The Up and the Down

So, we had a very good day, mostly on the Mount of Olives. First, we were dropped off at the top of the mountain. This provided ample view for those of us with cameras (Personally, my shutter has clicked about 2000 times this trip already.) A short walk down the mountain to Dominus Flevit ("the Lord Wept") and again, another great view. We were able to have Mass at the Church of Dominus Flevit, which commemorates the Lord's weeping because Jerusalem had missed her hour of visitation. Well, we had Mass outside the Church in an outdoor chapel area. The air was a bit brisk in the shade at that point in the morning. A few minutes for reflection, thanksgiving, and pictures, and we were off and back up the hill.

We stopped in at a Benedictine monestary where the Filioque ("and the son") controversy started (You can read about the controversy on Wikipedia.) For those of us that just completed our Church History courses, that was a little surreal - that much history just flying off the page. Combined with the fact that I am generally and inexplicably enamoured with Benedictine worship spaces, it was a powerful 5 minutes.

More up the hill and around to the place of the Ascension. This is a little building. Muslims control the site, but they allow the Franciscans to come for Mass every year on the day of the Ascension. They camp out overnight. Kinda interesting. I was amused at Acts 1:10-11 "While they were looking intently at the sky as [Jesus] was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven." " It is a small building. Nothing really to talk about except this rock in the floor which they say has a footprint in it. I didn't see it. Of course I took a picture of it. I still don't see it.

The more walking up and down to visit the place where the Lord taught His disciples the Lord's prayer. They have tiles with the Lord's Prayer in I couldn't even guess how many languages (the guidebook says 60). Languages you didn't even know are languages. (No, I didn't photograph them all. Yes, I thought about it.) There is a cave that comemmorates where he actually taught them the prayer. The large structure that was to become the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, begun in 1920, was never finished and the walls stand half constructed. It will remain a courtyard.

We didn't have time to visit the hermitage of St. Pelagia the Harlot (great story). We did get to the chapel at Bethphage by the skin of our teeth and after a Father Trapp death march. This commemorates the place where Jesus mounted the donkey and rode into Jerusalem - Palm Sunday. This is a pretty chapel, but you wouldn't guess it would be so inviting from the fencework. It is near the security wall with the occupied territory. A demolished building stands, well, i guess it stood and the rubble stands, near the chapel. The combination reminded me "I came not to bring peace, but the sword." (Mat 10:34)

We had a nice "peek-neek" lunch, as our hosts at the Compound call it, on the side of the Mount of Olives and then much needed time to pray in the Holy Sepulcher. The Greeks were being nice to me (thanks for Fr. Jorgenson's Greek classes this year, I made a stab at the inscription in the iconostasis and the guy seemed pleased - it occured to me later that his English may not have allowed him to render a better translation than I did. He didn't say much.) But this was to get some great shots of perhaps the most impressive feature of the building - the routunda (the tomb of Christ isn't per-se part of the building in my mind so much as part of the locaiton.)

Steve Pullis gave an introductionto the Church of St. Stephen, where we ended our touring for the day. After EP, Father Mike reviewed New Testament history for us, a good review as we get ready for the Galilee. Tonight, we finish the postcards and I'd better join them.