From the Library of Deacon Mike:
"Patience is not waiting passively. Patience asks us to live the moment to the fullest, to be where we are, to trust that the treasure we look for is hidden in the ground on which we stand."
At the recommendation of Sr. Mary Ann Strain, C.P., a member of the retreat team at Holy Family Retreat House in West Hartford, CT I recently read a book entitled Abraham: a Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths by Bruce Feiler. In a world that is afflicted with so much division I was longing to read a book that would lead me to a path of wholeness. Sr. Mary Ann is one of those people to whom I can turn when I need someone to bring a sense of peace amidst so much turmoil, a sense of reason when everything seems so irrational. And, once again, she was able to do that for me by recommending this book, which now I highly recommend to you. Sr. Mary Ann reviewed this book in a periodical entitled "Retreat Forward" published by the Passionist Community, and rather than attempting my inadequate summary, permit to share her words with you, which I am sure you will find truly inspiring.
"Reverend Petra Heldt is a German Lutheran minister who moved to Israel in the 1970's to work to improve Jewish Christian relations. She is part of one of the few small groups in the region who is searching for common ground within Judaism, Christianity and Islam. She and others believe that Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, the spiritual forefather of the New Testament and the father of Muslims, can be this ground.
Heldt has an unusual habit of keeping her hands tucked between her legs to hide them. The reason is that they are covered in grafts. In 1977 she was almost incinerated by a suicide bomber as she was shopping for dinner in Jerusalem. The attack did not send her running for cover in a safer country but left her more committed than ever to working for peace where she was more and more convinced that violence and military action are not the way to achieve it.
Since 9/11 we have all struggled on one level or another with the same questions and emotions as Petra Heldt. How do I go on with my life in a world that no longer feels safe? How can I understand people who seem to have motivations that are completely different from mine? Where did all of this bitterness and mistrust come from and can it ever be healed?
Bruce Feiler, the author of Abraham: a Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths, is an award winning writer and journalist who has made a career of exploring other cultures. It was the events of 9/11, Feiler says, that motivated him to explore the hearts of the three faiths and to try to determine whether this shared ancestor, the first person to understand that there is only one god, might be a vessel of reconciliation.
The author, who is Jewish, made his way to prominent sites in Abrahamic history, from the desert of Beersheba to Jerusalem to the patriarch's tomb in Hebron. He conversed with imams, bishops and rabbis. The result of this exploration is a spectacular biography of Abraham. Feiler hoped to find an Abraham that could serve as a bridge for all the faithful. Instead he encountered a multitude of Abrahams as the interpretive texts of each tradition shaped and reshaped the story, making Abraham exclusively theirs. If you are trying to understand the roots of tension in the Middle East you need to look no further than the final half of this book where Feiler explains how these different interpretations of the Abraham story led to a millennia of hatred and misunderstanding culminating in the Holocaust and in the ever spiraling violence of today's world.
Yet Abraham's greatest legacy, his deep longing for God remains a profound force in the lives of all of his descendants. Feiler hopes that this book will spark interfaith conversations and that Abraham, so long interpreted by the three religions in ways that separated them from one another, can at last bring us to a place where God's blessings can be shared by all."
May this book be as meaningful to you as it is to me.
Mike
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