FEB 6:
We left our hotel at 5:30am today to visit the old city of Jerusalem
and pray the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa. We left
early so that we could complete the stations before the vendors and
shoppers arrived. We prayed our Stations of the Cross along the
streets of the old city of Jerusalem. The first nine stations were
outside on the streets, but the last five were inside the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre. Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the site
of Calvary) I was truly blessed as I had the privilege of serving mass
at this most Sacred Site with Msgr. Jim McNamara, Fr. Roger Fawcett,
and my dear friend and fellow parishioner, Mike Kuhn who was the
lector. I was so humbled and in awe of where we stood throughout the
mass I was often at the point of tears. We celebrated mass next to the
rock on which cross of Jesus was raised. After the mass we all
venerated and kissed the very spot believed to be the place of the
crucifixion this time the tears just flowed. We then visited the stone
upon which the body of Jesus was anointed for burial, and then visited
the tomb that Jesus was placed in, and resurrected from. We also
visited tombs attributed to the family of Joseph of Arimathea. We then
went on to visit the excavations of St. Helena and into the place
where it is believed she found the true cross. We also venerated the
pillar that was used to scourge Jesus. We then had a group picture
taken behind the anointing stone and under a beautiful mosaic of the
anointing of Jesus.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built over the above mentioned
places. Some of it is from the original church built by St. Helena,
and some from the reconstruction of the 600’s. However, most of those
were destroyed in 1009 and rebuilt in 1048. The crusaders later made
some changes. Subsequent changes and renovations (latest 1959) were
made and what one sees today is a combination of Byzantine, medieval,
crusader and modern. The tomb itself is surrounded by a large building
inside of the larger church. This building is known as an edicule.
Inside this edicule are two rooms. The first is the Chapel of the
Angel which contains a piece of the stone that had been rolled in
front of the tomb of Christ. The second room is the tomb itself.
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We then went back
to the Hotel for a late breakfast and then traveled to the Lion’s Gate
to go to St. Anne’s Church. This church is a 12th century crusader’s
church built over a Byzantine church built over the place where Mary’s
mother, St. Anne (Hannah) was born. The church was designed for
Gregorian chant and has wonderful acoustics. We sang both Amazing Grace
and Immaculate Mary inside. WOW! It is interesting that this church was
turned into a Muslim theological school in 1192. Outside the church you
can still see the Arabic sign. Outside the church is the Bethesda Pool
where Jesus healed the paralytic (John 5: 1-15). Also outside are ruins
from a Byzantine church and a Roman Temple to the God of Medicine.
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