Gethsemane and the Mount

It's about 8 PM and we just finished dinner. It was supposed to be 90 degrees today and may have been, but there was a good breeze from the west so it wasn't unbearable. We began the day with Morning Prayer (praying for our benefactors, those preparing for ordination, Mr. Hull's nephew and others) in the chapel here at "the compound."


We then drove over to the Mount of Olives and to Gethsemane. For those who were here in the past, the route would be a surprise, some of it highway; it took as long to reach Gethsemane by the highway as it does to reach the Jaffa Gate by surface streets. Eric explained the site of Gethsemane to us and led us in a prayer. We had time for more private prayer in the garden and in the church - The Church of All Nations. This site recalls that Jesus, after completing the Last Supper, went out across the Kidron Valley to Gethsemane - the Garden of Olives. There, Jesus knelt and prayed that the cup may pass by. It is here that Judas betrayed him and he was arrested. Interestingly enough, the Kidron valley isn't very large. If you look across it, you can see the walls of Jerusalem, as the picture shows. So it is very close to Jerusalem, but also clearly on the way to Bethany and out of town. Jesus, therefore, put himself in a position that the cup could easily pass. If he got up and left before Judas arrived, he very easily could have slipped into aninomity. But, as we know, such is not how the story goes.

The Church of All Nations recieved this name because of the large number of countries that donated for its construction. Personally, it is one of my favorite churches in the holy land. The outside rises from the hillside in a stately manner. The mosaic on the front demands attention. Inside, the translucent glass gives an awsome hue to the building, as you can see. There is no impressive stain glass display. The architect left the real art of the mosaics. Nevertheless, the windows are beautiful and definitly add to the ambiance. The sanctuary is gated, protecting a piece of rock that may have seen Christ's prayer. The mosaics on the sanctuary wall depict the kiss of Judas (left), the agony in the garden (center), and the arrest of Jesus. The relevant scripture is quoted at the bottom of the mosaic in Latin. The Franciscans care for the place. It is a site in which silence is enforced. Explainations are given outside the church. So, unlike the church at the site of the crucifixion, which is just a chaos of noise, this site is reflective and prayerful. Many of us were moved by the Mass at this site. One of the peculiar things about the site is the rock formation in the center of the sanctuary. This rock very easily could have seen Christ's prayers, his sweat, which scripture records fell like drops of blood (this scripture is quoted in the latin at the top of the center), or the arrest. Any of those spots could have seen Malchus' ear, or the departing/fleeing of the apostles after the arrest. The site is thick with scripture and one of the more anxious moments in all of the Book. The bottom line is that I could spend a long, long, long time on that site just on "Angelus de coelo confortans eum" and that's just one. Simply a beautiful church.




While we were still in the church, a Korean group had Mass - their praying was full throated and a joy to witness. During our Mass, Father Mike preached about the disciples needing to depend on Jesus and called us to allow Him to be our strength. During Mass, Fr. Dan remembered what a few of the men have mentioned from previous years: that the Masses have really been a high point of their prayer; they certainly have for me this year. At noon, we began our walk through the Kidron valley
past the tombs of the prophets, as they are known.
Some of us went into one of the tombs
and saw human bones - so verified by Dr. Joseph. (We didn't take any for souvenirs.)
We went back to the garden area near the gate to the Wailing Wall and had our lunches. A couple of the men went to the schwarma restaurant across the street, a restaurant that Anthony gave his thumbs up to. After lunch, we gave Fr. Mike and Fr. Dan our bibles, breviaries and rosaries and went up on the Temple Mount. (Since 2001, the Waqf, the Muslim authority which controls the Islamic holy sites, has not allowed Christians to bring such articles. One of the security guards was very interested in a guide book, thinking it was scripture. Nope. Just some turist ramble; sorry boss.) The picture is a few of us in front of the Dome of the Rock (a mosque). Then all went to the Damascus Gate where we met our driver, Hassen, or where we eventually met him since traffic held him up for a while. We had our TR on the priesthood this afternoon once we got back. Tomorrow, we head for the Negev Desert.