We saw and believed

This morning we had an early start with a 4.00am on the bus for a short journey to begin the Way of the Cross, the walk of Jesus, to Calvary stopping at the 14 stations along the way with the 12th being at Calvary, then the anointing stone, and then the tomb.

Given the experiences we heard from the two mothers last night, each of Jesus' stations were connected to the plight of parents who had lost children here and who live in fear, and then to our own lives.

As we started in the Muslim quarter the mosque starting calling for morning prayer and we passed many people going to the mosque for prayers

We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your holy cross, You have redeemed the world.

The hill of Calvary, which was just outside the city walls in Jesus' time and the tomb are now with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sepulchre meaning a small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried.

Twelfth Station - Jesus Dies on the cross... Veneration at Calvary

The 13th Station - Jesus is taken down from the cross - the anointing stone where his body is prepared for burial in the tomb

The 14th station - Jesus is placed in the tomb

To put things in context, trom Wikipedia... Following the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War, Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. In AD 130, the Roman emperor Hadrian began the building of a Roman colony, the new city of Aelia Capitolina, on the site. Circa AD 135, he ordered that a cave containing a rock-cut tomb be filled in to create a flat foundation for a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus. The temple remained until the early 4th century.

After allegedly seeing a vision of a cross in the sky in 312, the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great began to favour Christianity, signed the Edict of Milan legalising the religion, and sent his mother, Helena, to Jerusalem to look for Christ's tomb. With the help of the Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius, and Bishop of Jerusalem, Macarius, three crosses were found near a tomb; one which allegedly cured people of death was presumed to be the True Cross Jesus was crucified on, leading the Romans to believe that they had found Calvary. Constantine ordered in about 326 that the temple to Jupiter/Venus be replaced by a church. After the temple was torn down and its ruins removed, the soil was removed from the cave, revealing a rock-cut tomb that Helena and Macarius identified as the burial site of Jesus. A shrine was built, enclosing the rock tomb walls within its own.

This cross section of the church gives some context of what is inside. By Yupi666 at Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

Our group then had Mass at 6.00am in the shrine/tomb. For the Liturgy of the Word the Mass is celebrated in the shrine, then the priest goes into the tomb and celebrates the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Each of the group was able to come into the tomb to receive Holy Communion and venerate where the Lord was placed in the tomb.

Peter addressed Cornelius and his household: 'You must have heard about the recent happenings in Judaea; about Jesus of Nazareth and how he began in Galilee, after John had been preaching baptism. God had anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, Jesus went about doing good and curing all who had fallen into the power of the devil. Now I, and those with me, can witness to everything he did throughout the countryside of Judaea and in Jerusalem itself: and also to the fact that they killed him by hanging him on a tree, yet three days afterwards God raised him to life and allowed him to be seen, not by the whole people but only by certain witnesses God had chosen beforehand. Now we are those witnesses - we have eaten and drunk with him after his resurrection from the dead - and he has ordered us to proclaim this to his people and to tell them that God has appointed him to judge everyone, alive or dead. It is to him that all the prophets bear this witness: that all who believe in Jesus will have their sins forgiven through his name.'

- Acts 10:34,37-43

On the first day of the week Mary of Magdala came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb" she said "and we don't know where they have put him."

So Peter set out with the other disciples to go to the tomb. They ran together, but the other disciple, running faster than Peter, reached the tomb first; he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground and also the cloths that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed.

- John 20:2-8

John came in here, into the empty tomb... he saw and believed. Now we took are in the empty tomb? Do you believe? This reading is where we are - Like Peter and John we haven't seen the risen Lord 

But for Peter and John that moment was to come later. But the question remains for us... Do you believe, that in this tomb Jesus Christ shattered death and rose from the dead? 

Each of us have certainly encountered the risen Lord in our pilgrimage, in different places and different ways, but here we come to the high point of our salvation and we are left with the empty tomb. As we stand in this place we are asked to reconfirm our faith and be confident in the hope that our loved ones have died in Christ will rise with him to eternal life.

Looking into the tomb and the shelf where the Lord's body was placed

Remember your servants, our loved ones, 

whom you have called from this world to yourself.

Grant that they who were united with your Son

in a death like his, may also be one with him in his Resurrection,

when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died,

and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body.

To our departed brothers and sisters, too, and to all who were pleasing to you

at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom.

There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory,

when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

For seeing you, our God, as you are, we shall be like you for all the ages

and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord,

through whom you bestow on the world all that is good. 

Note to self... Remember to put the zucchetto back on to hide the bald patch

After Mass a group of us returned to Bethlehem in Palestine, taking the Palestinian bus to the checkpoint and then walking along the Separation Wall to Manger Square. Even though the whole group did not come I have decided to put these photos here because our time in Bethlehem was short and we didn't get to see the ugly and evil blot that is the Separation Wall.

The stories go on and on... Many were whitewashed before Donald Trump's visit

From Wikipedia... In December 2003, Resolution ES-10/14 was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in an emergency special session. 90 states voted for, 8 against, 74 abstained. The resolution included a request to the International Court of Justice to urgently render an advisory opinion on the following question.

"What are the legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, as described in the report of the Secretary-General, considering the rules and principles of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions?"

The court concluded that the barrier violated international law. On 20 July 2004, the UN General Assembly accepted Resolution ES-10/15 condemning the barrier with 150 countries voting for the resolution and 10 abstaining. 6 countries voted against: Israel, the US, Australia, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. The US and Israel rejected both the verdict and the resolution. All 25 members of the European Union voted in favour of the resolution after it was amended to include calls for Israelis and Palestinians to meet their obligations under the "roadmap" peace plan.

The kind of wall I like, an ancient one with free passage on Star St

Tea and coffee with the legendary Sami... a must when visiting Bethlehem

A toy seller say toy guns - so sad

Church of the Nativity

On the return through the checkpoint we experienced the resignation of the people as they waited to pass. 

When I first saw this icon of Mary there was a door painted below looking into the olive tree groves beyond. Many of these were owned by Palestinians from Bethlehem and who were not given passes to pay through the wall to tend their land. Because they did not work their land it was forfeited to the Israeli state. The door and much of the wall was white washed before Donald Trump's 2017 visit to Israel

Prayer to Our Lady Who Brings Down Walls

Most Holy Mother of God,

We pray to you as mother of the Church, mother of all who suffer.

We beg you, through your ardent intercession, to bring down this wall, the walls of our hearts, and all the walls that generate hatred, violence, fear, and indifference between people and between nations.

You who crushed the ancient Serpent by your Fiat, gather and unite us under your virginal cloak, protect us from all evil and open forever in our lives the gate of Hope.

Bring to birth in us and in our world the civilization of Love that sprang forth from the Cross and Resurrection of your divine Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.

I saw the wall

I believe with prayer and international pressure

it can come down 

Remember Berlin