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Tonight we had a prayer session for the
current situation in the Holy Land. With the current situation becoming worse
and worse in that area, our prayer was for hope and for peace in the land.
We started with an excerpt from an Italian journalist interviewing the Patriarch of Israel, the same person who celebrated our combined Aussie WYD mass in St. Catherine’s at Bethlehem. He was urging everybody to pray for the situation and the people.
Our reflection led to a brief historical overview of the Holy Land by Bishop David Cremin. He noted the struggles of people Israel, having to constantly be evicted from their land, and finally returning again, coinciding with their struggle with God. The Muslim side was also a struggle, for power and control over the region.
Maria read from a passage of a book called My Enemy Myself written by an Israeli who posed as a Palestinian to find out what it was like to live with them. He found out about the fear of living under armed rule, and as a Palestinian, there was little else but fear to live with.
Upon reflecting on the images that the media has portrayed us of the conflict, we pray for the people – what they are feeling, what they are suffering, and even how we can do something about it.
Selena has also informed Sinbad tours, the people who showed us the Holy Land, of our prayers for them. Hopefully that will be an encouragement to keep spreading the Good News to other pilgrims that will return in the future.