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Several of our AmericanCatholic.org editors recently traveled to Middle East. Here we have feature articles on many of the experiences they had while traveling in Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Syria and Lebanon. The feature will grow in the coming months, in the wake of the Synod for the Middle East.

Special Features
Middle East Special Features

A local Orthodox priest,Fr. Fadi Halasa,who was visiting for the Mass in Smakiah, Jordan (It’s a very ecumenical town!). After giving me a prayer card with an icon of St. Constantine and his mother, he translated the Arabic prayer on the back of the card into my digital recorder. (Click here to listen)

Then he broke into song. After all, prayers are meant to be sung in this part of the world! (Click here to listen)

(photo by John Feister)

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Romuald: After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased him out.
<p>He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the pope’s permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed. </p><p>During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One day as he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and I will instruct you”), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never left him. </p><p>At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance, forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in silence for six months. </p><p>The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli (Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life. </p><p>His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.</p>

Jesus has suffered for all of us, and he suffers in all of us. He is the reason why redemption and glory are destined to rise up out of our own suffering. We simply need to adhere to him in faith, hope, and love.

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