Tuesday
On Tuesday we went back into Jerusalem. We went first to the Ecole Biblique, a Dominican run French school for Biblical studies. Pre-requisite: proficiency in French, Hebrew, and Greek, and they only give out doctorates. Looks like I have a little ways to go before that becomes a post-grad option...anyway, another really cool thing about the Ecole is that it's located at the place where St. Stephen was martyred. There's a really beautiful church there. We went there to meet Fr. Gregory, a Dominican, who then showed us around for the day.
Here's the exterior, and the courtyard where the stoning happened.
And a portion of the way awesome interior.
We walked from the Ecole to the Mount of Olives, and then up it, which was quite a hike! For orientation: the Temple Mount is between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. So from west to east, it goes: Jerusalem, Temple Mount, Kidron Valley, Mount of Olives, and then the town of Bethany is on the east side of the Mount of Olives (that's where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived, and where Jesus would stay when he came to Jerusalem for feasts and things. During those times he hiked regularly up and down the Mount of Olives. What a stud).
So anyway, there are quite a few things to see on the Mount of Olives. We started at the top, at the mosque of the Ascension. Yep, it's a mosque. But they very graciously let Christians celebrate mass there a few times a year.
Next we saw the site of the Pater Nostre, aka the Our Father. That's supposedly the place where Jesus gave the Our Father to his disciples. However, I was a little confused about that because I thought it was during, or right after, the Sermon on the Mount, which happened in Galilee. But anyway, the area was really cool. It was essentially a big courtyard surrounded by walls that had large tile plaques with the Our Father written in every language you could think of. There was also a small area to go down and see the rocks that were the actual spot where Jesus prayed the prayer.
Laura, Chris, and I all studied in Rome at the same time last year, so naturally we had to pose with the Italian version.
Continuing down the hill, we came next to the church of Dominus Flavit, which means, the Lord wept. When Jesus came to Jerusalem for His passion, He sent the disciples ahead while He stayed on the Mount of Olives. He looked out over Jerusalem and wept for it, for the sins of its people. The view from this spot does lend itself very well to contemplation of the city. It was quite moving for me to sit in that same place and also look out over Jerusalem. I found myself wondering what Jesus would think of it now. (Actually my immediate thought was, "he's still weeping", because of all the struggle and controversy and suffering). But there's something different about Jerusalem now than there was back then. The Dome of the Rock is the most noticeable feature of the skyline, and is a symbol of that tension and discord in the city. But at a closer look, tucked behind and almost hidden, the dome of the Holy Sepulchre is visible too, and that changes everything. It's the hidden hope of the city and of the world; a promise that weeping will not last forever. Like I said, it was really beautiful to look with the Lord for a few moments.
Here's the view that I saw...
The next stop was the garden of Gethsemane. There's a church built over the rock that Jesus prayed on. It was really powerful to be there also, just to be there and keep vigil with Him. Unfortunately we couldn't do that for very long, because the church closed for siesta (or riposta, or whatever the Hebrew word for it is...) shortly after we got there.
The last place we visited on the Mount of Olives was the tomb of Mary. What? Tomb of Mary? Wasn't she assumed? You might be thinking...and actually, it reminded me of the first day of my Mariology class sophomore year. My professor gave us a little quiz just to see what we already knew, and one of the questions was, where is the tomb of Mary located? I thought it was trick question:-) Anyway, in the course of that class I learned about the theory of the Dormition of Mary, that she chose to die because she wouldn't want to escape something that her son had gone through. That class pretty much convinced me of that theory, actually. (But the Church doesn't say for sure one way or the other). And while we were at the tomb, I think we were all subscribing to it.
This is the valley south of Jerusalem--the name translates to the Valley of the Cheesemakers. I thought that was hilarious, and if you've seen Life of Brian you'll know why. It gives a whole new meaning to it, in fact.
Anyway, after seeing all those things, we booked it through the city back to near the Holy Sepulchre, so that we could meet with the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilus. Beforehand, we also talked to a Greek Orthodox archbishop. This is when we heard, as I mentioned at the beginning of the first post, that "this is the place" where God chose to reveal Himself in history. He also told us that a pilgrimage has two purposes: to increase knowledge and to increase sanctification. Pretty awesome. Our audience with the patriarch was quite interesting. Like Fr. Lazarus, he told us some things he thought were wrong with the Catholic Church. Some of what he had to say, though, showed a misunderstanding of what the Church really believes. That's kind of disheartening, to know that the leader of the Orthodox Church doesn't truly understand Catholicism--because then how can we ever have a reunion? But after he said all these things, he also gave us keychains and posters, so I guess it turned out alright:-)
We ate a very late lunch after that, and then...I think I mispoke in my last post. I described going to the Syrian Church with the Upper Room on Monday, but I think it actually happened on Tuesday...I think we went there after eating that late lunch. Everything that I said before still applies, so just copy-paste it in your head to right now...:-) And I apologize.
Anyway, after that it was back to Tantur to eat, discuss, pray, hang out, and sleep.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, we headed up north to Galilee. On the way, we drove through Jericho and stopped in the Judean desert, which is the one that Jesus went into to pray for 40 days and 40 nights, and where the devil tempted Him.
Some of those heights might have been the ones where Jesus stood!
Also on the way, we went to the top of Mt. Tabor, which is where the Transfiguration happened. The church up there is Franciscan, so nice and Western-looking.
The late-afternoon lighting was gorgeous.
I think my favorite part of the church layout was that immediately off to either side when you walk in the door are 2 chapels, one dedicated to Elijah and one to Moses. A nice touch. I really like the Transfiguration. I often tend to focus on seeing the Lord in everyday life, and sanctifying the ordinary, etc, so it's good to be reminded of His outright majesty and glory. We usually see Him veiled and hidden, even in the Eucharist, but someday we will see Him face to face. And since it was up on a mountain, the view from near the church was pretty awesome. Also awesome was the fact that there was an Italian cafe up there, in the giftshop. It reminded me of the cafe on top of St. Peters:-) It was dusk by the time we were ready to come down the mountain (but come down we must--no tents for us), and we decided to walk the path down instead of waiting for the shuttle.
We then had a short bus ride to our hotel in Tiberius, which happened to overlook the Sea of Galilee. We ate dinner close to it, too, and then hopped a fence to go down and wade in it. There is so much holiness connected to that water, and I felt it all while we were there. That's the water that Peter fished in, Jesus walked on, the storms were calmed on, Peter recklessly jumped in, etc...SO many awesome stories. I loved it so much, in fact, that I woke up quite early on
Thursday
to watch the sun rise over the water.
It struck that that's the SAME SUN that Jesus saw rising over it also. The water's not exactly the same, different molecules and all that, but the sun is the exact same one. I then went back and hopped the fence again and went swimming. I didn't stay long, because we had the opportunity to go to mass that morning before breakfast. The place where we were staying was run by a French Catholic group, and there was a priest there. That was a great blessing. I find I really do miss daily mass when I can't go. So, mass, breakfast, and then we left for the sightseeing of the day.
We visited several churches in the morning--the Church of the Beatitudes, the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, and the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter (when post-Resurrection Jesus ate with the disciples by the sea and then commissioned Peter to "feed my sheep").
Looking out from where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.
My reflections at those churches, the last two in particular, centered mostly on the Eucharist. In the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, it seemed perfect that there's a tabernacle there now--Jesus continues to provide for us, feeding us with Himself. And then at the Primacy of St. Peter Church, "feed my lambs" took on a Eucharistic meaning that I had never really thought about before (and I can't take total credit--it was pointed out to me by a friend). But anyway, I am one of those sheep that gets fed by Peter (and any priest), when they consecrate the Eucharist. I find that as my love for the Eucharist grows, my love and gratitude for the priesthood deepens also, and this experience inspired some of both.
From there we walked to Capernaum, which is not a functioning town anymore, but more of an archaelogical site. The remains of Peter's mother in law's house and the synagogue where Jesus occasionally preached (such as giving the Bread of Life discourse) are the main things to visit.
The dark stones on the bottom are from the synagogue of Jesus' time.
Next, we drove to Nazareth. On the way, we stopped to wade in the Jordan River. We read from the Bible about Jesus being baptized in the Jordan while we were standing in it--another experience of very tangible grace.
When we got to Nazareth, we ate lunch, then saw the Orthodox church of the Annunciation, and then the Catholic church of the Annunciation. The Orthodox church had a beautiful interior, with gorgeous icons and intricately carved wood detailing. The Catholic church had...interesting architecture. Not my favorite. But the importance of the event totally trumped how the church looked. Fiats and Angeluses (Angeli?) abounded:-) There was also a smaller church close by that commemorated the site of St. Joseph's workshop.
We finally headed back to Tantur for the usual evening routine, being sure to go to bed early, because we got up extremely early the next morning. But that is a story for the next installment...
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