Jerusalem Day 23 (Tuesday, 24th)

Another bright and sunny day in Jerusalem - well it was for some of the day because later on there were clouds in the sky, some rain in the afternoon and a chill in the air as evening approached.

Today we had three more sessions with Pino di Luccio on Matthew's Gospel as we explored more of Chapters 13-20 and 'discovered' how the Parables in Ch 13 were being expanded in the folowing chapters. We had done some of the work on Monday but today was further exploration.

Then we headed into the next Chapters and found that the 7 parables listed there also expand on what we have done already. It is facinating as we see the Hebrew Scriptures being expanded in these passages and how the early community would have understood so much of what was being presented with the simple phrases which Matthew's Gospel uses to lead them into a deeper understanding of what was being told. So sad that I have not been as aware of all of this as I ought over the years.

I was able to do a little job for Sr Bernadette after lunch and managed to add some songs to her little MP3 player - it took me a time to work out what to do but I managed to work it out. I now have to type up the instructions so that she is able to access the songs and add them herself.

Then it was time for our afternoon session with Elio Passeto, a brother of Sion we had met on almost our first day -  he had been our guide to Mt Scopus and the Mt of Olives. Today he started to provide a background to the Jewish origins of our faith and tomorrow will continue to lead us through some of the material from the Second vatican Council and how that material will help us further deepen our understanding of who we are as Church.

I know that sounds a little simple but his style and the style of all of our lecturers has been challenging because they are inviting us to look at another aspect of our faith.

Now bed - I've downloaded the update for iOS7 and will await what the new pages/screens will look like