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