Ascension Sunday and Ut Unam Sint

In 1995, I had finished my graduate studies at Franciscan University and was teaching at a renovated Cistercian monastery in Gaming, Austria. That same year on May 25, Pope John Paul II issued the encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That they may be one). Today marks the 25th anniversary of the encyclical. Pope Francis calls for a renewed interest in the Church’s commitment to unity among Christians. Ut Unum Sint was issued on the Solemnity of the Ascension under the “sign of the Holy Spirit, the creator of unity in diversity.” In 1996, I began working and teaching at North Central University, a small Christian College in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. During the twenty years I spent there, I discovered that what unites Christians is stronger than what divides us and that there already exists a certain yet imperfect unity among us.

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-05/pope-renews-ecumenical-commitment-on-anniversary-of-ut-unum-sint.html?fbclid=IwAR1ksGQL8vu8Ytns9fLxxnidPtaYC2bryyVOR8qQlduPZsY_so5RP4gEXm4

Temple Mount Remains Shutdown

As Ramadan 2020 continues until May 23, the Temple Mount remains closed, though workers are still allowed at the location.  However, the WAQF warned that they would reopen the location if the Israeli government moved to allow Jews to the site. 

Second Attempt of Sanhedrin to Observe Passover a No-Go

Last month a small group of Jewish believers, led by Rabbi Hillel Weiss who is the spokesperson for the newly formed Sanhedrin, had hoped to offer the Passover lamb on the Temple Mount.  However, they were denied in large part because of the coronavirus.  This month they were afforded the opportunity to celebrate the rite based on the possibility of a second Passover (Num 9:10-11).  Nonetheless, their plans did not materialize.  The first attempt would have taken place on the 14^th of Nisan (April 8, 2020).  The second would have happened on the 14^th of Iyar (May 8, 2020).   

Update from Old City of Jerusalem

Ariel Schalit/AP

NPR: The coronavirus did not stop the tradition of the Holy Fire on Saturday, the centuries-old ceremony held annually at the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem the day before Easter on the Eastern Orthodox Christian calendar. But some adjustments were made.

Usually tens of thousands of pilgrims pack the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and surround the Edicule, the inner sanctum that houses the spot where tradition says Jesus was entombed and resurrected.

This year, no pilgrims attended. The church has been closed to visitors since last month, as all houses of worship in the Holy Land have shuttered their doors.

The ceremony was broadcast live to tens of thousands of Orthodox Christian believers around the world. Clergy from Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Coptic and Syriac churches were represented at the ceremony, with a few Israeli policemen standing guard.

Update from the Temple Mount

The Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa will continue to be closed during the month of Ramadan because of the coronavirus.  The mount has been closed since March 23.  Ramadan begins this year (2020) on Thursday April 23 and ends May 23.  The New Moon marks the beginning of the month in which Muslims are called to fast, pray, and faith.  Although the call to prayer will still be heard five times a day from the location, and workers will be allowed to undertake tasks, Muslim prayer will be prohibited, which sometimes draws 10,000s each day during Ramadan.  Muslims are encouraged to observe Ramadan in their homes.   

When I visited Jerusalem in May 2018, the Old City was often crowded with people.

There especially were a lot of young people.  I love taking pictures of faces.  I am not sure the person in the middle saw me taking this one, but she certainly looks a little surprised.  

Update on the Temple Mount

Although large groups of worshipers have not been allowed to gather at various holy sites in Jerusalem, because of the coronavirus, a few smaller events did take place: 1) a small gathering of Christians met at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Easter Day to pray; 2) another small group of Jewish worshippers prayed the Priestly Blessing at the Western Wall during the Passover; and 3) another group of Jewish worshipers performed the Omer wave offering from the barley harvest; they had hoped to celebrate the rite on the Temple Mount which was empty, but were prevented to do so; nonetheless, they are preparing and hoping to be able to perform an alternative Passover offering next month on the Temple Mount, and hope to offer two loaves of bread for the offering of firstfruits along with two lambs during Shavuot (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost). 

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A small number of Jewish worshipers pray during the priestly blessing, a traditional prayer which usually attracts thousands of worshipers at the Western Wall on the holiday of Passover, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 12, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun.

Easter Reflection 2020

Fifty Days Forward (Easter to Pentecost)

“He rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven.”  This saying from the Nicene Creed reflects 1 Corinthians 15:4.  In Genesis, God brought forth vegetation from the earth on day three (Gen 1:11-13).  Christ himself is the firstfruits that arose from the earth on the third day (1 Cor 15:20), yet this hope is also for a restored Israel who turns to God in the last days (Hos 6:2).  In Second Temple Judaism, the fifty days between the Jewish Feast of Passover and the Feast of Shavuot (Weeks) came to be known as Feast of Pentecost.  In Early Christianity, the time between Easter and Pentecost Sunday was also fifty days.  Pentecost was not an isolated feast day.  The fifty days from the resurrection of Christ, the firstfruits, to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the firstfruits (Rom 8:23) is Pentecost. 

On the 16th of Nisan, a lamb was offered along with the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest, which was taken from the land of Israel (Lev 23:9-14).  After counting 50 days, an offering of firstfruits (two loaves) was presented to the Lord on the Feast of Shavuot, Weeks, Pentecost (vv. 15-22).