Holy Grail - Part 1a - a little side note...

Dear Reader,

I concluded the first blog about the Holy Grail by asking you to keep in mind the name Joseph of Arimathea.  But before commencing the journey of trying to identify what is referred to as the ‘Holy Grail and trace its alleged route to Europe speculating about its current whereabouts, it is befitting to go little bit deeper into the significance of the shedding of blood to both the Jewish and Christian religion.

 Central to the basic belief of both religions is the fact that the fear of death had been broken by the shedding of blood.  In the case of the Jewish religion, when all prior plagues failed to persuade the Pharaoh to let the Jews to leave Egypt and to free them from the bondage of slavery (Exodus 7:14-11:10) God instructed Moses and Aaron (Exodus 12) to tell the Jews to form themselves into extended family groups and each group to take a lamb from its flocks to be sacrificed placing the blood of this sacrificially slaughtered lamb on the door post of all Jewish homes so that when the ‘Angel of death’ sees the blood it will pass over Jewish homes and proceeds to kill the first born male of every Egyptian home starting with the Pharaoh. 

The celebratory meal of  Passover is the meat of this sacrificially slaughtered lamb, the paschal lamb, cooked, dressed or roasted. A paschal lamb whose blood the Angel of death recognised and passed over saved the first born male of every Jewish family from certain death. So what each Jewish family is doing at the celebratory meal is gathering around the table of the Lord eating the body of the Lamb of God.  In the first blog on this subject I quoted the Eucharist that is central to Christian masses - ‘Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you for the forgiveness of sins – Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins’.  Eating the body of Christ, the paschal lamb and drinking the blood result in the forgiveness of sins thus saving the believers. The very same result that the blood of the paschal lamb spilled on the door post of Jewish homes and eating the meat of the carcass of the lamb achieved for the Jews.

There are lots of books written about the four gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John -that are the central pillars of the New Testaments - that tells us by way of narration each Apostles' version of the life of Christ. Narrations are not history and this can be observed when one reads what each of the Apostle had to  say about central events in the Christian calender year. When one keeps in mind that each of the Apostle is a pious Jew that attended synagogue in which the High Priest read the Old Testament or Torah from scroll, it would not be hard to see that what each of the Apostles had narrated are the events that are in the Jewish calendar  year.  Some of those writers go as far to say the Christian calendar year is an embellished copy of the Jewish calendar year.  That is not the subject matter of this blog – perhaps future blog.

Meantime having now established the significance of blood of the Lamb of God as a blotting out the sins of believers and conquering death the quest for the Holy Grail which contained the blood of Christ takes its proper meaning and the historical importance of the quest for the Holy Grail. 

I will conclude this blog in the same manner as I concluded the first blog on this subject matter by asking you dear reader till next time to keep in mind the name Joseph of Arimathea. 

Your $ and the Petrol Pump

Dear Reader,

It is hard to believe that the price per litre of petrol at your local service station increasing by 20 cents or 25 cents depends on the area or the mood of the operator.  This is precisely what takes place in most, if not all, service stations in Australia’s major cities and the surrounding metropolis each week.  This is so regardless whether the world oil price fall or rise on the international market. 'How could this be?' one asks. when there are watchful Federal, State and Territory governments and specialized statutory bodies such as the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) that employs some 813 people with annual budget of $202 million with the armory, penalties and prohibition of the Trade Practices Act?

Let me tell you dear reader what happened to me two weeks ago.  My car takes 68 litres to fill up the tank.  I normally leave home at 6 am and come back around 7:30 or 8 pm.  On Tuesday night the Caltex service station that I normally fill my car was full.  I thought to fill up the following day.  To my astonishment, within less than 24 hours, the price per liter jumped from $1.42 to $1.64!  The 50 litres it took to fill the tank cost me $82 instead of the $71 that it would have cost me 24 hours, and in some cases, a few hours earlier!  My question is: who pocketed the $11?  I am sure that is a question on the mind of every Australian motorist.  If one is on a budget, as most families are, $11 is a significant amount of money.  I felt robbed in broad daylight, but at the time I filled up the light was getting dim. Nevertheless to my mind what is taking place at the service stations amounts to sanctified robbery or robbery with honor.  A robber generally does not distribute the spoils, or loots. If that generality is sound then the spoils goes to the parent company which is a member or perhaps  part of a cartel.

Undoubtedly there had been similar questions asked by irate motorists in the past and convincing explanation and justification given by those in the know on behalf of the cartel.  The fact that the practice still continues on weekly basis and gradually becoming entrenched in the mind of Australian motorists would suggest to me that Australian governments of all persuasion had either being silenced by accepting the explanation given to them by those in the know and regulators, such as the ACCC, told to keep their focus on more susceptible prey. I wonder if motorist in the USA, Europe or the Middle East will keep their silence if they had to pay $11 extra to fill their vehicle tank or the governments in those countries feel they cannot do anything to address the question. Is this daylight robbery in this day and age possible one asks? 

If in fact this practice by the petroleum cartel does not fall under the umbrella of the Trade Practices Act. What is stopping a specifically worded amendment to the Act to ensure it does?  Is anyone there bold enough to make that amendment?  If you wish me to draft such an amendment to the Act I will be honored to do so.            

The Holy Grail - Part 1

Dear Reader,

When I commenced writing my blog, I expressed as one of my interests as Jerusalem, and religious studies.  The subject of the Holy Grail and what had been written about that subject to date falls squarely within the subjects of my interest.  This blog post is devoted to the Christian world interest in and the enigma of the Holy Grail and it will be the first part of series of blogs on that interest and enigma that I will write in due course.

Historically, the Holy Grail had been associated with a cup, a bowl, a container for the blood of Christ that spilled after the Roman Captain Longinus stabbed Christ with his lance on the cross, a bowl from which Christ and all twelve disciples drank at the last supper, a meteorite set at the exterior wall of Kaaba in Mecca, the Shroud of Turin, and in recent time as suggested by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code that the blood in the grail refers to the physical descendant of Christ that may be still be living in the present day.
 In future blog posts, I will write about what eminent dramatist, folkloric tales, and books had been written about the Holy Grail since the return of some of the crusaders back to Europe from the second crusade 1150 onwards. I will commence this post with a brief exploration of the parameters which in future posts sets the boundaries of the interest and the enigma of the Holy Grail.

During mass in all Christian churches regardless of denomination, prayers are said by the priest – ‘Take, eat; this is my body which is broken for you for the forgiveness of sins – Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sins. The priest then asks and implores the Holy Spirit to make the bread the precious Body of Christ and the wine in the chalice the Blood of Christ.  When a parishioner takes communion he or she expects that he is eating the body and blood of Christ and his or her sins which are committed up to that point in time to be forgiven.

Blood - Dracula's Thirst

To this day blood is considered the essence or the vehicle of life.  Historically blood was associated with magical power and food for the likes of Dracula, and supernatural spirits.  There are number of non Christian religions that hold annual festival in which participants undertake self flagellation and she blood in reverence. A typical example is the Holy Ashura festival for the Shia faithful.

The Holy Ashura Festival

In 305 AD the bishop of Benevento Januarius was beheaded under Emperor Diocletian. To this day the Catholic Church hold annual feast day in memory of that occasion.  Two vials containing what is said to be the  blood of now saint Januarius are brought near the head of the saint at a Naples Cathedral. After a time the blood becomes liquid again. This miracle is said to confirm eternal life.  According to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux one drop of Christ, the Savior's blood was sufficient to redeem the whole world.

The Holy Grail, if indeed it did physically exist - its whereabout today, how it got there, and what secrets, if any, are kept deliberately or otherwise by those in the know from the faithful. This is what I will explore in future posts that I will write on that subject. Meantime dear reader keep in mind the name   Joseph of Arimathea. Those of you who are familiar with the Bible will be familiar with  Joseph of Arimathea who sought Pilate permission to take the dead Christ off the cross and bury Him in a grave that he prepared for himself.   

Ramesses II - Cairo Museum 1973

As a fourth year medical student in 1972, I was living in Sydney by myself.  My parents, two brothers and sister having left Australia to live in Lebanon in 1966, I decided to follow the family and live in Lebanon.  A major motivation for this decision was to avoid sitting for a Colloquium Examination in Lebanon to have my qualifications recognized if I were to graduate in Australia.  In retrospect this decision is not the best I made in my life but it had its indirect rewards which I now come to really appreciate and feel the urge to share this appreciation with you fellow readers.

As a student at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1973, I had to come to terms and the reality of regular disturbances and disruptions that were affecting academic life at the campus and nearby American University Hospital.  Gradually those disruptions became more serious, and when Lebanese army tanks moved to the campus, academic life came to standstill.  What was happening in Lebanon in 1973 was a prelude to the Lebanese Civil War which officially commenced on 24 April 1975 lasting till October 1990.
Realizing that I wasted one, and possibly two years I decided to make the best of my time in the Middle East.  In late April 1973, I flew from Beirut to Cairo to see the brother of a dear friend of mine in Sydney, Abdel Tawab Salama.  The trip from Beirut to Cairo is under one hour flying time.  In Cairo I stayed in a hotel that overlooked the Nile.  Two days later I called Saleh Salama and arranged to meet him.  Saleh Salama held a highly responsible and influential position in Cairo Museum.  He invited me to a special tour of the Museum, a tour that I later learned few non officials of the Museum or governmental dignitaries had ever taken.
I recall entering the Museum through special door for staff at the back.  The first part of the tour involved looking at newly excavated artifacts being cleansed and restored by experts.  Next we moved to a section where Saleh opened a crate that contained the statute of Tutankhamen that had just been returned back to Egypt after it was loaned to Brittan.  As soon as he opened the crate and saw the statute Saleh knelt and cried: 
'Our silly President Sadat sent this priceless and irreplaceable treasure of Egypt in sea cargo uninsured, unaccompanied, and without official documents. Anyone could have stolen or replaced it with a fake'.
For few minutes Saleh hugged Tutankhamen cried and sobbed.  I looked and watched somewhat bewildered not knowing what to say.  After recovering from what must have been gratifying emotional experience Saleh walked me up the steps to the Museum.  A private tour that on reflection must have been only for the priviliged and valued individuals.  For over one hour Saleh explained material fabrics, curtains, ropes, and variety of clothing that was few thousand years old tood the test of time and still kept its character and identity.
The highlight of the tour was seeing the mummy of Ramsses II.  To my surprise Saleh asked me to pick it in my hands.  Despite some reluctance and after convincing myself that he was serious having lifted the lid I did pick the mummy of Ramsses II in my hands.  Reflecting now, some 38 years later, the mummy must have weighed ten possibly fifteen kilos.  Later that day Saleh and I went to the pyramids and night we went to dinner.

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In April 1973 Cairo was a sad city.  At night all the cars had their lights painted blue, uncertainty and fear was on the face of people.  Less than six months later in October 1973 the Egyptian and Syrian army launched surprise attack on Israel that culminated in the 1973 Arab-Israel War.  Reading President Anwar Sadat's memoir in 1981, I was not surprised to learn that the October 1973 war was planned to take place in April exactly the same day I arrived in Egypt.  But luckily for me the order for the hoses from the Germany that the Egyptian army used in October to flush the Israeli army across the other side of the Suze Canal had been delayed.

I now wonder how many people can claim to have carried the mummy of Ramsses the Great the Third Egyptian Pharaoh in their hand.  Ramsses the II was the most celebrated and powerful Pharaoh that lived between 1303BC till 1213 BC.

Let me know what you think.