-30T21:13:18.996+02:00

Watch this Promo video on YouTube Tar and Feathers by Kylian is an absolute masterpiece of a ballet, in my eyes. It speaks to the soul, and to the eye, on so many levels it would be pointless to try and explain. It is one of those works of art that are not “about” anything, being beyond explanations. You can only let the work speak for itself… I have to note, as an aside, that we have seen this

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-64232419001803378102011-03-24T22:21:00.001+01:002011-03-25T19:13:17.813+01:00

  I have recently come back from a visit to a Cistercian abbey, the Holy Cross at Whitland, Wales. As an aside, I am actually surprised I came back on time. I was first delayed by an electric failure which stopped all trains coming in and out of Cardiff. Miraculously, I arrived at the airport only 10 minutes late, thanks to the efficiency of Bridgend station manager and to the fact that Cardiff

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-36930772407540100222010-12-17T10:56:00.001+01:002010-12-17T10:57:08.001+01:00

My article got published in Solo Travel News. Click on the post title to view the online version

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-2291997652314016032010-12-08T22:01:00.002+01:002010-12-09T07:56:59.620+01:00

A Politician Who Speaks the Truth? Where is the Catch?? Someone commented today on my posting this speech in an online forum earlier this day: “Geert Wilders is a friend of Israel and that’s all that counts. If on top of that he is Catholic and Gay, then that means there is good in them after all.” :-) :-) :-)  Speech Geert Wilders, Tel Aviv, 5 December 2010 Shalom chaveriem, Let me start

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-39538782809057265342010-11-27T18:22:00.000+01:002010-11-28T18:22:10.276+01:00

  Without telling his teacher anything of what he was doing, a disciple of rabbi Barukh’s [of Mezbizh] had inquired into the nature of God, and in his thinking had penetrated further and further until he was tangled in doubts, and what had been certain up to this time, became uncertain. When Rabbi Barukh noticed that the young man no longer came to him as usual, he went to the city where he lived

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-39485324743157048302010-11-21T16:17:00.001+01:002010-11-21T16:17:14.115+01:00

Preview on Blurb Press the link above to preview 20 pages of my 72-page photo album full of impressions and faces from the Holy (and, at times, not-so-holy) Land of Israel.

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-28647755519070012822010-11-16T23:03:00.001+01:002010-11-16T23:03:49.678+01:00

  The Eye of the Storm | Blurb

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-38418270814924185102010-11-11T20:32:00.001+01:002010-11-11T20:32:55.704+01:00

(This is an extract from a larger article published in Cistercian Studies Quarterly) by ARMAND VEILLEIUX, OCSO We know how a child normally identifies with her father or mother, how a teenager identifies with a sport hero or a movie star, or simply with an adult whom he admires—who could be a teacher. Later on the young man or woman will identify with what he or she does and achieves, or what he

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-22274070552922804402010-11-10T20:48:00.000+01:002010-11-10T20:56:40.894+01:00

I found this on the web by accident. It’s an invitation to a tomorrow’s event in Kensington by an organization called – in case you can’t read the small script – Muslims Against Crusaders. I loved the name they gave to the demonstration, though… No comment.

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-28311026018019372902010-11-09T21:11:00.001+01:002010-11-09T21:11:39.789+01:00

  This is a soap made by a Druze woman from Israel. She inherited a secret formula of mixing wild herbs and oils into unique natural soaps, and has become world famous, now selling the soap to some 20 countries worldwide. Gamila Secret soap cleanses, revitalizes and restores natural balance to any type of skin, is hypo-allergenic and is only made with pure 100% organic ingredients. They used to

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-30368179632628624652010-10-24T23:11:00.001+02:002010-10-24T23:11:46.304+02:00

I loved this article from 2005. Sorry it’s in Russian Палестинские арабы-христиане хотят остаться под властью «сионистских оккупантов». Евгений Левин. Один мой знакомый священнослужитель, которому часто приходится общаться с христианами, живущими на Святой Земле, как-то заметил, что, в первую очередь, они арабы, а лишь во вторую – православные или католики. Поэтому национальная борьба

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-5875347782550892742010-10-07T22:28:00.002+02:002010-10-07T22:41:59.081+02:00

I read the following comment online today: The more things change the more they remain the same. When Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison spoke out against slavery in the 1830s he was accused of incitement and "offensive" speech. He was arrested many times and received death threats on a scale that is really unimaginable. The question arises: who was calling for the violence? Who was inciting?

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-51395801866404541082010-09-13T21:54:00.002+02:002010-09-13T21:57:58.723+02:00

(taken from the Times of Malta Sunday edition)Twenty-fourth Sunday of the yearWith open armsFr René CamilleriToday’s readings: Exodus 32, 7-11.13-14; 1 Timothy 1, 12-17; Luke 15, 1-32.The three Gospel stories in Luke this Sunday refer to two types of people – tax collectors and sinners on one hand and the Pharisees and the scribes on the other.Rather than two categories of people, they represent

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-16876667910615543932010-08-19T12:34:00.003+02:002010-08-19T13:07:14.664+02:00

... has not been easy for me, a lifelong sympathiser with the Chechen cause (well, up to this February...).When we were at school and the first Chechen war was brewing and breaking out, I remember the unanimous support the ethnically Latvian population gave to the Chechen's fight for independence. Just think about it! We were small - so were they, we broke away from imperial agression - they

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-27209440848264495572010-08-13T22:29:00.004+02:002010-08-18T14:03:48.982+02:00

I came across this diary entry of mine from 2009, when we spent the Holy Week and Easter on Malta:We have been to seven altars and one Mass, and I feel I cannot get enough, almost like I stayed too short a while, like I should have sat until midnight... The travel routine of wine and cheese and meat pies is broken by the spirit of pilgrimage, it seems, all too easily. It matters where you go, and

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-33201672020988624292010-08-12T15:12:00.004+02:002010-08-12T16:47:36.091+02:00

I absolutely admire Robert Sungenis for reverting to the Church, and for writing a wonderful refutation of the doctrines of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide. As an apologist, he is recommended by other apologists I deeply respect. The Church needs apologists, now more than, perhaps, ever, and it is good and noble of him to stand up for his beliefs.While his credentials and volume of knowledge are

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-59011388765282425872010-08-04T20:44:00.000+02:002010-08-04T20:44:34.861+02:00

MEMRI: Friday Sermon in Gaza: Muslims Should Wage Jihad to Liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the Filth of the Jews, the Brothers of Apes and PigsI don't know what it takes to change a paradigm. Often I feel it's no use even trying. Apparently, paradigm shifts are rare in lifes of individuals, as well as nations. But then, it happened to me... At least twice... Anyway, we've heard a couple of those

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-29290734884865254732010-07-31T21:52:00.006+02:002010-08-03T12:14:52.422+02:00

Tel Aviv at two in the morning - sexy, bustling, alive, with 24-hour grocery stores, eateries and snack bars open, pubs, surprisingly sober, compared to the equal time of the day and week in Oslo. Smiles and compliments, so shy and cute. Traffic jams - at 2 am. Shopkeepers on the steps playing guitar. Hot humid air and the sound of the sea. I am back. Breathing. Living. Breathing. Back. I am

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-86455708236235468052010-07-28T20:29:00.005+02:002010-07-28T20:49:23.699+02:00

This excerpt from a travel diary written more than a century and a half ago brings out into the light some of the history that seems to have been denied us in the West in recent years - but also rings the bells of recognition within me. Yes, the times have changed, and the people have now returned to the land they can call their own, but the warmth and love and hospitality are still there, and

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-38039443076616524682010-07-20T07:51:00.003+02:002010-07-20T07:55:27.360+02:00

I have found some of the coolest clothes ever, just on the verge between avant-garde haute couture and city chic, but still wearable. Perfect seams and details, and many ways to wear each garment.

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-66033192967226663672010-07-10T22:39:00.003+02:002010-07-10T23:00:42.054+02:00

Three months into my return to life in the normal, post-Christian, relativist and pacifist Europe, or, rather, it's weird outskirts, I find myself once again pondering the essence of the question that seemed to fill the air in the place where it was once asked, WHAT IS TRUTH?WHAT IS TRUTH? seemed to bounce off the walls built over or about the same place where the famous converstaion between our

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-79719706219436729412010-06-08T17:13:00.002+02:002010-06-08T17:21:35.264+02:00

After the Turkish Hurriyet published some new photos of the IDF soldiers, the account below seems completely credible to me.(Letter shared by Naomi Ragen.)DETAILS EMERGE how "humanitarian aid" workers on the Mavi Marmara viciously attacked Israeli soldiers. Below, read a first hand account from Amir, an Israeli soldier who was there."Hello Uncle Erwin,This is Amir writing you after reading what

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-79817891679617260402010-06-07T20:45:00.012+02:002010-06-07T23:43:33.464+02:00

 (Gaza Strip, October 2000, photo by: Reuters) (photo taken outside Ramalla checkpoint, March 19th, 2010)Apparently, the picture posted in connection with my previous post needs some explanation. Out of context, it seems purely offensive and doesn't carry the meaning I intended to give it. I apologize for that. But what I meant was that our history books (again, this famous history that is on our

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-37429738564663895652010-06-04T18:46:00.008+02:002010-06-07T21:19:45.253+02:00

...and, actually, there is nothing much to say. Israel is in the news, and IDF is Jack the Ripper. I have been asked to write a few notes, so this is what I am going to do here, as well. Just a few words, to sum up what I think, without implying that I am the only one in the right, and without commenting on what I know nothing about...I believe this one boat - one out of many - should have never

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-20518236657444984582010-05-29T12:47:00.003+02:002010-05-29T13:49:01.320+02:00

Thankfully! I mean, seriously, one of the authors of the Kairos document - whose interview is reprinted in my previous blog post - meant that the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem in 683 was a second Pentecost. I am serious! A SECOND PENTECOST! (Boy, I wonder how my charismatic friends would have loved to hear THIS!) "In the end, we will send them [the Israelis] away just as we did to the crusaders",

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-85012912701040217852010-05-04T17:16:00.003+02:002010-05-04T18:08:25.465+02:00

An Interview with the Former Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel SabbahLa VIE, journal HEBDOMAIRE FRANCAIS 01/04/2010 [April 4, 2010]Translation from FRENCHBy Laurent GrzybowskiWhat is the situation for Christians in Palestine?It is the same as for all Arabs in Palestine. Christians or Muslims, we are the same people, with the same culture and the same history. A nation that is in conflict with

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-34963863438448540752010-04-15T21:57:00.002+02:002010-04-15T23:21:50.126+02:00

And so it is ten days since I left Jerusalem...It has slowly started to sink in - that I will not get to Damascus gate by turning around the corner, that I have to say Thank you in Norwegian, and that it is absolutely impossible to buy Tishbi French Riesling or Noah Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. The canteen food tastes dreadful, vegetables are next to inedible, but tap water is better than the bottled

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-68773395242556027542010-04-09T11:22:00.003+02:002010-04-09T11:29:22.639+02:00

(by Sarah Yehudit Schneider)This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.All who are hungry, let them come and eat.All who are needy, let them come and join this Passover Sedar.Now we are here; next year in the land of Israel.Now we are slaves; next year [we will be] free people.The fifth stage of the Seder, called Magid (literally, Telling the Story) begins with the

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-30231868501406746032010-04-02T16:06:00.012+02:002010-04-09T22:22:02.015+02:00

I have not come to bring peace but sword...And a sword shall pierce your own heart, too...And so I am back to the normal life, back to the world of reason and subdued emotions - to look at it with the eyes that have changed. Yesterday I shared a cab to the airport with someone who had the exactly opposite views from my own - and Big Brother, as you know, is watching you. I was escorted right to

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-40081861663356855582010-03-30T16:50:00.008+02:002010-03-30T21:22:32.809+02:00

I went to say good-bye to someone to whom I last spoke to almost three months ago, just before my unexpected visit to the Tomb of David in January. He - an atheist guarding one of the famous Christain sites - warned me then, jokingly, not to convert anymore and to watch out. Boy, it seems like years and years ago, he said. I see your eyes are shining, it got to you, didn't it? I told you this

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-78204076768839436002010-03-26T19:38:00.004+01:002010-03-26T20:27:12.176+01:00

O Beloved of the soul! O Merciful Father! Draw me, your slave, toward your will; your slave will run like a gazelle to prostrate himself before your splendor. Your companionship will be as pleasing to him as honey and nectar and every good savor.O Most Splendid! O Light of the World! My soul is ill from love of you. Please, my God, please heal her by showing her the beauty of your light. Then she

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-63225694368216475282010-03-26T14:24:00.017+01:002010-04-02T16:02:52.377+02:00

... I am a committed Catholic, and I will forever cherish the honour of prayers and friendships with both Jews and Muslims. And I do recognise that there are always both sides to any story. This essay is about history...I had a conversation with a young Palestinian Christian a few nights ago. He told me he feared that the secular Jewish state, Israel, was the sole guarantee of the survival of

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-49469315040921639742010-03-15T17:40:00.005+01:002010-03-15T21:27:21.759+01:00

A U2 song keeps ringing out in my ears all day today, it starts with the words: "Don't belive what you hear, don't believe what you see, if you just close your eyes, you can feel the enemy..."This seems to be the name of the game where I live now. I might just go insane and start looking for freemasons lurking in the shadows with dynamite and building tools. All is ready and the golden menorah is

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-60473819337625307682010-03-13T22:13:00.004+01:002010-04-12T11:11:50.859+02:00

A Roman official looked at the man in front of him, an insignificant, tired, beaten-up Jew, and asked rhetorically, What is truth? I believe he was somewhat annoyed and may have shrugged indignantly – of all the places, HERE, you are talking to me about the truth?! The man had just told him he came into the world to testify to the truth...Almost two thousand years later, I live on the exact spot

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-37516853680220123132010-03-06T19:28:00.004+01:002010-03-06T20:07:45.686+01:00

Two months in Jerusalem have passed. They flew by as one day, and yet it feels as if I have been here for years and years. Time ceased to exist. Or, perhaps, I have become oblivious to it, as all happy people are. Sometimes, just walking the street fills me with love.I remember a time like this, many years ago. It was in a country that gave me my freedom and my sanity back, a place so perfect I

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-3750760555168999862010-02-28T11:05:00.002+01:002010-02-28T12:08:21.237+01:00

This morning began with an unusual prayer call from the minaret next door. The Allah Akbar did not sound as prayerful as usual, and it broke off midway to give room to what sounded like a long angry call for war, jihad, with some hints of the Wailing Wall intonation every once in a while. Even when you don't know the words, the meaning was unmistacable - the call was for everyone to gather and

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-76822820233337495212010-02-23T19:17:00.003+01:002010-02-28T17:58:16.208+01:00

... and what an extraordinary Lent it is!Somewhat, for me, it is presently a season of joy, a joy that is difficult to channel at times, but when I am alert to it, it feels almost too much to bear. In this city of His, Our Lord is killing me with His love.Right now everyone is singing Alleluja in our coffee room. What is more, on the first Sunday of Lent I went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-49286442881375696892010-01-17T15:57:00.002+01:002010-01-17T16:12:43.259+01:00

"O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come"Jesus says these words to his Mother not to be harsh to her - because she apparently understood him as granting her request, and called for the servants. I think he meant something else, I think he was thinking of another day when the hour would come.When they would be drunk - but not with wine, when they would be satisfied - but not

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-45074918499402866922010-01-12T15:56:00.003+01:002010-01-12T16:26:58.772+01:00

The Holy Land, everyone knows it, is not a peaceful place. Paradoxically, it can also be the most peaceful place in the world.In Jerusalem, where I live now, I got to know a kind and gentle Russian Orthodox priest, went to a Greek Catholic Mass in Arabic, was too tired to go to a messianic Jewish prayer meeting, but my fellow Catholics did go and enjoyed themselves immensly. I watched an elderly

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-45162452614667228732010-01-07T12:13:00.002+01:002010-01-07T13:06:40.823+01:00

Today is my third day in the Holy City, and also the day of the Russian Christmas. In practice, this means the city is packed with Russian tourists in big and small groups, and the churches rang their bells for 20 minutes both at midnight and at 3 am. No, I slept through all of this - one of the guests told me. At 4.50, mind you, there is a LOUD prayer call from the minaret across the street,

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-23633173477920320842010-01-04T21:01:00.002+01:002010-01-04T21:09:04.138+01:00

I am sitting in the Crystal Lounge in Prague airport - hurray to democracy, you only have to pay to get access, regardless your ticket.As I was making myself some coffee, a girl of about 5 came up, and asked me - in Russian - where does one find juice. Not in the least bit surprised that I answered her - in Russian, as well - she accepted the juice I found her and went away. I think she has just

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-52179285682639310582009-12-30T15:55:00.004+01:002009-12-30T20:39:33.648+01:00

These two words appeared in my mind yesterday. It felt as if I were in the eye of the storm - the world rushes by, things demanding attention, work to be done, shopping, cooking, dishes, and I am able to look at it as if from the outside, not unmoved, but unaffected, and, oddly enough, humming a Latvian church hymn, about peace flowing within me like a river. And then, out of nowhere, the words

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-44378498337446253472009-12-23T22:03:00.006+01:002009-12-26T00:22:46.877+01:00

2009 has been a fruitful year, rich in impressions and experience, a year of transition, of fight, the first year lived in full communion with the Church. Living the life of the Church has kept me wondering - where have I been before? Why haven't I done this earlier? Why have I been neglecting my happiness, my calling, the fullness of my Lord?..It has also been a year when I travelled more than I

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-3301172530521807352009-12-12T21:58:00.003+01:002009-12-12T22:51:18.716+01:00

I have no idea what is it that makes me weep and weep and weep as I watch this film by Groening, who reportedly waited 16 years to make it... But I do - weep and weep and weep. Until I am fed up with weeping. Due to unidentified problems with my nasal passages that eventually led me to join the club of Nasonex users, weeping is not good for me. So I must stop.The Great Silence is like looking at

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-47144355560561890842009-10-22T14:25:00.009+02:002009-10-30T10:03:57.817+01:00

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2007/12/002-the-myth-of-soulless-women-3#(Do you remember the song? It suddenly rang out in my years. ...Gotta do the best to please her just 'cause she's a living doll...)The inspiration for writing this blog entry is a Japanese film by Hirokazu Kore-eda, whichI was privileged to see a couple of weeks ago. His recent Still Walking is, by the way, the winner of

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-79917994325889067962009-10-03T16:34:00.003+02:002009-10-03T17:01:04.120+02:00

Taize prayers have meant a lot to me for various reasons for a half of my life now, even though it is a river that I never enter twice.Yesterday, while praying, or singing, or whatever one may call it, I realised the Taize practice was much like lectio divina. Of course, I had no idea what lectio divina meant 15 years ago, when I first got my taste of Taize in Wroclaw, Poland. But instinctively,

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-13001992598252162012009-10-01T17:39:00.002+02:002009-10-01T17:50:12.565+02:00

It is pleasantly hot, nothing like the excruciating August heat. The house I am staying at is gorgeous, neither words nor pictures do it justice. The lower floor is some 300 years old, used to be a manger, with holes in stones for tying the animals still intact. There is a huge roof terrace, a courtyard, an inner well, a balcony onto which two bedroom open, it is a paradise! And in a quiet dead

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-79286385110785433162009-09-20T17:47:00.002+02:002009-09-20T18:15:35.621+02:00

Time is somehow of a relative significance in a monastery, as you grow to live and fight day by day, but I can't help remembering St. Mary of Egypt, who lived alone in the desert for 47 years, and yet managed to keep track of all of them, despite (or because of?) the fight of the first 17. She was obviously totally awake and alert all of this time.Today, a lot of local people came to Mass. One of

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-81480708695599969292009-09-20T16:11:00.003+02:002009-09-20T16:29:17.151+02:00

There is something I have come to feel very strongly about, that much of the mistakes of the past four month, much of the turbulence of these months, would have never occurred - had I chosen the road of unconditioonal forgiveness from the beginning. I am not at liberty to discuss any details of this period, but I am totally convinced that much of the struggle could have been avoided by

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-12931583933328133342009-08-29T21:44:00.001+02:002009-08-29T21:45:57.990+02:00

The name of this post is also a link to my Riga article on www.bootsnall.com

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-18634076684357519552009-08-19T11:02:00.002+02:002009-08-19T12:08:31.492+02:00

The readings this week have been really special, and isn't it strange how things you think you know by heart suddenly come alive? I will side with those who say they never actually read their Bible the way they started to when they became Catholic.It is as if I saw with my own eyes the rich young man who approaches Jesus and asks him what does he have to DO to have eternal life. Why is Jesus so

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-26178452715619337642009-08-15T20:58:00.003+02:002009-08-15T21:08:16.228+02:00

It is amazing how time flies. Four and a half months from now I will be leaving for Jerusalem. A pilgrimage in a way, yes. And God willing, something more than that. A desert, perhaps? Or a land of milk and honey? I don't know... The only thing that is certain - if I get there, that is - I will not be a tourist. Not a sightseer. I will be living for three months in a convent in a Muslim quarter

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-69005572445239671152009-07-23T20:37:00.003+02:002009-08-03T23:22:12.144+02:00

To Vera and Otari Mirianashvili. I rememberI have a vivid memory - I walk uphill, up the steep stairs with my mother, picking pomegranates as we go, carrying bags from the market in the evening, then we turn right and open the gate... and the smell... Fig tree leaves in the evening, a very special smell... Or I thought it was fig tree leaves. I think that's what it smells like in the south (yes,

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-32585684729682186022009-07-16T10:21:00.002+02:002009-07-16T11:16:28.921+02:00

I went to church to pray yesterday, and as I walked in, four people had just started praying the Rosary out loud in English. Why not, I thought? Even though I intended to spend 20 minutes in silence, the Lord may have wanted me to get to know His mother better, something we ex-protestants are always in need of...It was very special. This unplanned-for Rosary praying reminded me of Maundy Thursday

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-42506227052822862582009-07-01T13:07:00.016+02:002009-07-02T09:23:02.769+02:00

Have you ever heard of the book The Martyrs Mirror?It is an account of Christian/ Anabaptist/ Mennonite martyrs. I was once presented it (actually, parts of it) as a book "every Christian should read", and indeed I have often heard Martyrs Mirror mentioned by modern-day Baptists when they refer to the Protestant doctrine that the 'true church' has somehow persisted throughout the centuries, in

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-64512250008784242352009-06-15T13:13:00.013+02:002009-06-16T12:02:20.139+02:00

I should have been writing this for the feast of the Holy Trinity Sunday last week, but now that we're in the ordinary time of the church year again, one extraordinary memory of my childhood reminds me of the great feast that we have just celebrated...The year was 1989, the chestnut trees were in full blossom, the tour bus was a loud ugly Hungarian-made oddity, the roads were ranging from

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-37545773680052963762009-06-06T13:26:00.011+02:002009-06-07T14:19:58.992+02:00

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-81946023349328208772009-05-25T14:09:00.003+02:002009-05-25T14:18:02.738+02:00

This is one of my favourites, a parable of rare insight. Presently, I shouldn't perhaps be using my own words and explanations - but let the story speak for itself:The Red ShoesTHERE was once a little girl,—a very nice, pretty little girl. But in summer she had to go barefoot, because she was poor, and in winter she wore thick wooden shoes, so that her little instep became quite red, altogether

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2245137982236044468.post-6097752863282622902009-05-11T20:36:00.004+02:002009-05-11T21:48:49.202+02:00

Ingahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08890850012416430016noreply@blogger.com0