Holy Week….

Palm Sunday at Bodh Gaya at Jeevan Sangam chapel
A small community - mainly Adivasi Tribals
Fresh-cut palm leaves welcoming the Lord to Jerusalem
Simple songs… community sharing and warm handshakes after Mass

Maundy Thursday in the Ursuline Church near my flat in Patna
Rather loud and officious ... why do they need a sound system that can be heard half-way down the street? – what about the sanctity of the environment?
This is where the rising middle class comes to worship – make up, costume jewellery
A pecking order for the congregation chairs and benches
– pillars of the church adding to the pomp, acting as ushers, Mass conductors, reading from lists to make sure that the priest has the designated ’12 men’ up there for the symbolic washing of the feet – a long-winded sanctimonious sermon in the ‘correct traditional spirit’ …

And through it all… we forget that Christ was human
An unmarried male of thirty years …
with the same limitations, urges, and temptations
that any male has in a largely homo-affectionalist society
his bonding with John the evangelist
his friendship with the sex-worker Mary Magdalene
his close ties with Mary and Martha
and there was Lazarus, his close friend whom he raised from the dead …
Jesus Christ did have his temptation in the desert…
And it was not entirely about bread, obedience, or the kingdom!