Dead Sea Scrolls

One of the most memorable parts of this pilgrimage has been to visit the ruins of the Qumran community, where the Essenes (2nd century) lived. According to scholars, the Essenes were a community of priests who desired a strict, ascetic, and orthodox way of religious life within the Jewish faith. They lived from a community rule, observed silence, practiced various rituals for purification, and prayed and lived dedicating their life to God. Their work involved farming and copying religious texts onto scrolls. These scrolls are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Only in the 20th century were these scriptural texts discovered hidden in the Qumran caves.

The Dead Sea Scrolls is a major treasure for Israel and really the world. They are dated as the earliest documentation of the Biblical scriptures and are exact in Biblical texts that were found later.

SO! When we visited the Israel museum to visit the Shrine of the Book (where artifacts from the Qumran community and some Dead Sea Scrolls were displayed, including a facsimilie of a complete scroll on the Book of Isaiah!!), it truly enhanced the experience of seeing the texts. 

It was special because an entire community had dedicated themselves to copying the Word of God (where most likely it was used within a liturgical setting). Simultaneously, they were striving to live an authentic, holy life in community with others. An admirable endeavor, indeed.

There are lessons to be drawn from such an ancient community for today's contemporary societies -- how do we show reverence for God? how can the everyday person who participates within the liturgy or another liturgical celebration allow for the Word of God to truly engage and transform lives to live authentic Christian living? while most of the world is not living in an ascetic community, how do we engage with members of the Christian community, and what is our fraternal response to the non-Christian community? Such reflections will contribute to interior peace and joy, strengthen who we are as Christians, and can even improve relations between different cultural and religious groups, while still being distinct and not compromising in the Christian faith.