Holy week and Easter Saturday

My dear Friends

I can't believe that we have come to the end of Holy Week and Easter, and the Risen Christ, is upon us. This week has been a bit of a whirlwind, as I have bowed to the Spirit and let god lead me through all sorts of encounters with different faith groups. It started on Palm Sunday, when i was unexpectedly asked to read as the third voice of the Passion, the events leading up to, and including the death of Jesus on the Cross.

Palm Sunday and Good (really meaning Holy) Friday are always difficult and painful days for a Jewish Christian, when you feel torn between your love for your own Jewish people and your love for your Lord(explains why the Gospel of John can be seen as controversial.) But of course they are not contradictory, far from it as the Jews still have a role to play in the history of salvation, something which has meant more to me now that I have been twenty four years in the Catholic Church. (It was on this Saturday that i was baptised and confirmed.) And speaking out the different voices in Church last Sunday  I became more aware of the battle between Good and Evil, which was not just played out on the particular but continues on the universal plane.

Tuesday I was with my friends in the little Independent Evangelical Church round the corner from my home, where i have a close relationship with the Pastor and his wife. Tuesday evening was pure JOY as I joined the Beth Shalom Jewish community round the communal Seder table for the Jewish Passover and relished in the singing. I met friends, old an new as we recounted the Exodus from Egypt, the liberation of the people from bondage to redemption and sorrow to joy-we enjoyed the traditional four cups of wine and opened the door for Elijah and the heralding of the Messiah.

In between these two events I learned that my very dear friend, Sr Jane, had just died. I had no time to grieve as i prepared for the Seder, but reflected it was a most timely moment for her to enter her heavenly home on Passover and Holy week, as she loved the Jewish people and came to all of my passover meals that I presented in the Church, arriving two hours ahead in order to lay out tables with all the ritual food. Not only was she loved in the parish, but in the wider community and as well as having a heart for Israel and justice, she was often helping the poor and marginalised, often in hidden ways.

To be continued!

By the time i write the next instalment it will be Easter ans xtill Passover.

Chag Sameach and Krystos Voskreas-Christ is Risen!

Shalom from Gila 

Habemus papem-we have a Pope!

My dear Friends

There was a cartoon in the paper last week. Coming out of the Papal chimney was smoke-not white or black, but pink! The caption read-'It's a girl!'

Well, the church has not yet become that revolutionary but we do have a slightly unusual man at the top. Pope Francis I seems a holy, good and above all, humble man, who chose the name of Francis after St Francis of Assisi. A Saint devoted to joyful poverty he is beloved round the world and crosses the divide of all religions and cultures. He is the attributed author of Make me a channel of your peace, a poem and song dedicated to bringing love out of hatred, joy out of sorrow, healing and reconciling misunderstandings and anger-so very close to my own heart and mission.

Apparently the new Pope, on his first day at the Vatican, asked the chauffeur to drive him into town. He stopped at the hotel he had stayed in before the Conclave (election of the Pope), paid his bill and carried his own bags out. He paused to talk to passers by, on their way to work or school.

No-one is underestimating the huge task which lies ahead, not only to reform the governing body of cardinals in the Vatican itself, but to heal the wounds of abuse and hopefully address the question of human sexuality in a deeper way, while not compromising the central tenets of the faith. Apparently he has declared that we must respect everyone.

My own deepest wish is that he moves on the process of Jewish Christian reconciliation, begun in earnest in the last fifty years, and that he reaches out to other faiths and to those who have none.He is praying for everyone in his heart.As a Jesuit he has the intellectual capacity, as well his obvious prayerfulness to make inroads into the enormous task he faces. His sense of humour will serve him well.

Shalom from Gila

Benigna

My dear Friends

Since I last posted a text, there has been some sad news. My landlady of sixteen years and my dear friend, Benigna, has passed away.At times she was as close to me as my own mother.

I lived with Benigna for sixteen years, from 1987 until 2003, when i moved over the river from her house in the South of Cambridge to the North and my present flat. The years with her in the big house were important and formative. People from all the world used to stay there and feel welcome.

Born into an upper middle class English family, who could boast Rab Butler amongst its members, Benigna went to the Royal College of Music in her early twenties to study piano. She distinguished herself and became a valued accompanist to many musicians, including myself-I used to sing with her and we gave small concerts together, initially for Peace and Reconciliation.It was in her house the I made the official foundation of The Little Sisters of Joy with the help of a French friend on 7th March 1999.

Benigna was an avid supporter of the Liberal Democrats and the orange flag which used to fly outside our house at election time stood out in what was mainly a Tory neighbourhood.She was a regular attender at Trumpington parish Church and I went to the Midnight Service with her in the Christmas of 1999. When I became a Catholic she was very supportive, being naturally deeply ecumenical.

I have many happy memories of sitting on the lawn in her extensive garden with a variety of friends. Benigna also hosted many of the musical events in the Jewish community, as she had married a German Jew, the distinguished professor Herman Lehmann, during the war. She had four children, three of whom survive-her daughter Fardijah, lives in Cambridge and there is also a granddaughter with several children.

Benigna's passing really marks the end of an era-she shaped and changed many peoples' lives. Her name means kindness and no better person could embody this. She will be truly missed.

Shalom from Gila