January 13, 2010



Pope Benedict XVI issued an urgent appeal for help for the people of Haiti at the conclusion of his regular weekly public audience on Wednesday, January 13. He called attention to the “tragic situation” created by a major earthquake that has caused “serious loss of human life, large numbers of homeless and missing people, and vast material damage.” Promising his prayers for the victims and their families, the Pope added: “I appeal to the generosity of all people so that these our brothers and sisters who are experiencing a moment of need and suffering may not lack our concrete solidarity and the effective support of the international community.” He said that Catholic charities would respond as quickly and generously as possible.

Haiti’s capital, Port au Prince, was devastated by the earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale. Thousands of people are feared dead, hundreds of buildings destroyed, and as many as 3 million people in need of emergency relief. Haiti is the most impoverished country in the Western hemisphere, and the slum outside Port au Prince, Citi Soleil, is home to tens of thousands of people already living in dire poverty.

Keindahan Kisah Kisah Lama

Di dalam sebuah buku yang hebat, ‘The Force of Character’ James Hillman mengongsikan cerita ini: Pada satu petang semasa dia masih kecil, dia sedang duduk untuk mendengar pakciknya yang sudah berusia untuk mendengar cerita-cerita dongeng.

Dia berasa marah apabila pakciknya mulai bercerita kisah yang telah diberitahu beberapa kali sebelum ini: “Pakcik sudah pun memberitahu cerita tersebut,” sungut Hillman. “Saya suka menceritakannya!” balas pakciknya pula dan sambil merungut pakciknya berkata, “Apa salahnya memberitahu cerita itu sekali lagi!”

Pada ketika itu, jawaban balas si pakcik hanya membuatkan Hillman berasa geram dan marah. Setelah sekian lama masa berlalu, apabila dia lebih memahami kehidupan dan keperibadian, barulah Hillman menghargai mengapa pakciknya harus menceritakan dan mengulangi semula cerita-cerita yang sama: “Dia tahu betapa indahnya perkaraperkara yang sama.” Betapa gembiranya dan betapa hebatnya anugerah dari cerita-cerita yang diulang berkali-kali itu.

Kita tidak hanya mewujudkan persahabatan dengan orang lain dan diri kita sendiri dengan hal-hal yang baru dan segar sahaja. Perkara-perkara ini adalah tidak kekal dan tidak mudah dicapai. Sekiranya kita berbual dengan orang lain hanya ketika kita mempunyai perkara baru untuk dikongsikan atau minat yang sama, sudah tentu suasana di meja makan akan sunyi. Perbualan juga akan kurang sinis dan lucu.

Kita tidak hanya memupuk persahabatan melalui sesuatu yang baru dan minat bersama, paling penting, kita mengukuhkan hidup keluarga, lingkungan persahabatan dan rakanrakan di tempat kerja, dengan bercerita dan menceritakan semula kisah-kisah yang telah lama tidak kedengaran, gurau senda dan kisahkisah lucu yang lama mempunyai nilai-nilai cerita, kelucuan dan ciri humornya yang tersendiri.

Hillman menerangkan perkara ini dengan bijak: Dia memanggil keadaan ini sebagai kegembiraan perkara-perkara yang biasa.Beliau juga membincangkan perkara ini dengan merenungkannya dari sudut falsafah, di mana beliau menekankan nilai amalan pengulangan tersebut.

Beliau mengambil petikan dari Gilles Deleuze, seorang ahli falsafah Perancis, yang pernah mengatakan bahawa pengulangan ini boleh menjadi satu cara untuk meraikan sesuatu yang menekankan kepentingan sifat cerita tersebut.

Dengan menceritakan sesuatu dan menekankan kepentingannya berkali-kali, pengulangan ini secara seninya merupakan satu pujian yang memuliakan. Pengulangan menguatkan sesuatu peristiwa dengan mengingati keaslian kisah tersebut; pengulangan ini adalah berbeza dengan ‘menghasilkan semula’.

‘Menghasilkan semula’ hanyalah menggantikan cerita asal, dan ini hanyalah membuatkan pengulangan cerita menjadi lemah, kurang ceria dan keaslian cerita yang semakin hilang.

Hillman menambah sedikit doksologi di dalam pujian yang berulang- ulang: Tidak ada yang lebih membosankan selain berlatih skala atau mengira dan mengulangi zikir. Namun di dalam kecekapan seni, keberkesanan doa, keindahan upacara dan kuasa keperibadian bergantung kepada pengulangan yang dipandang remeh, tanpa usaha bersungguh-sungguh di dalam pengulangan ini, semuanya tidak akan berguna.

Ramai di antara kita tahu apa yang dimaksudkan dengan pengulangan. Kita mempunyai saudara mara, rakan-rakan dan kenalan di mana kita dihiburkan dan berasa marah apabila kisah-kisah lama, gurau senda, kisah-kisah lucu diulang berkali-kali sehingga pengulangan kisah-kisah ini mempunyai cerita tersendiri dan menjadi satu ‘watak’ yang tersendiri.

Cerita-cerita lama ini menjengkelkan atau menyatukan kita. Lama kelamaan pengulangan ceritacerita ini menjadi kebiasaan. Adakalanya pengulangan cerita membuatkan kita marah dan ingin membantah tetapi, seperti Hillman, akhirnya kita menghargai kisah yang diulang-ulang ini kerana ia merapatkan ikatan kekeluargaan, persahabatan, komuniti di mana kita memerlukan keceriaan, jenaka, satu tabiat dan satu kelainan yang menjadi satu cerita tersendiri. Kita tidak hidup kerana wujud perkara-perkara baru sahaja, tetapi setiap kisah yang diulangi, memperlihatkan ironi dan warna-warni kehidupan seharian kita.

Keluarga saya sendiri, sememangnya terkenal dengan amalan pengulangan ini, satu kualiti yang tidak selalunya membuatkan saya bangga namun secara umumnya, saya menyukainya. Kami adalah keluarga yang selalu gembira dengan perkara-perkara yang biasa. Semasa keluarga berhimpun dan berada di meja makan, selepas bertahun-tahun, kebanyakan cerita dan gurau senda diceritakan kembali berulang kali.

Tidak semua cerita itu dihargai. Selalunya kedengaran keluhan (“Oh Tuhan, takkanlah dia hendak mengulangi cerita itu lagi!”) atau sungutan Hillman semasa dia kecil (“Awak sudah pun menceritakan kisah itu sebelum ini!”).

Namun, secara keseluruhannya, cerita-cerita, ejekan, jenaka lama, pengetahuan lama didengar sekali lagi dengan penuh gembira, di dalam cara yang baru oleh mereka yang menceritakannya semula dan mereka yang mendengarnya sekali lagi. Semasa di meja makan, apa yang membosankan dan mengukuhkan hubungan keluarga, bukan sahaja perkara-perkara yang baru dan minat bersama, tetapi, adakalanya kerana menceritakan semua kisah-jenaka dan kisah lama yang mengingatkan semula sejarah dan sikap kita suatu ketika dahului.

Kami telah kehilangan seorang abang yang amat dikasihi pada musim panas lalu, semasa majlis pengkebumiannya, tiga orang anaknya yang kini telah dewasa telah memberikan ucapan penghormatan.

Banyak perkara yang telah diucapkan dan mereka menekankan sikap bapa mereka yang sangat prihatin dan komited terhadap Gereja, komitmen bersungguh-sungguhnya dalam isu-isu (ekologi, hak-hak orang peribumi, hak-hak wanita) dan sifat kelakar si bapa terutama apabila dia mengulangi bahagian cerita yang penting, berulang kali seperti orang lain tidak pernah mendengarnya sebelum itu: “Anda tidak akan terlepas” kata anak-anaknya, “Dia akan mengulangi cerita itu berkali-kali sehingga dia pasti anda memahaminya!”

Namun, ini bukanlah sebab utama kita mengulangi cerita-cerita yang penting. Kita mengulanginya atas sebab yang sama yang menyebabkan pakcik kepada Hillman begitu bersemangat mengulangi cerita-cerita itu: Kita suka menceritakannya semula! Kita menikmati keindahan ceritacerita yang sama. Meskipun orang lain tidak suka mendengarnya, namun ia tetap dihargai. — Paderi Ron Rolheiser

Dikutip Dari Malaysia Herald Online

Christian archaeologist in Jordan invites believers to site of Jesus’ baptism

January 6th, 2010

By Rick DelVecchio

(PHOTO BY RICK DELVECCHIO/CATHOLIC SAN FRANCISCO)

Jordanian archaeologist Rustom Mkhjian on the banks of the Jordan River

He says there is compelling evidence that a spot just east of the river is the site of Jesus’baptism as noted in John 1:28.

BETHANY BEYOND THE JORDAN, Jordan – The dignitaries drove through the underbrush in a caravan of 13 golf carts. In the third vehicle was Pope Benedict XVI. He was taking the path of countless pilgrims before him in coming in physical contact with St. John’s wilderness and the site near the Jordan River where Jesus is said to have been baptized.

Welcoming the Holy Father was Rustom Mkhjian, a Catholic Jordanian of Armenian descent who serves as the site’s assistant director and is supervisor of archaeological works for the Jordanian royal commission that oversees it.

Mkhjian, greeting Christian journalists on a Jordan Tourism Board-sponsored press tour in September, recounted his bold invitation to the pope last May 10. He said how he believes that John’s wilderness – the legendary meeting place of the Old and New Testaments, the crossroads of the prophets from Joshua to Jesus, the site of monastic grottoes said to include the envangelist’s cave – is the wellspring of the faith and deserves to be the pre-eminent pilgrimage site in Christianity.

“One of the things I said to the pope was, ‘Christianity started here,” Mkhjian said. “Peter, according to the Bible, was one of the four apostles who accompanied Jesus when he was baptized, so Christianity spread all over.”

The pope “thanked us honestly,” the curator of the wilderness said, recalling how he chatted with the Holy Father about some of the early and medieval pilgrims who documented that believers converged on the site over at least eight centuries. These pilgrims wanted to touch the spot where they were convinced that John had his ministry in the reeds east of the Jordan, opposite a ford where travelers crossed from Jericho. There, near a spring that flowed below the high ground called Elijah’s Hill, tradition holds that Jesus was baptized.

The documentary evidence for the location, Mkhjian said, is in line with the John’s Gospel’s reference to “Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.” According to the evangelist, Jesus reached the site after two days’ journey from Nazareth, was baptized with other penitents and saw the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove as he came out of the water. He heard a voice say, “You are my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” And John said, “Behold, the lamb of God.”

“(The pope) enjoyed and experienced the thing we would like every visitor to experience – the grace of the site and its meaning,” Mkhjian said.

Mkhjian could not be more passionate about his desire that pilgrims of all faiths should touch the baptism site as the pope did. He is part of an effort by the Jordanian government to welcome one million visitors to the site by 2018. Mkhjian is encouraged that the site drew 150,000 pilgrims in 2008, an increase of 53 percent over the previous year, not including the Epiphany celebrations marked at the river every year since 2000.

Jordan’s main airport in Amman is being expanded, there is a new direct flight from Mexico, and there are plans to build three-star hotels on the northeastern shores of the Dead Sea. At the same time, an 87-acre area is dedicated for a building a pilgrims’ village just outside the baptism site, which has strict bylaws not to harm the environment.

“We believe it will once again become a pilgrimage station like it was throughout history, eventually receiving millions of pilgrims annually,” said Mahfouz Kishek, marketing manager for the Jordan Tourism Board.

The baptism site would be the centerpiece of a pilgrimage trail that would include Mekawar Castle, where John was martyred; Madaba, where the Church of St. George preserves the famous 6th century Byzantine map of Holy Land pilgrimage routes; and Mt. Nebo, where God revealed himself to Moses and Moses looked out over the Promised Land. Sites in the north where Jesus preached and performed miracles also may be included.

“Our biggest propaganda and promotion is the Old and New Testament,” Aktel Biltaji, an advisor to King Abdullah II and a former Jordanian tourism minister, told journalists in Amman. “If there is a biblical road map, it’s in Jordan.”

Religious tourism, like most issues in the region, has its political side. Jordan competes for Holy Land sacred space with the Israelis and the Palestinians. Physically separated from East Jerusalem and its holy sites since 1967, the kingdom since its 1994 peace agreement with Israel has been highlighting the religious heritage east of the river.

The baptism site, which competes with Israel’s Qasr el Yahud for the claim, is emerging as Jordan’s greatest international pilgrimage draw. Jordan is promoting the biblical, historical and archaeological evidence for the authenticity of its baptism site, which is backed by testimonials from Christian leaders ranging from U.S. evangelical Pastor Rick Warren to the Archbishop of Canterbury to the patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.

Retracing ancient pilgrimage routes for modern-day believers is an important part of the effort by the Jordanians, who count Elijah as a native son and are proud of the role their land plays in the Bible. But it is not the only goal. Jordanians also value their sacred places, and the baptism site in particular, as symbols of the peaceable common ground between East and West that is too often forgotten amid religious and political conflict.

Mkhjian also made sure the pope knew that side of the story. He noted that of the many churches established on the baptism site, two basilicas were built during the Muslim era. His point: That Christians, although a minority, were free to worship in their own way then as they are in Jordan now. The spirit of acceptance is being renewed as the spires and domes of 10 churches of Christian denominations rise at the baptism site.

“Please spread the word,” Mkhjian asked the visiting journalists. “This is what I personally ask you, because we believe the site has a lot do in building the bridges of love and peace between religions and cultures. We’ve got to raise our voices against the extremists who destroy everything. Let’s not encourage them, let’s talk about co-existence, let’s talk about tolerance.” Mkhjian offered a tour of the site that brought the Bible to life and added an archaeological detective story.

In the biblical chronology, the Jordan at this spot parted for Moses’ deputy Joshua as he crossed from the east to conquer Canaan, and again for Elijah and Elisha as they fled back to the east side to escape Ahab. Elijah was taken up to heaven on a chariot in a fiery whirlwind, and tradition marks the spot as Elijah’s Hill. Later the Babylonian armies crossed the river to besiege Jerusalem. Many centuries passed, and John appeared to call the people to repent in preparation for the arrival of the redeemer.

For Mkhjian, the Gospel, pilgrims’ records and now archaeological evidence converge on a spot 398 meters below sea level where five churches were built one after another over eight centuries. It is the lowest worship site on Earth, Mkhjian remarks – “and the closest to heaven.” The remains of the churches have been revealed since the Jordanians began excavating the site in 1999 after clearing minefields from the 1967 war.

The digging has shown that architects built churches again and again despite devastating earthquakes and floods. What drove them? Mhkjian speculates that it had to be their desire to have a permanent church that would enclose a baptistery like the one where Jesus was anointed.

“We have remains of five churches uniquely designed as baptisteries in a place where we had no community to serve,” Mkhjian said. “Why did they try so hard to build one church after another?”

The exact site of John’s ministry is difficult to determine because the course of the Jordan has changed so much over time and the water level has dried to a virtual trickle. But Mkhjian is convinced that where the churches were built is the likeliest spot. He pinpoints a dry pit revealing ancient foundations that were designed so that flowing water formed the shape of a cross.

“The bottom line,” said Mkhjian, overlooking the cruciform baptistery, “is that is where Jesus was baptized. All the churches are converging to this point. That is what I believe personally.”

As he ended his tour Mkhjian against implored believers to visit the site where the presence of Jesus is tangible.

“We’d like to receive them to make them feel the grace of the site, to see the site the way John and Jesus saw it, because that is the only way to come in physical contact with what you have in the Bible, in the Gospels,” he said. “We welcome all Christians and non-Christians to visit this heritage that belongs to humanity, that was discovered as a result of peace, and we believe this site will build bridges of peace between different cultures throughout the world.”

From January 8, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco.

Catholic San Francisco

Catholic San Francisco

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