A Good Samaritan in the Judean Foothills

I lost my wallet today at an Archaeological Park in Israel. Not to panic. I didn't even know I had lost my wallet. That is not until I received an email telling me that someone had found my wallet at Beit Guvrin, the last place we visited before returning to Jerusalem this afternoon. It was a brief email that provided a pair of phone numbers I could call to contact the woman who was in possession of my wallet. The email buzzed my Blackberry and I was alerted right away. I checked my pockets and sure enough my wallet was not there. I immediately thought of the cash and credit cards and started composing an email back to her asking her to check to see if my my credit and debit cards were in the wallet - what a pain if I had to actually cancel those cards. As I started writing the email, it occurred to me to wonder how she got my email address - it was not on any ID in the wallet. I looked at the email again, it had come through my opwest email address through the automated "contact a friar" section of the Western Dominican Province Website. Hmmm.

I called the number on the email and the woman was thrilled to hear from me. She asked me to wait a moment because she was on the other line with California - she had tracked down the phone number of the Western Dominican Province and was calling California to ask how to get in touch with me - wow! "Don't worry!" she told me all your credit cards and Driver License, and money are still there. I see you are a priest and I knew you would not have much money and would want this back! I remembered you - you came in with your 2 friends and you bought an ice cream! [that's when I had taken my wallet out...] I saw your picture on your ID and I recognized you immediately! I knew I would find you! I am good at finding people."

I asked her how she got my email address. Oh I saw Western Dominican Province on a card in your wallet and I looked up the website. I found you and clicked on 'contact him' and sent you an email. But I did not know if you would have email and I knew you would be worried so I called the phone number for this Office to ask about you in Israel and that is when you called."

"Thank you, Thank you , Thank you!" I exclaimed. "This makes me sooooo happy!" She said "I am as happy as you are that I found you."

I got her name and made arrangements to go back to Beit Guvrin tomorrow. My cash, my credit and debit cards and my faith in humanity are all intact as I head to bed tonight...

Thank you, Lord

Archaeology Tour 2009

We traveled South to the Negev (the continuation of the Sinai Desert in Israel) on Sunday and Monday and visited four significant Archaeological Sites. Each of the sites that Fr. Gregory has chosen for us to visit adds something else to an understanding of Biblical history that is still being rounded out. On Sunday afternoon , we visited Tel Arad. This stronghold in the Negev has a significant site from the Canaanite period that has contributed to a greater understanding of that Culture. But the real highlight of this site the fortress or citadel that dates to the Israelite iron age. It has one of the few clear Israelite temples outside Jerusalem. This temple, which has a floor plan similar to that of Solomon's temple, was in use until the 7th Centruy BC, when Josiah unified all worship in Judea at Jerusalem. This is the only example of a Jewish Temple in Israeli contemporaneous with Solomon's Temple. http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/HebronAndTelArad.

After a good night's sleep in a hotel in the modern city of Arad, we headed deeper south into the Negev Desert to the ruins of an ancient Nabatean City fortress of Mamshit. The Nabateans were the "toll keepers" on a number of significant middle eastern trade routes and established several significant cities (including the great city of Petra which we will visit in Late July). Mamshit was founded sometime int he 1st Century BC. Mamshit is well preserved (and some reconstructed ruins) that date from the the 1st Century BC until the Byzantine Era, during which the Nabateans had adopted Christianity. Among the identifiable ruins here are public buildings, private residences and two well established Christian Churches. The well-planned city yielded great photographs of remarkable architectural features today. Among the more interesting realities of Mamshit is that it never had a well that dug down into the aquifer. The entire water supply of the city came from carefully collecting rainwater from near-by Wadis and from rooftops and storing it in underground cisterns. Much of that water system is apparent today, including a well preserved dam that still functions to collect water in the wadi closest to the Tel. http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/Mamshit

From Mamshit, we drove west in the Negev to the ruins of the town that was the capital of the Israelite Negev: Be'er Sheva. Be'er Sheva is at the place that Abraham bargained with a Philistine for a particular well. That very deep well is on the site of the archaeological remains of the City. Like other built up fortresses we have visited, Tel Be'er Sheva includes an elaborate tunnel for storing and channeling water that could also have served as an escape route in case of attack. http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/BeErSheva.

Finally this afternoon, we headed back into the Judean hillside to another remarkable archaeological site called Beit Guvrin. Around this archaeological site are hundreds of "bell caves" which were cut from the top down into the earth in a unique chalk (limestone) quarrying method from the 4th to the 7th Centuries. These magnificent caves made for some remarkable photographs as well. In addition to the caves, we also visited the so-called "sidonian tombs" in the burial area of this site. These date from the Hellenistic Era and contained amazing tomb drawings around the actual tombs. Again there are remarkable photos from this entire site. http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/BetGruvin.

Each of these sites adds to the storehouse of cultural, geographic, historical and literary database that help with the interpreting of the Scriptures. I am growing in my appreciation of the landscape that shapes so much of our religious narrative. The Word is becoming flesh in new ways each day.

Hebron - Patriarchs under siege

I have been very much looking forward to going to Hebron to see the tombs of the Patriarchs. This site is holy to Jews, Christians, ad Muslims, all of whom see these Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their wives) as the progenitors of our Faiths. The site at Hebron has always been known and there is no doubt of its authenticity as the caves which Abraham purchased to serve as tombs for his family in the land God had given him. (Abraham's bargaining for the field is a great story in Genesis 23). My recent recollection of Hebron goes back to 1994 when a member of the Israeli Army that guards the tombs and maintains Peace between the Jews and Muslims who worship there (and each of whom would rather the other did not) barged into the mosque and opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing 39 and injuring more than 100 others before being subdued and beat to death by the survivors of his massacre. The tomb that might (in any other time and place) stand as a monument to what is common the Jews and Arabs, is instead a monument to conflict and a hindrance to peace.

So I was anxious to see Hebron and to visit the tombs. Historically, there are just not many other places more importatn in Israel. The first challenge of course is that it is in the Palestinian West Bank, which means checkpoints and limited roads just like we had encountered when going to Bethlehem and Bethany. The wall remains a real challenge for me. But we made the journey. Once on the other side of the wall we travelled Israeli roads for a time, but eventually had to get off on Palestinian roads - yes apartheid in this country extends to highways. We had a map, but signage on the Palestinian roads is horrible, at best, and non-existent at worst. We might have gotten lost were it not for a kind Palestinian who went out of his way to guide us to Hebron. That was an adventure too as he took us through a shortcut that I was not sure was actually going to get us there. But Father Gregory trusted the hospitality of this man and we landed in Hebron.

Hebron is a large Palestinian City - which means it is chaotic. We eventually made our way to the Old City and walked to the tombs - having to pass through two checkpoints and numerous metal detectors to get there. We arrived just as the Muslim side of the shrine was closing for lunch. So we walked through another checkpoint across to the area of occupied settler Hebron and made our way around to the Jewish Side of shrine. My immediate impression was the large number of Palestinian shops that were shuttered. On the Palestinian side shops have had to close because visitors (pilgrims) simply find it too hard to get here because of travel restrictions. Tour and pilgrim groups that have been arranged by Israeli companies or which are lead by Israeli tour guides cannot, by Israeli law, go into areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. Even though the shrine is under the direct control of the Israeli Army, it is very hard for Jews to get there. But Christian Groups have trouble too largely because their guides are usually Jews with no access to PA areas. So the businesses in Old Hebron are being squeezed to death.

There is another severe problem as well: Israeli Settlements. Hebron has existed for many years as a divided city. Hebron is Palestinian and there is a large Jewish City next to it. But beginning a few years ago, Israeli settlers started occupying empty houses around Old Hebron close to the Tomb of the Patriarchs. Then Settlers started building houses literally on the roofs of Palestinians houses. Israeli law allows this and even provides troops to protect the settlers - even though such settlements have been roundly condemned by the international community over and over again. We spent some time today showing us all the techniques being intentionally used by the settlers to deprive Palestinian families of their livelihood and make life so uncomfortable for them that they will leave - despite the fact that the Palestinians are in houses that have been in their families for generations. Settler compounds are built and supported by US foreign aid. I have to admit that this is weighing heavily on my. I don't pretend to know all the ins and outs of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but I know apartheid and ghettoizing when I see it.

I was glad to see the tomb of the Patriarchs. The Wall built by King Herod around this sacred precinct is a true masterpiece of Ancient Jewish architecture and yet another surviving testimony to the genius of Herod's building efforts (It is the best surviving Herodian structure). That Wall was intended to honor this sacred place - today I was more pre-occupied with walls - so many walls - that dishonor this place as signs of division and hatred.

The current mosque is a converted Crusader-era Church and the Muslims have created a beautiful space. But Hebron left me with more questions than any sense of satisfaction I would normally feel from visiting so profound a site as this - so historically significant site as this. I took time to pray in the Mosque for the intercession of those ancient saints: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - that they would help their errant great, great, great, great,... great grandchildren find joy and peace int he knowledge of our common ancestry. The Tomb of the Patriarchs is a great monument to great men and women, but it was hard for me to experience God there in the midst of occupation and tightening grip, in the face of apartheid and other injustice, in the face of hatred. O God of our ancestors, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob fill your sons and daughters with your Spirit and your grace that peace might be possible in this plagued land...

I really gotta stay out of Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods on the Sabbath

So I was minding my own business... and I managed to get right into the middle of a major civil unrest in Jerusalem last night. Seems the city of Jerusalem has decided that certain parking lots near the Old City need to remain open on the Sabbath in order to relieve parking crowding issues in the Old City. It's not a convenience thing, it's a safety thing. Crowded parking areas block emergency vehicles. Ultra-Orthodox Jews think that there is already entirely too much driving in the City and they think that these parking lots will encourage more driving. So they have protested to keep the lots closed. Last night, the protests turned into a full blown riot. You haven't seen a riot until you have seen well-dressed Jewish men wearing all manner of hats, from kippah to Russian Kosak fur-hat, up in arms. Rather than run from the sirens and angry yelling, of course I had to walk closer and find out what was going on. It was not clear to me on the street what the disturbance was about (and none of my pictures turned out) but I did witness a fire started, the police use of the tear gas and the water cannon, and numerous arrests of young Jewish men. Apparently rioting does not break Sabbath laws...

You can read more about it here: http://blog.taragana.com/n/ultra-orthodox-jews-protest-in-jerusalem-for-second-day-over-sabbath-violations-93751/

Mom - I promise I won't attend any more riots...

Armageggon has a Visitors' Center?

Wednesday through Friday of this week, we took our show on the road. "Bible Tour 2009" found us in two coastal cities that are not mentioned much in the Bible, but are important for an over-all historical picture of Palestine. The first was Caesarea, Herod the Great's deep water harbor on the Mediterranean. Caesarea was the capital for Roman Palestine, especially after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. An important artifact excavated there bears a significant name in Biblical circles; that of Pontius Pilate. His name appeared on the dedication plaque of the Roman theater there. Caesarea also shows up in the story of St. Paul. Not only does he come and go from there during some of his Missionary travels, but it is there that he is brought to be tried before the Roman Governor, Felix, and from there that he sails when he appeals to the Emperor and is taken to Rome (Acts 24-27)

It is a coastal town with ruins of a number of successive ports: Herodian, Roman, Byzantine, and Crusader. Because the harbor was man-made, it was subject to a sever silting problem and had to maintained carefully. When it was not, it fell into disuse. It finally fell into complete disuse as a harbor in the Medieval period. Archaeologists have excavated beautiful private and public buildings and it is easy to see the glory of this once important city.

We also traveled further up the coast to the modern city of Akko. Historically this town was called Acre and, int he New Testament period, Ptolemais. It is mentioned int he Bible only in Acts 21:7 where it is mentioned that Paul visited there on his way to Caesarea (Hey, I've been there!) The present day city of Akko has been built around the ruins of a Crusader-era walled City. Akko was an important stronghold for European Knights who established European kingdoms in the Holy Land. One finds new houses built into medieval walls and incorporating the ruins of ancient buildings into their construction. Most of the surviving walls, and the old Citadel of the City are crusader era and look like they could be in any French, German, or English countryside. Much has been preserved, and again, like in Caesarea, one can see the former Glory of this place.

While at Akko, we also visited the third holiest Islamic site in Israel: the Al-Jazaar Mosque. Islamic art and architecture are beautiful and really come together in their places of worship. The texts of their scriptures are incorporated into every nook and cranny of the building and and he simple spaces are clearly intended to be houses of worship. This was the first active mosque I have ever been in and I feel that I gained insight into Islam from the visit.

Finally, on Friday, we went to Megiddo. The ruins of this city on a hill again give witness to a once great place that fell into disuse. If you don't recognize the name Megiddo, you will certainly recognize one of the other names by which it is called: Armageddon (Har + Megiddo = Mountain of Megiddo). One of the most ancient in the world, Megiddo sits perched on a hill at the south end of the Jezreel Valley. This valley, over the course of centuries has been the primary route for move large armies between Asia and Northeast Europe and Egypt, the Sinai, and Africa. As a major crossroads of Armies, this valley has seen its shares of epic combat. For this reason, Megiddo is imagined by John as the battleground of the final conflict between good and evil. Standing on the mound of elaborate ruins 22 layers deep, staring out at the hot valley, one might imagine such a conflict occurring. Megiddo saw its glory days in the reigns of Solomon and Jeraboam who made Megiddo an important administrative center in the north. But after 22 successive cities, Meggido mysteriously ceased to be important and was entirely abandoned, never to be populated again. The mystery surrounding this complete collapse of this once glorious place puzzles historians and archaeologists - there is simply no plausible explanation for it. Such mysteries tend to get interpreted religiously in these parts (wrath of God, plague as punishment, etc.) This may also account for Megiddo's inclusion in Christian eschatology as a place in which good and evil will have their final showdown.

Like all large archaeological sites open to the public in Israel, Megiddo is under the care of the Israeli National Parks Service. There are the Israeli equivalent of park rangers and visitors' centers with book and gift shops, coffee shops, video presentations, and souvenir stands. Kinda takes away some of that "oooooohhhhhhh!" factor associated with Armaggedon that you can by souvenirs...

Speaking of things that disappear and are given apocalyptic significance, another theme of our travels in these days has been the Prophet Elijah - who is associated with Mt. Carmel. While on the northern coast, we stayed with the sisters at Stella Maris Carmel, one of the original Carmelite monasteries. Going back into the Iron age, hermits, monks, and prophets have made their home in the Caves of Mt. Carmel. Carmelite lore traces their foundation to these realities. In the Church at Stella Maris the Sanctuary is built over the cave that is thought to have been the home of Elijah. As we go to these different places, we celebrate votive Masses associated with the place (Christmas at Bethlehem, Easter in the tomb of Jesus, etc.) There are two votive Masses celebrated at Mount Carmel: Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (which we celebrated Thursday), and the Votive Mass of the Prophet Elijah, which we celebrated Friday. I was the preacher on Friday and spent some time reading up on Elijah. I was shocked to find that there is very little Biblical text about Elijah. HE appears in three chapters of 1st Kings and one of 2nd Kings. And yet this relatively obscure Biblical character has excited legend and lore for more than 28 Centuries. His mysterious exit - caught up to God in a chariot of fire - has excited the imaginations of Jewish writers (Biblical and Extra-biblical) and he has become a central figure in Jewish eschatology. Before the breaking forth of the end times, Elijah must return. This was the motivation for questions surrounding both John the Baptist as Elijah. When Jesus asked his disciples what people were saying about him, they responded "Some say you are Elijah..." Jesus himself identified John the Baptist with this prophet. The image of the return of Elijah is so strong in Orthodox judaism that a place is set for the expected guest at meals. Founders of many of the 20th Centuries more established cults have claimed either to be Elijah or to have been visited by Elijah (including Joseph Smith, Bab (Bahai), and Rev. Moon). In Christian literature, Elijah was one of the two men speaking with Jesus on Mt. Tabor during his transfiguration. The other was Moses - together the represented the two major categories of Hebrew Scripture: the Law and the Prophets. On Mt. Tabor, God's approval of Jesus as his Son reaffirms what John says about Jesus: he IS the Word of God. All this from a few short ancient Hebrew prophet stories.

So on Friday, given the opportunity to preach to a bunch of preachers about a great prophet, I said that there were three things about Elijah that we must be willing to imitate if our preaching is to be prophetic: 1) we must ask for the grace to be willing to preach the truth to power (Elijah got in a lot of hot water with King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel - 1 Kings 17). 2) We must trust in God's providence of all that we need to accomplish the mission he calls us to (Elijah was fed by ravens and widows), and 3) We must be open to being constantly surprised by God (When Elijah was waiting for God on Mt. Horeb, God did not appear in an earthquake, a fire, or a mighty wind: He appeared in a tiny whispering sound). Like Elijah, we must be so close to God that we recognize him no matter how, when, or where he comes. I finished my homily telling the Preachers that, like Elisha (Elijah's successor), we too must ask for a double portion of Elijah's spirit that we can be faithful to the prophetic tasks to which God calls us.

One of the great stories about Elijah is challenge that he issued to the Prophets of the Canaanite god, Baal who were given a high place in King Ahab's administration in Israel (through the intervention of Ahab's foreign wife, Jezebel. If you don't know the story, you can read it in 1 Kings 18. It ends with Elijah slaughtering (literally) the 450 prophets of Baal. The traditional site of this event is on Mt. Carmel and is the site of a Carmelite shrine. We visited there on Friday as we made our way from Stella Maris to Megiddo. There is a tiny church there that felt like it belonged in the Southwest (because of its simplicity).

Pictures from all these adventures are available at Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/frbart. I have started putting grouping the photos into smaller albums than I was doing before for the sake of ease at viewing photos from a particular event. I hope you enjoy them. Feel free to leave comments here at this blog or about pictures at Picasa.

Bartholomew, COME OUT!!!!!

This post was written on Wednesday morning, June 24th but I am only able to get to an internet connection to post it on Thursday evening, June 25.

"As morning breaks, I look to you, O God, to be my strength this day. Alleluia!"

-----antiphon from Psalm 63, Morning Prayer 1

I have visited the graves of a lot of famous people. I made a long list recently for one of those silly Facebook questionnaires and even surprised myself that over the years, I have managed to visit a lot of graves and tombs. I'm not macabre and I don't necessarily seek out the graves of famous people - although I have to admit that I have done that, too - there is almost always a thematic element to my visiting a grave. If you look back at this series of blogs, you will find that I have visited a LOT of graves, tombs, and cemeteries in the three short weeks I have been away. I love to tell the story of the trip that took me to the graves of Martin Luther King and Elvis in consecutive days. I have have attended parties and picnics in graveyards - and really none of this born out of any fascination with either celebrity or death. I visited another grave today.

It is unlike the others in one very important respect. When I have visited the graves of other famous people, I have been there in real faith that the mortal remains of the person whose name is on the stone or the marker is really IN THE GRAVE. If you read back on my blog post about the Scavi tour at the Vatican, the excitement that you read in that blog builds as I become more and more convinced of the likelihood that the bones of St. Peter are actually in the tomb. But last night and this morning I visited the most important grave I have ever visited, indeed, the most important tomb on the face of the planet. The experience is different because I visited this tomb in absolute faith that the remains of it's one-time occupant ARE NOT there. I speak, of course, of the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

An important excuses: Over the course of a couple of weeks in Jerusalem, I
have read extensively about the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I have been
convinced by the preponderance of evidence that the spot marked out by St.
Helena and the scholars employed by the Emperor Constantine as the burial place
of Jesus, is, in fact, the burial place of Jesus. I have looked at
counter-claims, especially those of the so-called "Garden Tomb" (which is
literally in the back yard of the house I am living in) and realize that history
and scholarship simply does not support the claims of protestant "scholars"
driven largely by their own exclusion from ministry at the actual tomb. The
Church of the Holy Sepulcher is maintained by the ancient Churches for whom
history and tradition bear incredible weight. Protestantism, which generally
rejects the importance of tradition as a theological principle, feels free to
make wild claims with reference to history. Such seems to be the case with those
who would argue that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is not built over the
actual tomb of Jesus or that it is unimportant because Jesus is not there. But
we are a sacramental people and strong historical evidence (including a great
deal of physically present evidence today) helps the faithful to be able to
experience the grace of seeing the empty tomb and witnessing (for 2000 years) to
the reality of the resurrection of Jesus.

I believe that last night I spent the night within sight of the tomb of Jesus. And this morning, my classmates and I crawled into the tomb and celebrated Jesus' remarkable gift of life, the Eucharist (John 6:54 - "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day..."). The other tombs I have visited are reminders of the fragility and precariousness of life. They are reminders of death. They are in cemeteries which, so often, are places of sadness. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built over a burial place outside the ancient city of Rome - on old quarry that had been converted into a burial ground. Some of the 1st Century tombs are even still visible today. But because of the event I celebrated in one of those tombs this morning, this is no longer a place of death, stench, decay, or sadness. The emptiness of that tomb, attested to by an angel on that Sunday morning nearly 2000 years ago, attested to by the women who saw that the tomb was empty, attested to by the apostles Peter and John, attested to by 2000 years of witness - the emptiness of that tomb has turned this place of death into the ultimate symbol of life. It was that life that compelled me to spend the night locked into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher keeping vigil for my celebration this morning and it was that life that we celebrated inside the tomb this morning! Jesus promised his disciples as he commissioned them that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). That abiding presence, that life giving presence, that soul-sustaining presence was with us all night in vigil and made manifest in an extraordinary way this morning as we celebrated the Eucharist.

A few days ago, in preparation for this mornings celebration, Frs. Steve, Carl and I made a pilgrimage that followed the footsteps of Jesus in his last days. We basically relives the same steps that we relieve every week in Holy Week. We began at another tomb: that of Lazarus. We prayed inside that tomb that the Lord would grace us with deeper understanding by the experiences we would share over these days as we moved toward our own extraordinary Easter celebration this morning. We took pictures that morning in the tomb of Lazarus and then pictures of each of us emerging from the tomb as though Jesus had called US out of the tomb (That's my "Bartholomew, Come out!" photo on the left). I had a lot of time to think about this last night. That Jesus wants to call all of us out of our tombs. But before we can experience the resurrection, we first have to experience death. I have the privilege (the extreme honor) of baptising new Christians each year at Easter. And each year, this text is read to them before they are baptized:

Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so
that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him through
a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know
that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done
away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. For a dead person has
been absolved from sin. If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him. We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no
more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once
and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think
of yourselves as (being) dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.
-----Romans 6:3-11

The reminder that we are to "crucify the old self" with Christ is not a one-time thing. In my experience, that IS the Christian life. We have to constantly allow ourselves to die with Christ. We have to constantly let go of our lives (Matthew 10:39) so that we can be raised up with Jesus. Lazarus is a symbol of what Jesus wants to do for all of us, but Lazarus had to lose his life to gain the new Life that Jesus wished to offer him. These are of course, not new insights. They are the same insights that I preach Lent after Lent and Easter after Easter (I am also aware that I am the first recipient of every homily I preach!) But over these last few days I got to have an experience that I have not had for many Easters. I am always so busy preparing the details of everybody else's Easter that I lose my own spiritual experience. Over these days, I have not had to prepare for anyone else. I have been able to bask in the grace of God and listen for my own sake (not for the sake of others). My class mates and I have celebrated Holy Week culminating with our special Easter this morning. But even then, the message is the same as it is for everybody else - Die to self so that Jesus can make resurrection happen in me. If I am to be a true follower of Jesus, the way of the cross must become a daily reality (Luke 9:23). Likewise, Easter, must become a daily reality - that is, we must let the Grace of God rework us more carefully into His image. We must allow the new life of Lazarus, the resurrected life of Jesus become real in us. What stands in the way? Well that's easy - my will... my desire to hold on to what little I have - this insignificant life. But the promise of Christ is that is I am willing to lose my life for the sake of the Gospel, I will find Gospel life.

That's what we commemorated in these last few days as we walked in the foot steps of Jesus, creating our own little "Holy Week," and that's what we celebrated in the tomb of Jesus this morning. Jesus' cross? Yes? Jesus' suffering? Yes. Jesus resurrection? Yes. But also, our cross, our suffering, our resurrection. I may visit some other tombs or graves sometime in the future. But no grave I ever visit will be as packed with meaning, with history, or with the significance of the tomb I prayed and slept next to last night. No grave will ever be as important as the one where I celebrated Mass this morning. I did not go there looking for Jesus - I knew "He is not here..." But I thank God that he is with me and that his grace can give me the same new life he gave Lazarus. Happy Easter from grave that was used by Jesus for only a few hours!

Post #3 from inside the Holy Sepulcher

It is 5:30 am and once again all is quiet in the Basilica. I was able to sleep a little durin the night (on a hard bench). The quiet of the Basilica amplifies the cacophany of a million chirping birds in the Old City excited by the first light. We kept vigil tonight. This was to remind us of the time Jesus spent in the tomb as we go in to celebrate a Mass of Resurrection this morning - maybe chant at 4 in the morning can be our reminder of the descent into hell :)

The morning quiet must be a reminder of that early mornin trip of the women to the tomb. The trip durin which they encountered an angel who told them "He is not here. He is risen!" And that is tye message of this morning's celebration in the tomb of Jesus - He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
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Post #2 from inside the Holy Sepulcher

It's 5 til 2 in the morning and we just finished praying the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer with the Franciscan Community. A solid hour of organ-accompanied Latin chant rang throughout Basiica. Just before we started the Orthodox priests went throughout the entire Church blessing every chapel, nook, cranny, icon, and candle with incense - three times! Then at the end of Latin Office, the Catholic priests blessed the Holy Sepulcher with incense.

Now the Greeks are chanting their midnight office. It sounds like a cross between Latin Chant and the Arabic (Muslim) call to prayer we hear broadcast all over the City 5 times each day from multiple mosques and minerets simultaneously. It seems that the turn about/fair play principle would dictate that these night prayers should be chanted on loudspeakers throughout the Muslim Quarter :)

After three hours of absolute quiet throughout the Basilica, it really came to life again when the bells rang at midnight and all the incensin and chanting started. I understand that it will now continue through the night.
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1st Post from overnight vigil in the Holy Sepulcher

At 9:00 pm each night there is a solemn ceremony for the locking of the doors to the Basilica. The same Muslim family has been responsible for maintaining the key for many generations. The keyholder climbs a small ladder outside and locks the door and then passes the ladder inside thru a slot in the door. It is leaned against the door until tomorrow morning when it will be passed out to him again.

There are about 20 of us locked in tonight. There are two small pilgrimage groups - one made up of Franciscans (mostly sisters) and a small group from Poland. There are a few other individuals and then us - the 3 Dominican fathers. From now until midnight, we have free reign of the whole Basilica. At midnight we will not be able to go near the Sepulcher because the Greek Orthodox monks are in charge of it then and they will have their overnight offices there. At 4 the Armenians take over and will be praying there. So, liturgy goes on around the clock. It is very quiet right now (we were given very specific instructions that we cannot sing during the night.) Apparently the Greeks did not get that memo as they will be singing from midnight until 4. :)

I am going to spend some time in prayer and then try to take a little nap later on. From inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher.
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Church of the Singing Chicken! - Jesus' Last Day Retreat Pilgrimage

Let me just say that I had a very relaxing and wonderful weekend. And that Class on Monday -Dealing with Jesus' Healing Miracles - was especially enlightening. I have done very little site seeing over the last few days and until this morning, had not taken any pictures since Friday. I made up for it today.

In preparation for our celebrating Mass in Jesus' actual tomb tomorrow morning, my classmates and I had another themed "retreat day" today. The theme of today's retreat is "Jesus' Last Day" and we retraced the foot steps of Jesus from the last supper to the tomb. It was really an extended "Stations of the Cross" that remembered Holy Thursday and Good Friday events.

It has been a rather long day as I went our early this morning to take some morning pictures around old Jerusalem. TO begin the retreat we met at the Cenacle (the Upper Room) for the 7:00 am Mass that is supposedly celebrated there every day. We had been warned that the actual Mass might be int he chapel of the Franciscans connected to the Cenacle and sure enough there was no one int he Cenacle itself. We tried our best to find and entrance to the Franciscan Convent but to no avail. Fortunately, the German Benedictines at the Dormition Abbey had a Mass (in German) beginning at 7:15 am and we were able to join them. We then went to the Cenacle and prayed Morning Prayer. After a time of reflection int he Cenacle, we sat down in a little grove of trees outside and read the beginnings of the Passion Narratives, reflecting on the institution of the Eucharist and Jesus' washing his disciples feet.

After a quick cup of coffee in the Dormition Coffee Shop, we headed across the Kidron Valley to a garden on the Mount of Olives where Jesus used to pray with his disciples. There we made two stations; the Church of the Agony in the Garden (the Church of All Nations) and Grotto that commemorates where Peter, James, and John slept in the Garden while Jesus prayed, where Judas betrayed Jesus, and where Jesus was arrested. When we arrived at Gethsemane and went into the Church of the Agony, there was a Mass going on in Italian. We sat in prayer and refection during that Mass. It gave me some time to do some reflecting on Jesus' agony in the Garden.

In my life, I have gone back and forth on quite a regular basis between the two sentences Jesus utters in his prayer in the Garden. I suppose I take some comfort in the fact that Jesus suffered the ambivalence, but then again, the cup of which he was asked to drink was death on the Cross. I am asked to drink of much easier cups and often ask, at least figuratively, that the cup might pass me by. I don't want to suffer for the sake of the Gospel - and again the "sufferings" I face a so minor compared to what Jesus suffered at Calvary. On my good days, I can get to "not my will, but yours be done..." And that is a sincere prayer on my part. If I am honest with myself, I suppose I have to admit that live somewhere between "let this cup pass from me..." and "Your will be done..." almost all the time. The real challenge is to get to that place where we are living "thy will be done" all the time. "But it is so hard to know the will of God..." some might argue. In my experience, God is really good about letting us know what his will is, both generally (do good, avoid evil) and personally (the way to live happiness in the context of my specific job or vocation). If we are ready to open ourselves to the will of God and to allow him to form us into, he is ready to do it.

Speaking for myself, I will admit that this is easier said than done - my will keeps getting in the way. My prayer today is that I can more completely surrender my will and grow in God's. I take as my model Jesus in the garden. Lord help me to move from my will (let this cup pass) to thy will (thy will be done...).

When the Mass was over, we had another one of those Great "Jesus of Nazareth slept here..." moments you can only have in the Holy Land. The area in front of the main altar in the Church of the Agony is exposed stone from the Garden that surrounds the Church - the Garden of Gethsemane. It is revered as the place where Jesus experienced the agonizing prayer in the Garden. I have been in the Church two other times already and at no time was that area open so that you could go in and pray at the stone. Today, because Mass was finishing, the gate was open and I asked the Franciscan "guard" to let us in to pray - probably my habit opened that door too - he let us in. I was able to conclude my prayer (the reflection of the last two paragraphs) as a prayer of submission asking God to give me the grace to conform my will more to his. After our brief time of prayer at Agony rock, we went out onto the portico of the Church and did our common Scripture study on the agony.

We then made our way over to the grotto of the denial - which commemorates the sleeping apostles and the betrayal and arrest of Jesus. It is another of those places that demand silence, so we sat in silence and read our scriptures and prayed before the Blessed Sacrament.

Now we had already walked once (in the intense morning sun) from Mt. Zion to the Mount of Olives to commemorate the post Seder walk that Jesus took with his disciples. Not sure the distance, but probably 1/2 mile down one slope of a the Kidron Valley and up the other. Now to continue our pilgrimage, we had to reverse that walk , this time much later in the morning and wit the sun higher and more intense. "It was about noon..." Only we decided to walk all the way down into the Kidron Valley into the cemeteries and all the way back up the other side. Because it is a day of follow in the suffering of the Lord ...and because we are idiots. This time our destination was the CHURCH OF THE SINGING CHICKEN. I'm not kidding.

The actual name of the Church is St. Peter in Gallicantu - which is probably best translated the Church of St. Peter and the crowing Rooster - But "Gallicantu" is Latin for Singing Rooster - and I really like the idea that there is a church of the singing chicken here in Jerusalem. A number of things are commemorated at this Church - Jesus' arrest, trial before the high priest (it is supposed that this Church is built on the site of the real house of Caiaphas (as opposed to the other three places in Jerusalem that make such a claim) and of course, the denial of Jesus by Peter three times before the chicken sang...

It is a beautiful 20th Century Church under the care of the Augustinian Fathers. Like so may other churches in Jerusalem, its primary art form for depicting the events it commemorates is Mosaics. These are quite simple and modern mosaics but they are stunning. The difference in this Church is the extensive excavations that have been done beneath it and that are open to the public. There are rooms of the house of a wealthy man ( a high priest?) and rooms that are remembered as the prison that held Jesus overnight as the Sanhedrin debated his fate. There are "holy stairs" that certainly go back to the first century BC and may have been walked by Jesus and his disciples. We parked ourselves in one of the lower caves of the excavation and read the Gospel accounts of trial of Jesus before the high priest and Peter's denial of Jesus.

All of this set us up to begin the traditional stations of the cross which wind their way through the Muslim and Christian Quarters up Golgotha to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Te 10th -14th Stations are inside the Basilica. Not much to report about the stations except that the business of Old Jerusalem went on around us as we prayed. Most of the first 9 stations are commemorated right on the busy streets of the Arab souks (markets) and the crowded alleyways of the Old City played host to us, but went right on with business as usual. Prayer in the midst of the busy day is the way it should be in our lives all the time and it was great that the three of us could pray in this way.

It has been a wonderful day of praying and sharing with my classmates! What a privilege it is to be able to take such time. It's like every Holy Thursday and Good Friday I have ever experienced rolled into one - and here in Jerusalem!

But the real exciting part of out June Holy Week experience happens tonight. When the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is locked at 9:00 PM tonight, Frs. Carl, Steve, and I are going to be locked inside to spend the night in vigil awaiting our celebration of the resurrection - Our Easter will take place at 6:30 in the morning when we celebrate Mass inside the tomb of Jesus. All night tonight, we will be observing our vigil in preparation. I have not proofread this post, because I wanted to get it on the blog before I head over to be locked in. Throughout the night tonight, I may make some short posts from inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher of Jesus...

Shabbat Shalom, indeed!

I have just had one of the more remarkable cultural experiences of my life. It all started with an unremarkable Saturday evening stroll. Having been inside most of the day today, I decided to take a stroll before dinner. I left the house somewhere between 6 and 6:30 pm, thinking I would head over to Ben Yehuda Street and pick up some lip balm and a couple of other things I needed from a drugstore. I had been in the Ben Yehuda/King George V area a couple days ago and found a 21st Century, Walgreen's-like drugstore there. Things were a lot less expensive than the pharmacies in the Old City or in Old Arab East Jerusalem where the Dominicans live. Arab East Jerusalem feels like an ancient bazaar, Ben Yehuda street felt like a 21st Century shopping district. It's about a 15 minute walk from the house. So I figured a perfect walk to be back here in time for evening prayer and or dinner. Get my exercise and pick up a couple of things I needed. But there was a fly in my ointment...

I know Saturday is the Sabbath in the Jewish community and I know that every Jewish business in the Old City is going to be closed. I know buses don't run on Saturday, but I was not prepared for the extent to which the Sabbath is observed here. I had two interesting experiences on my very innocent walk.

The first had to do with the route I took. I chose what was clearly the most direct route to Ben Yehuda Street. At some part of my walk I clearly crossed out of "Arab East Jerusalem" into a more Jewish neighborhood. This is clear from the dress of the people I was encountering along the way. Now I should say that while my mode of dress clearly bespeaks "American tourist." There was nothing about my dress that could have been called immodest - for once I was even wearing long pants. I passed dozens of Orthodox Jews along my route. They do not greet non-Jews on the street. In fact they will not even make eye contact. Okay fine. I stopped at one street corner to await the change of the crosswalk light. There was a group of Jewish teenagers there as well. As I waited, I became aware that one was staring at me. I made eye contact with him just before the light changed and nodded in greeting - as he walked off the curb he said "shabbas" and spit in my direction! Actually spit! He and his cohort moved off to the left and I just kept moving wanting to get to my destination as quickly as possible. As I made my way along, of course no business were open, but there were also no cars on the street. I knew it would be different at Ben Yahuda Street.

But as I rounded the corner at Zion Square, the beginning of Ben Yahuda, I was shocked by what I encountered. It was a ghost town. I expected to see a tumbleweed blowing by. Not a single person on what had been the busiest commerce district I had encountered outside the Old City. Evey shop was shuttered and the only persons I saw were a old Arab man and a motorcycle cop (the Sabbath police?) I had not been prepared for this level of observance. I knew there were a lot of observant Jews in Israel, but I had also been told that there were a lot of secular Jews. I was expecting to see the seculars out in this busy district even on Saturday. But instead, in my head I heard the theme music to one of Clint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns and waited for the tumbleweeds. I sat on a bench for a few minutes and then headed for home.

As I walked past one street, I heard voices to the right - I looked and there was a paragon of American culture. The only noise in the neighborhood was coming from McDonald's, which was clearly open. I decided to stop in, buy a Coke Zero and use the restroom before I headed home. As I was about to go into McDonald's, I noticed movement at the next establishment - Oh yeah, The Dublin Pub. I had seen it the other day when I was there. Just as Jewish Sabbath laws could not close McDonald's on Saturday, even in Jerusalem, so also it would not keep an Irishman form his Guinness, even for the sake of God. Hmmmmm. McDonald's or the Dublin Pub, which shall I dart into and make a purchase for the sake of using the restroom? Not even close! I chose a place at the bar and ordered a Guinness.

As it turned out, it was happy hour, so I had to have a second Guinness (it's the law in Irish Pubs everywhere). I also ordered a burger from their pub menu since it had now become clear that I would not get home in time for dinner. The bar was quiet and a few people came and went, but it was much quieter than I would expect an Irish bar to be on a Saturday evening (anywhere!) After my beers and burger, I said goodbye to the nice people at the Dublin Pub and steeled myself to step back out into the ghost town for the nice, quiet walk back to St. Etienne.

But an amazing thing happened during the hour and half that I sat at that bar: the sun set. This meant Shabbat was over. And what I stepped out into was not the dark ghost town I was expecting. Indeed I stepped out into a full-blown carnival. Every shop was now open and fully lighted. Shops selling food, and electronics, and all manner of Judaica, and magazines and books, and hand-made Bedouin blankets - even my Walgreens-like drugstore - they were all open. And every young Jew in Jerusalem was there. And some not-so-young Jews. And Tourists from every country in the world. There were street performers - a harpist who also played the harmonica, a juggler, a guy drawing caricatures, o group of those Brazilian martial artist/acrobats that seem to be everywhere these days, and, most amazingly of all, a group of Korean Singers - "Up-with-people-esque" - who drew everybody into their act. All were clapping and dancing around, not understanding a single word they were singing but joining in the happy spirit of it. All were dancing and clapping, that is, until, after singing, their leader announced, in perfect English, "we bless you in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ..." After that, their party quickly broke up, but they stayed and spoke to anyone who would talk to them - mostly Americans who lauded them for their courage (imprudence?)

I got very caught up in the spirit of this remarkable scene. What a contrast to just a few hours earlier! I got a gelato and watched people for a while. I struck up a conversation with a couple of American young people (Jewish) who were visiting - their first trip to Jerusalem too. They had come here tonight because hey had heard that this was the place to be when Shabbat ended. I watched a woman giving henna tattoos while her companion - a very blond American man - played the Sitar. I listened to a harpist for a couple of songs. I dropped a coin in the hat of the Brazilian martial artist/dancer people. Just as i was ready to head back to the house, a young man and young woman in a coffee house invited me to come in and try a local brew-pub beer - "brewed right here in our shop!" I caved and tried their beer. Their bistro was not crowded but there was interesting conversation at the bar - where I was the "exotic" one because I lived in the USA. I made my goodbyes at midnight and made the 20 minute trek back to Arab East Jerusalem.

I received a cultural education tonight. Shabbat is observed carefully, but it also has its limits. When it is over, the rest is finished and it is time to party - time to get back to work! Even as I left Ben Yahuda Street, there were a lot of people there - even young families with their children - out at midnight. Those children had been quiet all day - now was their time to cut loose. I am headed to bed now and will wake up to the observance of our "Sabbath" - will I observe it as well as the Jews I encountered today (minus the little shit who spit at me.)? Shabbat Shalom!

Triumphal Entry Pilgrimage: Bethany to Jerusalem via the Mount of Olives

It got up to 90 degrees in Jerusalem today. I live in the desert and we regularly have summer days as much as 20 degrees hotter than that. But in Tucson I have the sense to stay inside in air conditioning in the heat of the day. Here in Jerusalem, I find myself not only out - but out and on foot in the heat of the day. Today was no exception. Frs. Steve, Carl, and I had a retreat day today. How does a retreat day differ from the other site visit days we have been experiencing. Well first of all, we planned it ourselves. Second, we wanted to combine a lot of scripture reading and prayer at the sites we visited. And third, like every good retreat, we had a theme. The theme of the retreat day was "Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem." Next Wednesday we are going to celebrate Mass inside the tomb of Jesus (which is inside a little chapel, inside the huge rotunda, inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher). Today we began preparing ourselves for that incredible privilege. (On Tuesday we will have another retreat day to complete the preparations - that day our theme will be: "Jesus' last day," more on that next week.)

So today we would visit sites on the Mount of Olives associated with his triumphal entry. We would enter the Old City, and go to the Wailing Wall of the Temple. In each of our stations on this retreat day, we would read the scriptures associated with it and spend a few minutes in prayer. Because the Scriptures say that Jesus began his journey tot he triumphal entry near "Bethany and Bethphage," we planned to go to both of those places. Of course, we could not go to Bethany without dropping in on Jesus' good friends: Mary, Martha and Lazarus. In John 11, Jesus goes to Bethany to raise Lazarus. In chapter 12 he is anointed by Mary at a dinner given in his honor; and then the next day he rides into Jerusalem in triumph. Bethany was the perfect place to begin our descent towards Jerusalem today.

But there was a little problem with our plan - we had an obstacle standing between us and the completion of our trek - the West Bank Separation Wall. It cuts across the Mount of Olives and separates Bethany from Bethphage. What should be a journey of a few minutes on foot takes 1/2 an hour by (very expensive) taxi. I wrote a little about this in another post and included some pictures the wall that I took in Bethany.

We did not let the Wall deter us, we still wanted to start with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, a feast in which we focus on the love of God poured out in Jesus Christ. The love we focus on today is human love - how better to observe that than visit the home of Jesus' close friends - friendship being equated with human love in Jesus' teachings. We also woke up this morning to the sad news of the death of our beloved Dominican brother, Fr. Fabian Parmisano in Oakland. Fr. Fabian had been a great blessing to all three of us and we dedicated our time at Lazarus' tomb ("I am the resurrection and the life!") to Fr. Fabian's memory and to pray for him.

After our taxi ride, we first went to the Bethany Church. A modern church (1954) sits on the site of two previous churches which honor the special relationship between Jesus and this trio of siblings. Before going into the present church, we explored the ruins of previous buildings, especially the excavated Byzantine Mosaics which are visible in the plaza immediately in front of the Church. We read a little about the successive construction on this site and then went into the Church for our visit. IT IS BEAUTIFUL! Like almost all the Catholic shrines in the Holy Land, it is under the ministerial control of the Franciscans, and they did a really wonderful job creating a beautiful space in Bethany.

The Church is in the form of a Greek cross. In each arm of the Cross, there are beautiful mosaics commemorating Jesus' relationship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. One depicts Jesus in discussion with Mary and Martha ("Lord, tell her to help me with the housework!"), another the raising of Lazarus, the third Mary's anointing Jesus at the dinner in his honor, and the fourth, the one over the main altar, is of Jesus' resurrection, beneath it the words Jesus spoke to Martha when she protested that she knew her brother would be raised in the general Resurrection: "I AM the resurrection and the life..." There were no other pilgrims here and it was easy for us to pray here.

After a few minutes and lots of pictures, we headed up the hill to the tomb of Lazarus. This tomb, like all 1st Century tombs around here, consists of two chambers - one for the body and one for mourners. (It is proposed that Jesus was standing in the outer chamber when he called Lazarus out of the grave.) we descended the steps into the first chamber and there read the story of Lazarus being resurrected from the dead (Luke 11). We sat in silence in this memorial place and prayed. We shared insights from this text with each other and prayed for our beloved dead, especially Fr. Fabian.

Among the insights shared today from this text:

Even when we have experienced resurrection, sometimes we are still bound and need to be set free. We need to pray for the grace to see and understand this and allow the Lord to do the work to raise us up completely. This is a good insight for the 3rd Scrutiny.

That Jesus wept at the death of his friend is comforting to those who are grieving.

Thomas was ready to go to Jerusalem and die with Jesus - are we?

"Did I not tell you if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" Do we believe and are we experiencing that Glory? Martha is concerned for the stench, Jesus says watch for glory...

These were all insights around which a sermon could be built - such is the nature of three priests - three pastoral ministers - sharing from God's word! After our time of sharing, we crawled through the short tunnel between the two chambers into Lazarus' tomb. I have visited a lot of tombs and graves in my life, but this was different. This tomb, like the one in which we will celebrate Mass next week, is not a place of foul stench and decay. This tomb is a sign of hope in new and resurrected life. Jesus called Lazarus out of this tomb back into life; and he calls each of us to roll away the stones that keep us entombed in sin. He calls us to walk out into the light of day and to exchange the foul stench of death for the glory of God. We did not remain in the tomb long, but like Lazarus emerged from the tomb back into the light. On our way out, we prayed the Hail Mary for Fr. Fabian and other departed friends and family.

Our taxi driver - who waited for us in Bethany for the 45 minutes we were in the Church and tomb - offered to show us the wall in Bethany. We accepted and this time I got some good pictures of it. He then drove us around through the next checkpoint and around to the Mt. of Olives on the other side of the Wall.

From here, on the crest of the Mount of Olives, we would begin our walk on foot to one of the gates of Jerusalem. No one is really sure by which gate Jesus entered the Holy City surrounded by a throng of supporters. It may have been the Gate called Beautiful which led right on to the Temple mound. There is a Jewish tradition that that was the gate through which the Messiah would triumphantly enter Jerusalem - so the Muslims bricked it up. So no way we could go in that one. In the scriptures Jesus seems to have gone straight to the Temple after he entered Jerusalem, so it makes sense that he went through one of the gates close to the temple. Today (for a non-Muslim) that means the Dung Gate on the south side, or the Lion Gate (also called St. Stephens' Gate) on the East side. We chose the more direct route from the Mt. of Olives, directly across the Kidron Valley from the Mt. of Olives to the Lion Gate. Our course would take us to three "stations: along the way - The Church of the Pater Noster, where one tradition say that Jesus taught his disciples that prayer, down the hill to the Church of Dominus Flevit (commemorating the spot where in Luke 19, Jesus surveyed the City and wept over its fate) down through the Garden of Gethsemani, across the Kidron to the Lion Gate and around to the Western Wall - where we would read the passages of Jesus' cleansing the temple and his teachings in the Temple precinct.

The Church of the Pater Noster was closed because the French Carmelite Sisters who maintain that shrine were observing a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament. When I told the sister in the Gift shop we were Dominican priests, she immediately offered to let us in to pray with the sisters. We accepted. It was close to the end of their holy Hour, but we stayed and listened to them sing their mid-day office. We were not wearing our habits, yet it opened a door for us:) The other attraction at the Church of the Pater Noster are tiled plaques all around the church and the cloister garden which contain the words of the Pater Noster (Our Father) in more than 100 languages. We also visited a cave under the Church that, since Byzantine times, has been associated with a place at which Jesus instructed his disciples. Our brief time of prayer with the Carmelites fueled us to move on to the next spot.

The Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord wept) was also closed, it now being the middle of the day when people with good sense are not out wandering about from Church to Church. In fact, just like in Europe, virtually everything except restaurants are closed in the middle of the day - ALL of the churches are. There was no one at the gate to use the "but we are Dominican Priests" line on, so we were stuck outside to read our scripture and pray at the gate. Surveying the City from this spot, one can imagine this the spot at which Jesus looked over the ancient City. It is a breathtaking view from here. We looked down on the Temple mount at what today are Muslim holy places. Jesus would have had a spectacular view of the 2nd Temple - the largest Holy Shrine in the known world and the Glory of Israel. The growing frustration Jesus was experiencing with the stubborn religious authorities of his day together with his realization that this trip to Jerusalem would be his last - that he would be killed here - would certainly have moved him to an emotional response. Luke tells us:

As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, "If this day you
only knew what makes for peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the
days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you;
they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the
ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon
another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."
-----------Luke 19:41-44

I used a special panoramic feature on my camera to create this survey of the Old City from the Mount of Olives. For a better look at it, you can go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/MoreJerusalem2009#5349126754128609506

A curious thing happened as we headed down the Mt. of Olives toward to City. All of a sudden we were stuck in a traffic jam (we were on foot, but surrounded by hundreds of cars competing for parking spaces and impatiently honking and trying to get from this place to that. It took us a few minutes to realize that this traffic jam was all headed for the same place we were. These were devout Arabs trying to get to the Temple Mount (the Haram es-Sherif in their tongue) for midday prayers. Friday is their equivalent of the "sabbath" the special day for prayers. As a matter of fact it was eerily quiet as we set out this morning from the St. Etienne (which is located in the heart of Old Arab East Jerusalem). Our taxi driver told us we were lucky, there would be no traffic today. We stupidly asked why. Because everybody is praying this morning. It was a different story at noon in this place. The Haram is a pilgrimage site for Muslims and they were trying their best to get to their prayers. As irritating as traffic jams are and as ridiculously unhelpful as blowing horns are in a traffic jam, there was something quite edifying about people striving to get to prayer in the middle of the day.

Frs. Carl, Steve, and I found a cold coke and sat down under a tree within site of the Lion Gate to read the next part of our journey. The cacophony of the Muslim pilgrims continued around us as we read Matthew's account of the triumphal entry - including the queer fact that Jesus seems to be riding into Jerusalem on two different beasts (an ass and a foal) at the same time :) HOSANNAH. It was time to join the other pilgrims and make our way to the Lion Gate. Once inside, they would turn a sharp left and head to the Haram through a gate which we could not approach (unless we were looking to have stones thrown at us...). We on the other had would continue along the road where the Via Dolorosa begins and into the Muslim quarter where we had decided to stop for lunch before we headed to the Western Wall for our last station.

But First - we need branches - Hosannah branches - to commemorate the Triumphal entry. Not a palm tree in site. Hmmmmm... they don't call this the Mt. of Olives for nothing. The very tree that provided the shade in which we were sitting gave up some small branches for our Hosanna walk. That's my Hosanna branch in back of my hat as I look toward the Lion Gate. We moved toward the gate, joining the throngs of Muslim pilgrims.

We chose to return to a restaurant just outside the entrance to the Western Wall plaza from the Muslim quarter. e had been here for lunch another time and like it alot. In one sense it was a mistake. As we made our way down the Via Dolorosa the midday prayers at the Haram finished and every Muslim pilgrim in Jerusalem poured through the gates back into the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. We had to pass about 10 of those gates along the way and we were moving against the flow of traffic. It was a remarkable experience to be in that flooded river of humanity swimming up stream, but we persevered (it only lasted 15 minutes or so) and were rewarded with a great lunch.

After lunch we went through the security checkpoints and out on to the Western Wall Plaza. The plaza was busy with Jews preparing for the beginning of Shabbat and pilgrimage and tour groups of every stripe. In the heat of the day, the Western Wall plaza gets the direct sun light of a desert afternoon and affords no covered place to sit. Besides the reflected sun from the Jerusalem stone of the plaza means there would be little escape from the heat even in the shade. By the time we got there it was close to three and we could find one shaded spot in which to sit up against the wall on the Western side of the plaza opposite the Wailing Wall. There we read the text of Jesus' cleansing the temple and some portions of his teachings in the temple precinct. We sat for long periods in silence soaking up the scene before us. Occasionally one of us would turn to a psalm and read. In all we sat in prayer and reflection for an hour before we discussed what to do next.

None of us had spent any substantial time in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher yet. We had a brief introduction to the Basilica from Fr. Gregory the first day we visited the Old City, but none of us had yet delved deeper so we headed there. Once in the Basilica, we separated with a plan to meet later. There were not many pilgrims in the line for the Tomb, so I took advantage and went in for a brief time of prayer (brief is all they will let you have). I expect I will have a lot to say about the tomb of Jesus after I celebrate Mass there next Wednesday, but suffice it to say here that it was another experience of the weight of history!

The Basilica is a melange of chapels and prayer nooks all dedicated to some aspect of the death and resurrection of Jesus. On the Jerusalem via Delorosa, there are five stations within the basilica itself (six if you are inclined to count the resurrection as a "station of the cross"). Various chapels, niches, and corners are under the authority of different Christian communities. IN all 6 different Christian groups are responsible for some part of the Basilica. Even here at perhaps the holiest place on the whole planet, the human experience is alive and well. SO rather than a prayerful, reflectful, contemplative, quiet place to experience the flood of emotions the cross and tomb of Jesus might bring, one is aware of constant noise, cacophonous chants (Latin and Greek simultaneously coming form different parts of this massive complex. Pilgrims elbowing their way into holy spaces while crotchety old monks try hopelessly to keep people from taking pictures. And yet, God is there, pouring out his grace on those pilgrims who have made their way to this place to walk the way of Jesus Christ and bask in the glow of that place that first witnessed his rising from the dead. That crazy Basilica stands as the ultimate sacrament - For 1700 years pilgrims have been coming to this place and remembering that Jesus, the light of the World, slept the sleep of death for three days in that tomb and came out to bring Salvation to the world. It is a sacrament, because one is aware of the remarkable grace poured out by God on those who come here to remember! More on the Holy Sepulcher later.

After our little group reformed, we sat in the early evening shade of the plaza in fron tof ht emain entrance of the Basilica. Should we head home now - it had been an exhausting day. Instead, we decided to head over to Papa Andrea's the second floor pub above the Muristan market that is quickly becoming a regular haunt for us. A cold beer (or two) later and we were headed for home for the evening.

It was another blessed day. One of the strong impressions of the day for me is how much the Old City is becoming familiar to me. I have learned that you can't really get lost there, at least not for very long. Keep moving and you will eventually come to a wall that you can follow around to a gate or another palce to get your bearings. A second impression of the day is that the holy sites have been laid out well so that one encounters the Gospel story everywhere in Jerusalem. The most important impression from the day is that there is no part of my Jerusalem experience that is not a blessing. And for that, I am most grateful!

I am just getting around to editing and posting this Friday post on Saturday. There will not be new posts on Saturday or Sunday as these are rest days for us and unless you want to hear about my unique laundry experiences or my shopping for more sunscreen or cleaning up my room, there will be nothing to report. :) And don't forget, lots of pictures at; http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart

Visit to the Israel Museum - June 18, 2009

These are images from the 1:50 scale model of Israel just before the Roman Conquest of 70 AD. This model is at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. There are more images of the Model at http://picasaweb.google.com/frbart/MoreJerusalem2009

More views of the West Bank Separation Wall

These are photos that I took of the West Bank Separation Wall as it runs across the Mt. of Olives and bisects the Town of Bethany. Today we wanted to retrace the steps of Jesus as he made his Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, beginning with Bethany. Bethany and Bethphage are literally minutes from each other across the top of the mount of Olives. But now Bethphage is separated from Bethanyby the Wall. WE had to take a taxi to Bethany (3o minute ride) and then back around the wall another 20 minutes) to Bethphage.

Our inconvenience is nothing compared to the remarkable life alterations the Palestinians have had to endure as this Wall has cut them off from their livelihood (sometimes separating a family from their farm or orchards) and the possibility of freedom of movement and finding meaningful employment.

What does it remind you of? The Berlin Wall? The walls built by the Nazis around the ghettos of Warsaw? The border fence in Arizona?

Messiah vs. Megalomaniac: Merry Christmas!

It has been another day filled with blessings. But these blessings come in the midst of extreme contrasts. Today I crossed from Jerusalem through the WALL into an area under the control of the Palestinian Authority. I passed beautiful, fortress-like Israeli settlements - illegal by any understanding of international law - through a border wall that is reminiscent of nothing so much as the Berlin Wall, but which also invoked images of the Wall that exists on the Border between the USA and Mexico. It was hard for me to see that Wall. It seems so backward, so heavy-handed - so oppressive. I talked with a Palestinian shop-owner, a Christian, who shared that so many Palestinians are becoming more and more strangled by the ring of walls, off-limits roads, and expanding settlements around the city I was visiting today. We talked to a sister and university professor both of whom spoke of the hopelessness endemic in Palestinian society today. I am not here to study the political realities of the modern state of Israel, but it was so in my face today as I spoke to residents of the special town I went to visit today.

That town was Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ. I spent the morning there (and into the afternoon, "observing Christmas." I guess everyday is Christmas in Bethlehem. Then in the afternoon, I went to the ruins of one of fortified palaces of Herod the Great - this was the megalomaniacal Herod that was so insecure, according to Matthew's Gospel, that he slaughtered all the newborns in Judea trying to wipe out this newborn threat to his power.

Living as close as I do to the Mexican Border, I have been struck at Christmas each of the last five years of the border/immigration aspects of the Christmas story. Joseph and Mary were both from Judean families. It is proposed that they were economic refugees in Galilee. Perhaps that is where Joseph could get work. They were required to travel under hardship to their homeland for the sake of Government control from an oppressive regime. When their child was born, the political reality of their homeland made them flee as refugees into Egypt, and only after the change from the oppressive regime, could they return to their own land, still as refugees in a part of the land that was foreign to them: Nazareth. This afternoon, having been through government checkpoints on Walled borders, I could not help but think of those 1st Century refugees, manipulated by powerful political realities in the very same land I in which I am today. Those checkpoints reminded me of my experience in the airport on my way here - the heavy handed questioning, the paranoia, the control - but just like the border crossings I experience at home - I have white skin, speak English, and have a Passport from the United States of America (add to that that I traveling in a vehicle with diplomatic plates). I am not oppressed.

So I was thinking about my two experiences today. Bethlehem and the Herodian. It occurred to me today that I visited the birthplace of the most important man in human history and I visited the burial place of a man who thought himself the most important man in history. The one tried to wipe out the other (and even if you believe, as most scholars do,that the slaughter of the innocents was not an historical event, there is still plenty of evidence of how ruthless, murderous, and paranoid this man was - the slaughter of the innocents is completely consistent with his personality - it's just that he tended to kill his own offspring instead of those of others). Interesting that of the two buildings I visited today - monuments to these contrasting stories - it is the ancient monument to the innocent child that still stands.

In fact it is amazing that it does. Christian pilgrims identified the place of Jesus' birth early in the 1st Century. In the second Century, following the second Jewish Revolt, the Emperor Hadrian, attempting to wipe all aspects of Judaism from the map, replaced the pilgrimage site with a temple of Adonis. Because of the location of that temple, Constantine's mother, St. Helena, had no trouble at all locating the exact cave that had served as a stable in the first Century and in which Jesus was born. Ironically, again someone tried to wipe Jesus off he map and unwittingly lead his followers to the exact spot of his birth. Helena had a basilica built over the exact spot. In 590, the Emperor Justinian expanded that basilica into the form we see today. Almost everything in Bethlehem was destroyed by Parthians in 614. But the Basilica was spared because of an image of the magi, who were dressed in Persian (Parthian) clothing. Because of this accident of history, the Basilica of the Nativity is the oldest Church building in the Holy Land, standing as we see it today for more than 14 centuries.

Presently, the Basilica is in the hands of the Greek Orthodox Church. But there is great cooperation allowing pilgrims to access all the holy sites. Their is a series of caves beneath the basilica which date to the 1st Century and are now occupied with chapels and tombs related to the Nativity of Jesus. Today, we celebrated Mass in the Study of St. Jerome. St. Jerome, of course was the 4th Century Scripture scholar known chiefly as the man who translated the Bible into Latin for the first time. His famous dictum is "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ." He chose to wok in Bethlehem so that he could be near the place where the WORD became flesh. How appropriate that during this Summer of scripture study, our Mass at Bethlehem would be in the cave St. Jerome used as a study. Today we celebrated the Mass of Christmas Day - everyday is Christmas in Bethlehem. The first reading was from Isaiah 52, a text every Dominican knows and loves: "How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of him brings glad tidings [translates: "good news", "gospel"], announcing Peace, proclaiming Good News [again; "Gospel"], announcing salvation and saying to Zion: "Your God is King" I don't remember ever using this text on Christmas morning - but today, it is perfect! It is a Dominican Christmas here in Bethlehem today and we are called to announce the Good News - the WORD is made flesh and makes his dwelling among us!

After Mass I went to the main Basilica and went down into the cave beneath the high altar and there in the floor marked by a Silver Star that bears the inscription; "HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS EST." (Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born). Again the weight of the history was overwhelming.

"In the beginning," St. John tells us, "was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God... And the WORD was made flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of Grace and Truth." I fell to my knees in front of the altar and touched the stone in the middle of the star - this was the place in which the God of the Universe pitched his tent with us. This is the place in which the WORD became flesh. "And now we are standing within your gates O Jerusalem!"

We were early so the hoards of pilgrims who would be here later in the day were not there yet. So I had time to pray the rosary. On my knees in front of the birthplace of Jesus, I shared the Bible with Fr. Steve and read the story of the birth of Jesus from Luke's Gospel. It takes me 15 minutes to pray five decades of the Rosary and I was in the grotto much longer than that. What a blessing! I am filled up with the Word and so pleased to have had so much time in this very special place. Fr. Steve and I felt that we did not have enough time and have vowed to come back at least one more time before our Holy Land Sojourn is complete.

After our time in the Basilica, we visited the Milk Grotto Church, a workshop where handmade olive wood mementoes are made and sold (where I bought a lot of souvenirs), to visit the Franciscan Sisters to make a donation for the poor, and then up the hill to visit the Christian Brother run Bethlehem University. We were given a brief tour of the Campus, and especially the chapel by Brother Jack, an American Christian Brother who teaches at BU.

The chapel is a special place - Chapel of the Holy Child - filled with images of Children. The image of Jesus above the high altar is a sculpture of a young adolescent - think Jesus in the temple with the scholars of the law. (We are used to seeing Jesus as the little baby and as the grown man - this was an unusual image.) The sides of the Church are painted with the images of "martyred children" from all over the world. There are four special frescoes surrounding the altar that depict the "holy innocents."

After Bethlehem University, we made our way back down to Manger Square and enjoyed a delightful middle-eastern lunch and then went over to the "Shepherds' Field" shrine just outside the City. In the very modern round church, we prayed he Gloria, listened to Father Steve read the story of the Shepherds from Luke and we sat for a few moments in private prayer.

The tone of our day changed as we left Bethlehem and drove a few miles South to the Herodian, the ruins of an elaborate Palace built by Herod the Great around 20 BC. Herod built an artificial conical hill 200 feet tall and built a fortified castle on top of it. At the base of the hill, he built and elaborate summer palace complete with gardens and pools. All that remains today of any of this are elaborate ruins. IT was fun to walk all over those ruins. I got my first glimpse of the Jordan and the Dead Sea from the top of Herod's hill today. We walked down into the elaborate cistern system and tunnels by whihc water was supplied to the palace. We spoke long of the ego that drove this madman of the First Century BC to elaborate building projects all over Palestine (we will see much more in weeks to come). But in the end he died and was buried in a tomb on the side of his artificial hill out here in the Judean Desert. That tomb was only just located two years ago. His tomb was desecrated and sealed under dirt by rebels in the second Jewish revolt - rebels who considered Herod a symbol of collaboration with Rome.

So the Story goes - Herod tried to wipe Jesus out. Herod built huge monuments to himself all over Palestine. Herod thought he was the most important man in the world. We might make the same arguments about any of the Roman ruins I visited earlier this month in Rome. Rome was complicit in trying to wipe out Jesus too. But in Rome, I walked in a 1600 year old Church that is still being used as a Church today. Today, I walked in a 1400 year old Church - a monument to a baby - a monument to the WORD made flesh.

"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the days of Herod the King, there came wise men from the East..." 2 men are mentioned in that beginning of the Christmas story in Matthew. Caesar Augustus is the first name mentioned in the account of the birth of Jesus in Luke's Gospel. Caesar and Herod were both responsible for the oppression of many people - they figure prominently in the "refugee" story that affected Our Lord and Our Lady, and yet today their worlds lie in ruin, but the world of Jesus is still the shining city on the Hill from the Sermon on the Mount. That is the story of hope that must be preached to the Palestinian people and which must drive all progress towards Peace in the Middle East. "How beautiful on the Mountain are the feet of those who bring good news, announcing PEACE, proclaiming salvation: OUR GOD REIGNS!" Merry Christmas from Bethlehem!

Don't forget to check out the albums of pictures that accompany this blog at

http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/Jerusalem2009

and

http://picasaweb.google.com/FrBart/MoreJerusalem2009