20th June, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark - No Comments
I’m writing this from a boat anchored off Mykonos. Perhaps I should say a ship because it’s a very big boat. In fact, compared to anything St Paul took to sea in, this is enormous. But compared to the vast floating hotel anchored close to us, our vessel looks puny.
I’ve been saying to the pilgrims that this isn’t a cruise; it’s a voyage…a pilgrimage across the water from Athens to Ephesus via Mykonos, Rhodes and Patmos. This Aegean world became the Apostle’s natural habitat. For much of his missionary life, he moved in a triangle made up of Corinth in the west, Ephesus in the east and Macedonia (Philippi and Thessalonica) in the north….with a lot of water and islands in the middle.
Sea travel in Paul’s day was such a precarious business that he often preferred to go overland. It may have taken longer and been much harder work, but it was less hazardous than sea travel in an age when ships hadn’t mastered the art of tacking into the wind which was always adverse in the sailing season if travelling in the Mediterranean from east to west or south to north. If the wind were adverse, as it often was, then you could be becalmed for days or weeks. Even when the wind was favourable, the ships were small, hard to steer and very unstable even on the mill-pond of the Mediterranean. They tended to stick as close as possible to the shore or to lurch from island to island as best they could. (more…)
We’re a motley group of pilgrims. Meeting for the first time in Sydney international terminal, tentative smiles and nods, acknowledging the distinctive carry on bags that identified us all. Some of us had met at the briefing meeting- others were meeting for the first time. As we nudged forward in the check-in queue I saw a hand waving a long way down the line - it was Fr Francise, shepherding the Canberra group.
We met again in the departure lounge- Fr Francise resplendent in a green and gold Australia bucket hat, Archbishop Francis moving gingerly onto the plane and the long journey to Athens. We’re off!
“Love and move inwards, discover your will. Shed heart’s invasions and the mind’s harsh control” Pope John Paul II.
We have a pilgrim journal and to reflect on the import of each day takes discipline as we move in the footsteps of St Paul. (more…)
20th June, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark - 1 Comment
The island of Rhodes has a long and colourful history, much of which is on show as you stroll through the town and visit its monuments as we did today. In places like Rhodes, you realise that the ancient world didn’t vanish. It may have been demolished in a sense, but the bits and pieces were all gathered up and reconfigured in later times. We have no idea, for instance, what happened to the Colossus of Rhodes after its destruction in an earthquake well before the Christian era. It was so huge (and even huger if we includes pedestals etc) that it couldn’t simply have vanished. In all likelihood, its many fragments were reincorporated in various ways into the town we now see. It’s the same with the pagan gods. They didn’t vanish; they were reconfigured.
