Up to Jerusalem

Greetings, Cyber-pilgrims! Today, we made our way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. It used to be a pretty quick trip, but since the Israeli government put up the security wall in 2000, it is much longer because you have to go all the way around the way. Nevertheless, we got here in good shape.

Some catch up from yesterday. We went to three sites before leaving the area of Bethlehem.

The first was the commemorative Church of the Shepherds Field. We really don’t know where the shepherds were when the angel appeared to the announcing the birth of Jesus, but this site has been venerated for some time by pilgrims.

The Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, En Karem – Tradition and the pilgrim record has held pretty steady on this site as the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. You will recall that she conceived at an age much older than usual for those days. When the child was born, those there wanted to call him Zachariah after his father, but Zach said, “His name is John.” With that, his tongue was loosed and he proclaimed what has become the Benedictus, one of Luke’s great gospel canticles. (See Luke1: 57-80) It is recited or chanted in the Liturgy of the Hours at Morning Prayer.

The Church of the Visitation – Also from Luke 1, this is the spot that commemorates Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth while they were both pregnant. The child leapt in Elizabeth’s womb for joy. Mary then breaks out into the other great gospel canticle of Luke, the Magnificat. It is recited or sung at Evening Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours. Check in out Luke 1:39-56. Really, I think the Gospel of Luke should have a musical score to accompany it.

---

This morning we made our way over to Jerusalem. First stop was in Bethpage to the church that commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. A couple of things to note here. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt that had not been ridden before. This was the fulfillment of a messianic sign. Also, the fact that he was on a colt signified that he came as a King of Peace. A warrior would have ridden in on a stallion. Just sayin’. Although the wall is in the way, we are really close to Bethany here, so there is also a place that commemorates Martha coming out to Jesus from Bethany.

From there, we worked our way down the Mount of Olives. Lots of stuff going on there.

Chapel of the Ascension – This site actually has some real credibility to it, its a four or five arrow site. Due to the vagaries of history, it fell into the hands of the Muslims, but they open it up because they can make a lot of money off us Christian pilgrims. Originally the chapel was open to the sky, so that pilgrims could contemplate the sky into which Christ ascended. Alas, it was domed over and used as a mosque for at while. The stone in the floor is said to have a footprint of Christ left as he ascended. If so, he would have had to have about size fourteen feet. Nevertheless, this is very likely the place where the Ascension took place.

Pater Noster Church – this complex commemorates Jesus teaching the Our Father (“Pater Noster” in Latin) to the disciples. One fun thing about this complex is that it has the Our Father displayed in just about every language in the world, even in Braille in several languages.

The Garden of Gethsemane – We made a quick dash in here and came back later in the night for a holy hour. This is a seven arrow site and is the place where Jesus spent his agony in the garden and was betrayed by Judas.

The Tomb of Mary – a shrine of the Armenian and Greek Orthodox, it was used only briefly since Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven at the moment of her death. Still, just like Jesus, she did die. A beautiful sarcophagus forms the base of the altar in an itty bitty chapel.

The Biggy – The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The empty tomb of Jesus – The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre encompasses Golgotha and the tomb. It is as authentic a site as it gets. It was here that Christ was crucified, died, was buried and rose from the dead on the third day. We celebrated Mass in the chapel on the place where Mary Magdalene met Jesus after the resurrection. As the celebrant fell ill, I ended up celebrating the Mass. Later that afternoon we walked the Via Dolorosa. On our way back, we stopped by the Holy Sepulchre and Fr. Anthony went in to see what the situation was. Turns out there was almost no line to get into the Tomb itself. So we dashed in and got in line. I was blessed to have a few minutes in there by myself before everybody else went in. I guess it helps to be with the right friar.

Later tonight we returned to Gethsemane for a holy hour. Turns out we had the whole church to ourselves. I was asked to lead the hour, so no pics of that. Big day. Lots to contemplate.

Really, there was just too much going on today. It’s late and we have some serious pilgrimaging to do tomorrow. That will have to do it for tonight. So long for now, pilgrims!