Faith

The way UP is DOWN – 22nd Sunday in Ordinary time – year C – Luke 14, 1, 7-14

Most people want the front of the bus, the back of the Church and the centre of attraction and that’s an interesting way of looking at today’s Gospel except that the Gospel has much more for us to cud on.

As usual Jesus is at a dinner and as one commentator put it so well, Jesus ate his way through the Gospels! And so here he is, at the home of a Pharisee perhaps a prominent one too. Interesting I have reason to suspect the Pharisees motive for inviting Jesus.

The Pharisees, by and large, were no friends of Jesus and neither was he a member of their mutual admiration society. Jesus has attacked the Pharisees on numerous accounts because of their duplicity of life. Now a Pharisees invites him over ON THE SABBATH (see verse 1) and we are told they are watching Him.

Interestingly, the scripture of today’s Gospel skips out the part where at this meal a man with dropsy seems to be planted by the Pharisees in this home. A further reading of the Gospel tells us that the Pharisees were scrambling for the best seats which further strengthens my belief that this was no meal to honour Jesus but a ploy to trap him and see if he would heal the man; which He did after duly chastising the Pharisees.

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Travel

Gethsemane and the Church of all Nations

The Church of all Nations is also called the Basilica of the Agony or the Basilica of Gethsemane. This is a Roman Catholic Church located on the Mount of Olives, east of the Kidron Valley, between the path up the mountain and the busy Jericho Road. The Garden of Gethsemane which in Aramaic means ‘olive press’ occupies an area of approximately 1,200 square meters.

The eight trees with gnarled trunks are older than any olive trees and in 1982 the University of California carried out radiocarbon-dating tests on some root material from Gethsemane. The results indicated that some of the wood could be dated back 2300 years. Walking along the enclosure of the grove one can also see the olive tree planted by Paul VI on 4 January 1964 during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The Mount of Olives is strewn with olive trees, sadly most pilgrims think that this enclosed  is all that is left.

The first Church was built in 379 during the Byzantine period over a place made holy by the prayer and agony of Christ. This Basilica was then destroyed by the Persians in 614 and in the 12th century was rebuilt by the Crusaders. The present Church of all nations was built between the years 1919 and 1924. Twelve nations contributed towards the building of the Church and to honour these nations the Church has 12 domes, one for each contributing nation.

The façade has a portico with four columns and wedged between them are statues of the four evangelists. The mosaic in gold which dazzles when gazed at from Mt Zion has at its centre Jesus as he kneels in agony between the material world and his Father who holds a plaque with the first and last alphabets of the Greek language. Six angels are depicted in the mosaic, one of whom receives His heart which He sacrificed for humanity. The robes of Jesus are in red depicting his humanity (the colour of blood) 

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Travel

Chapel of the Ascension – Acts 1:9-11

Six hundred and fifty feet north of the Pater Noster Church(Our Father) is the Chapel of the Ascension which is also a mosque. The chapel sits on the top of the Mount of Olives. When St Helena came to the Holy Land she was shown the place where today stands the Church of the Pater Noster as the spot of the Ascension.

By the time the pilgrim Egeria’s (possibly a nun) traveled to Jerusalem in 384, the spot of veneration had been moved to the present location, uphill from the cave. Another tradition holds that it was  Egeria who in her detailed account of the Holy Land found two footprints in the rock which can be seen in the Chapel of the Ascension. (http://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm) 

An aerial view of the Chapel on the top of the Mount of Olives

Right after this discovery a circular Byzantine church was built surrounding the rock on which was believed to be the footprint of Jesus. The Byzantine church was destroyed and rebuilt several times but finally destroyed in 1198 AD by Saladin who led the Ottoman (Turkish) army.

However while the Church was destroyed the central dome around the foot print was left intact by the Ottomans as there is a shared belief in the Ascension by the Muslims. The Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified but raised to Heaven directly without Resurrection before Ascension (An-Nisaa’ 4:157-159). The mark that we see today is believed to be the imprint of Jesus’ right foot since the section bearing Jesus’ left footprint was taken to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the middle ages.

Inside the Chapel at the imprint of the foot of Jesus

The Chapel of the Ascension, as it stands today, holds only the sacred spot. What stands around it are the base of the columns, remnants of the Church built by the crusaders. The chapel that we see today includes several changes made by the Muslims. They sealed the area between the pillars of the shrine enclosing the foot print of Jesus and added a dome to the structure while adding a mihrab – a prayer niche in the wall facing Mecca.  A mosque with a minaret was added next to the Chapel in 1620 however the entire site remains in Muslim possession.

 Fr Warner D’souza

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Opinion

An update on the outreach to the victims of the landslide in Malad East.

The tragedy that took place in Malad East on the 1st of July is ever before our hearts and minds. We have not forgotten the commitment we made to the victims of this tragedy at whose service we continue to be, nor have we forgotten the task that you entrusted to us through your kind contributions.

In the last seven days, the government, through the forest department has provided TEMPORARY housing to about 87 families in Mahul, Chembur. These one room kitchen tenements measure all of 280 square feet. It is important to stress the word ‘temporary’ as the letters handed over to the residents state that this is temporary till such time that the government provides these people with alternate accommodation elsewhere ( hopefully in Malad East).

The papers issued by the government stating that these homes are temporary and the residents have no claims on it

However, the reality of this word ‘temporary’ is seen  in the lives of several other citizens of Mumbai who have lost their homes to road widening and have also been shifted here on a ‘temporary’ basis. Seven years have since passed with no word from the government about their permanent accommodation. What makes all this very shady is the possibility that these residents will never be shifted permanently nor given the title deed to these homes.

While the issue of rehabilitation of these citizens to Mahul continues to be a contentious one (see recent judgments https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/hc-pulls-up-bmc-state-for-forcing-project-affected-to-stay-in-mahul/article29186317.ece) the reaction of those who have shifted from Malad East to Mahul range from fatalism to enthusiasm. For those who have lost homes to road widening, this is a step down in life and for the people of Malad East this is most certainly much more than they bargained for (or is it? )

The housing colony is a few feet from the refineries

The 13 odd refineries that surround Mahul have made air quality un-breathable; this is the assertion of several studied groups on this matter. I was a bit taken aback that on my visit to Mahul on Wednesday the 28th August, the air quality did not seem any different from my home in Malad East, but then again it could have been my lucky day and as someone said, “you were there for a few hours.”

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Opinion

#HomesWithDignity

This is Manju’s house its all of seventy square feel with  a small loft. She lives here with her husband who is ill and three children one one of whom supports the family. Manju is a member of our congregation and one of the loveliest people you can meet.

Manju embraced the faith several years ago with her oldest son and youngest daughter and lives harmoniously with her Hindu husband and son who continue to practice their faith as devout Hindus.

This year in the constant floods that have damaged several homes in our community, we at St Jude’s, Malad East decided to reach out. Our first act of love was to our Hindu and Muslim brothers and sisters who lost their loved ones and lives in the landslide in Malad East. Those following me on Facebook would have seen the tremendous outreach to this community that was performed by members of our parish and Christians from all over the Archdiocese of Bombay.

We now turn our attention to our Christian brothers and sisters who patiently allowed us to reach out to others first. As part of project #HomesWithDignity we have begun the renovation of Manju’s house. In days to come we will update you on the progress of her home. But one is not fun, and so we have set aside a parish budget to repair and renovate 12 such homes before April 2020.

In January 2020 we begin the celebrations towards our golden jubilee in 2021 and as part of the preparations we wanted people live with a sense of dignity; to know they are loved and cared for. Poverty can never be a virtue though personally some of us may choose to live a life of poverty. Poverty is an evil and we must each make a difference to eradicate it.

This is NOT an appeal for financial help. This is just an attempt to warm the cockles of your heart to reach out to anyone today and make a difference .

Share love, be kind and if you like, share this.

Fr Warner ÐSouza

 

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