A few days ago I was given the chance of a lifetime. My "boss" chaplain decided to take my assistant and I (and a few others) on a 2 day retreat to the ancient city of Ur. To be honest, before doing some research on Iraq this summer and reading my Bible a bit more closely, if someone told me about the ancient city of Ur I would have no idea what they were talking about. You may feel the same way right now. What is the big deal about the city of Ur? Well, for Christians and Jews it is most famous for being the birthplace of Abraham. Whether this is THE Ur that Abraham was born at or not is uncertain. Currently, archeologists seem to think it is. To think that I walked on the same ground that Abraham walked on thousands of year ago. Also, to think that this city existed a long time before he was born is even more difficult to imagine. To be honest, I did not fully appreciate the fact that I was in such an historic place. It will take some time to sink in. Above you find a picture of me in from of the large ziggurat that is on the site. It may be hard to see me as I am wearing camouflage (I thought that was funny for some reason). The other picture is of the reported home of Abraham. The sad part about the site was that much of it has not been studied yet. There is so much more there to be discovered. Of course, with war being a daily reality here scientists are not able to study the site in peace. It just goes to show that we need to pray for peace all the more.
Lord, may the example and faith of Abraham inspire followers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism to settle our differences through love and reasoned discussions rather than violence. We all call Abraham our father in faith. Never let faith be used as an excuse for violence. Inspired by Abraham, may we all live in this world in peace. To learn more about the site,
click here.
# posted by Fr. Mark Beran : 00:39
A few days ago I was given the chance of a lifetime. My "boss" chaplain decided to take my assistant and I (and a few others) on a 2 day retreat to the ancient city of Ur. To be honest, before doing some research on Iraq this summer and reading my Bible a bit more closely, if someone told me about the ancient city of Ur I would have no idea what they were talking about. You may feel the same way right now. What is the big deal about the city of Ur? Well, for Christians and Jews it is most famous for being the birthplace of Abraham. Whether this is THE Ur that Abraham was born at or not is uncertain. Currently, archeologists seem to think it is. To think that I walked on the same ground that Abraham walked on thousands of year ago. Also, to think that this city existed a long time before he was born is even more difficult to imagine. To be honest, I did not fully appreciate the fact that I was in such an historic place. It will take some time to sink in. Above you find a picture of me in from of the large ziggurat that is on the site. It may be hard to see me as I am wearing camouflage (I thought that was funny for some reason). The other picture is of the reported home of Abraham. The sad part about the site was that much of it has not been studied yet. There is so much more there to be discovered. Of course, with war being a daily reality here scientists are not able to study the site in peace. It just goes to show that we need to pray for peace all the more. Lord, may the example and faith of Abraham inspire followers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism to settle our differences through love and reasoned discussions rather than violence. We all call Abraham our father in faith. Never let faith be used as an excuse for violence. Inspired by Abraham, may we all live in this world in peace. To learn more about the site, click here.