Is this reality or am I dreaming? Isn´t life like a dance?
sister watching some of her commuity members on shabbat dancing some
jewish traditional dances.
These additional thoughts came to my mind as I looked at the picture:
LIVING THE DANCE OF LIFE...
being active…and…passiv
giving… and…receiving
experiencing ups… and…downs
observing…and…acting.
Sometimes life seems static…and other times…
everything seems... in motion.
Passion... and... compassion
joy... and... pain
cruxifiction... and... resurrection...
reality... and ...dreams...
are dancing...the Dance of Life.
The dance of duality.
II. THE COMMUNITY OF THE BEATITUDES
... is a catholic community, where consacrated brothers and sisters as
well as families and lay single persons live a god centered life
together.
They have a special emphasis on integrating the Jewish roots into
their Christian life. And even though they are not allowed to
evangelize in Israel - in general this is forbidden by the state of
Israel to Christians - I heard from them, that a lot of Jews do
appreciate their examples very much... (there is a lot of
reconciliation work to do for Christians, since the Jews were
continuosly accused of being guilty for Jesus death (which of course
makes them feel either guilty or angry)and for instance during the
crusader times countless Jews were killed by the Christians... So
looking at History, it is important for Christians to ask for
forgiveness, to act in a loving way, to reach out to Jews and to try
to understand them, their culture and traditions better and thus
understanding also Christianity better... Jesus was raised as a
Jew...)
BR. JOSEPH...ONE RADICAL EXAMPLE
One "radical" positive example whom I met myself is JOSEPH. He is
coming from Libanon. LIBANON! This is the first "miracle" since
normally it is practically impossible for people of Libanon to enter
Israel and vice versa. But Joseph is not only from Libanon, he is also
Catholic (mostly people would think he must be a Muslim... even
though in Libanon live about 50 % Christians), on top he is a Brother
(meaning that he made vows of chastity, poverty and obedience etc) in
the Catholic Community of Beatitudes that has a strong emphasis on and
love for Israel, its people, roots and religion...
Normally people coming from an arabic culture are not exactly fond of
the Israeli/ Jewish culture... But imagine... Now comes a Brother to
Israel (looking like an Arab), with a passport from a country which
indicates that normally it is forbidden to ever enter Israel,... and
he even studies hebrew... and talks it well. He prays and sings in
hebrew, celebrates the shabbat (in the community the shabat is
celebrated every weekend and in Israel many times community members
also go to Synagoges and are invited by Jews to Shabat meals) ..
Finally as the "top of the crown" this Brother Joseph even dances
Jewish folklore dances with delight(also another tradition that the
Community of Beatitudes emphasises) ...
Examples like Br. Joseph are really shattering every imaginable
picture, especially for Jews that - seing Joseph - imagine there could
not be some one more apart from their culture and religion. But here
he is, connecting to them... even in their language... hebrew.
This is happening!... Right now!... On our beloved PLANET EARTH.
...And.. brother Joseph is only ONE of the many examples that make the
Community of Beatitudes as special as they are. Every one is unique...
and every one is trying in his way to live according to Gods will in
the best possible way. And I am very thankful I got a chance to meet
some of them in their Community near Jerusalem.
For more information on the Beatitudes please check out their official
website: www.beatitudes.org
