Day Twenty-Three: Christians in the Middle East, Music & Carpentry

I also visited St. Mary's Pro-cathedral today.

The feast of the day is the Sacred Heart of Jesus that celebrates the merciful, forgiving and healing love of God.  Today's preacher was the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal.  Now there's a job!  How would you like to have his job?  He spoke about suffering, fear and the Christian hope that dispels fear.  It was important for the whole Church to hear him and for him to receive the message of solidarity that comes with celebrating the Eucharist together. 

My dad used to refer to the Liturgy of the Wandering Mind and it is true.  It is hard for our minds not to wander.  Sometimes those wanderings are the effect of the pixelated lives we lead and sometimes they lead us to places we need to be in prayer. 

Today I really appreciated the effort put into music at this Congress.  Some music has been composed, and other music has been assembled.  The effect has been very beautiful.  While rhythm is not lacking in Irish music -- think of jigs and reels, melody is what has been an outstanding gift to the rest of the world.  And the music we have sung this week has certainly contained beautiful melodies. 

Sometimes I grab the bus and other times I walk home from the Royal Dublin Society grounds where the Congress is taking place.  If I am walking I vary my route.  Dublin is filled with old townhomes, some 2, some 3 and others 4 storeys.  They come from the Georgian period of architecture and have characteristically large windows and wood-panelled doors.  The doors are traditionally painted vivid colours.  Around the doors is beautiful millwork -- wooden pillars and trim.  I came across a sign in front of one of these townhouses today announcing work being done by a custom millwright, except the sign used the traditional term, "joiner".  It was great to see that these old homes are supporting some people still in the practice of traditional woodworking trades.  Not only was Jesus a carpenter but it is good for many of us to feel our work in our hands, something that happens far too little today. 

To bring healing to the world we need to know something of love and beauty.  Let us have recourse to the love being written on our hearts at all times.