Slept reasonably well and didn't get too hassled by the call to prayer at 4.30am.
After breakfast we had a time of prayer and met a couple of the people who had been late arriving intoJerusalem from their travels. We also had the opportunity to reflect on three questions and then share our responses with others in the group.
The first was - who is my favourite female in the Bible? I chose Ruth for a whole range of reasons. The 2nd was - who is my favourite male - this time I chose Thomas the Apostle for his wonderful capacity to ask the question we all want to ask.
The final question was - what did I hope to get out of the program? - we'd earlier read a passage from Zephaniah which spoke of taking the scroll and eating it and it being as sweet as honey.
Then we did some work on Liturgy for the evening Mass and some more introduction and awareness of the Centre and people involved.
After lunch we did some work in preparation for our first formal session on Jewish Feasts. This is important because tomorrow night the Jewish New Year is celebrated (well at least it is one of 4 New Years celebrated by the Jews) and that leads towards Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Our lecturer was Dr Marcie Lenk and she led us through an understanding of Rosh HaShanah - tomorrow's feast - and provided us with a good background to what will happen.
Then we had the Opening Mass in the Basilica and that was grand. The celebrant was Fr Lionel Goh OFM from the Franciscan Community (next door) and he was both gentle and brilliant in his explanation of the scripture and the celebrations ahead.
Now bed and hopefully another good sleep.
The Basilica
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