The Moscow diaries

Nixtieq naqsam mieghek xi siltiet mid-djarju ta' Moscow, ir-Russja, fejn gejt ingedded l-esperjenza li ghamilt xi ghoxrin sena ilu. 

Dal-gimghat li ilni Moska tghallimt xi tfisser tpoggi lil Alla qabel is-sacerdozju. Mhix facli li tkun qassis kattoliku f'pajjiz prattikament ateju u fejn il-Knisja ortodossa thares lejna b'suspett. 

Qed nahdem hafna ma' qassis irlandiz  li ilu hawn 22 sena - Fr Michael Ryan. Nitghallem hafna minn ghandu ghax ghandu perspettiva fuq l-Essenzjali tal-hajja u t-twemmin kattoliku. Kapaci jaghti l-identita' kattolika f'dak kollu li jaghmel u kapaci jzomm postu fejn tidhol il-Knisja Ortodossa u l-Istat. Il-Knisja u l-Istat saru prattikament haga wahda li jharsu l-interessi ta' xulxin. Qatt ma tisma' kritika mill-Knisja lejn l-Istat u dan minn naha tieghu qed jibni mijiet ta' Knejjes ortodossi f'kull post.

Hawn min jghid li l-Knisja Ortodossa saret qiesha wiehed mid-Dipartimenti tal-Gvern. 

Rublev's Trinity

Ghalkemm dan igib certi vantaggi, imma fil-fatt jeqred il-liberta' biex tghallem il-Vangelu b'mod shih. 

Ovvjament trid tifhem dak li qed jigri fil-kuntest storiku ta' persekuzzjoni sistematika kontra l-knejjes specjalment kontra l-Knisja Ortodossa taht il-Komunizmu ateju. 

Vizta tal-Papa fir-Russja naraha impossibli sakemm ma titbiddielx il-percezzjoni dwar ir-role tal-Papa u l-mod kif tmexxi l-Patrijarkat il-Knisja Ortodossa. Qiesu ma jonqoshom xejn u jistghu jghaddu minghajr Ruma.

Imma x-xewqa ta' Kristu mhix hekk.

Attendejt diversi liturgiji ortodossi u vespri ghand sorijiet ortodossi tal-klawsura. It-tul tac-cerimonji, l-ilbies, il-Knejjes vojta hlief ftit nisa anzjani  jitkellmu wiehedhom. 

Hu zball facli, li naghmel, li nara l-grajjiet t'hawnhekk bl-ghajnejn ta' kattoliku u tal-West.

L-istess grajja hi pprezentata totalment differenti mill-media tal-West u mill-Ahbarijiet hawnhekk. Dak li qed jigri fl-Ukrajina u s-sanzjonijiet huma zewg temi principali li ma temminx li qed nitkellmu fuq l-istess affarijiet. Hawnhekk Putin hu meqjus bhala eroj li qed jaghti dinjita' lir-Russja kontra l-arroganza tal-West. 

Meta jkolli cans nara RT (Russia Today, li hafna ghandhom Malta wkoll), is-CNN, Euronews, TV5, Al Jazeera....u l-istess ahbar, l-istess filmat jaghtik stampa totalment differenti mir-rejalta'.

Ghalhekk importanti li nkunu kapaci nikkritikaw dak li nisimghu fl-ahbarijiet - kull stazzjon ghandu l-agenda tieghu u jipprezenta l-fatti skont min ihallas lill-gurnalisti.

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

L-istess nazzjonalizmu  jezisti fil-Knisja Ortodossa. 

Mhix kwistjonijiet ta' duttrina daqskemm Politika u poter.

Hawnhekk titghallem tmur ghall-essenzjal.

Hadt sehem f'dar privata f'maghmudija u grizma tal-morda. 

Id-djar huma kollha l-istess zghar biex fix-xitwa jinzammu shan u fejn morna ghandhom kamra tas-sodda wahda li jorqdu erba' minn nies.

Id-djar jappartjenu ghall-Istat u l-Istat hu responsabbli ghall-'maintainence'.

Kulhadd ghandu dar u l-istat ihallas sew id-dawl, il-heating u l-affarijiet easenzjali bhal sahha etc Ghandhom 'purchasing power' iktar f'idejhom li hafna drabi jonfquhom fi hwejjeg fis-supermarkets numeruzi u forniti sew bhal tal-West. 

 The Red Square

L-ahhar li gejt xahar Moscow kien xi 20 sena ilu biex naghmel l-istess esperjenza.

It-tibdil li rajt hu enormi. M'inix hawn biex naghmel turizmu. 

Imma bqajt impressjonat kif idejologija tista' tibni socjeta' shiha u li kollox tibda tarah b'dak in-nuccali idejologiku.

Moskow, fejn kont, ghandhom kollox kbir...Il-muzewijiet, il-metro, l-istatwi ghall-Patrija, juru l-kobor tal-imperu russu.

U bhal kull imperu jghaddi zmienu ukoll. Meta mort l-ewwel darba fil-Pjazza l-Hamra kien hemm purcissjoni ma tispicca qatt ta' nies biex jaraw il-gisem ibbalzmat ta' Lenin.

Din id-darba ma kien hemm hadd. Kienu qed jarmaw ghal xi military tatoo ta' kull sena. 

In-nies imutu u jintesew....imma l-Idejali jibqghu.

CELIBACY

Diocesan priests take only one vow on ordination: the vow of obedience to their Bishop.  Chastity and poverty are taken, as vows, by the religious congregations. 

Monks and friars, unlike Diocesan priests, are bound to live in a convent, community, obedient to his or her superior, and bound by a vow of obedience to his or her superior, chastity and poverty. Jokingly we say that “they” do the vows and we diocesan priests live them!

I find the vow of obedience, chastity and poverty very demanding. Looking back on these forty years of my priesthood I can vouch that sometimes these vows are too heavy.  

Without God’s grace, prayers and support of loving people around me I would not have made it. 

Yet I have full respect for priests, monks or sisters who discover God’s will for them is to move on, enter new commitments, leave the priesthood or the convent to build their own family and have their own children. I admire them for their courage and the beautiful families they have. One needs a determined personality to change the horses in mid stream. What is important is not to remain a priest or nun or religious but to do God’s will.  Ignatian rules of discernment give inner freedom, strength, and a vision to choose God not the things of God.  The Consecrated life is a means to an end, not the end itself. 

We were fifty priests ordained together forty years ago…of these fifty, seven died and seven left the priesthood. They are my friends and still very dear to me. 

Sometimes, not to have a wife or children of my own is one thing I find very difficult to live.  Yet I do believe that celibacy has its own witness as Jesus Himself chose to be celibate.  Those who think it’s always easy, they don’t know what they are talking about. 

Once my superior sent for me to inquire why I said publicly that I miss a wife and children. Because that’s my own experience. 

Unfortunately, we lose very good persons who have a vocation to the priesthood and renounce their call because they want to marry, have a wife of their own, children of their own, form a family of their own. The normal vocation of every person is to marry not to live alone. One needs a special call to live otherwise. 

Again Pope Francis comes to my rescue.

Asked in La Repubblica interview about the celibacy rule for priests, Pope Francis recalled that it was adopted 900 years after the death of Jesus Christ and pointed out that the Eastern Catholic Church allows its priests to marry.

"The problem certainly exists but it is not on a large scale. It will need time but the solutions are there and I will find them”

What I feel perturbed about is not that a priest or a sister decides to leave his or her vocation. I know several priests and sisters who now form wonderful exemplary families. I find it difficult to accept how, as it happened to me in Italy, a sister living in a community of love and prayer would not find, not even one sister, to tell her about her pregnancy.

Indeed, to be celibate does not imply to renounce to a tender loving family – that’s why some convents are becoming bare and turned into museums.

Love, even if celibate makes the world go round – even within the Roman Catholic Church.

Fr Colin's Podcast - Il-massakru tal-Palestina: kollu TORT Taghhom...mhemm xejn x'taghmel...

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Fr Colin's Podcast - Meta Tiehu Sehem f'film u Tiltaqa' m'Alla

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Related to the theme of this podcast.
GRAPHIC IMAGE  An example of just how brutal and cruel the war in Gaza can be.
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