The Virtuous Point (Half Way)

At six thirty this morning, a group of us met Yusef, the man who will beour driver for the rest of the trip. Yusef is a nice man who often has a pained look on his face as he tries to understand our English. Anyway, because it's the sabbath, he drove us through mostly empty streets to the New Gate. There were a few people out, mostly ultraorthodox men in their long black coats and large hats. Not bad getup for a cool day, but I would think it would be awful on the hot days here. Jeans and a collared shirt is enough when walking the slanted streets of Jerusalem on a warm day, and we really haven't had "hot" yet. We walked through the quiet streets of the old city and very few shops were open. At a bit after seven, we arrived in plenty of time for the 7:30AM Mass. We found that we arrived at the end of the Eucharistic Prayer. I asked the sacristan who replied, "Yes, mass is at 6:30(basilica time) every day, except today. Today, the Greeks have a special mass so we have to be out early." The best laid plans... The sacristan, a priest from Ghana, was very helpful. He managed to squeeze us into the Blessed Sacrament chapel in a half hour slot beforea big German group arrived. Several other people joined us for Mass. Not knowing their languages, we used Latin for some of the Mass parts. Turned out to be a good decision, they joined along in full voice. One woman's voice was so full, she ended up drowning out most of the rest of us on the memorial acclamation. We all have our own gifts.

After Mass, most of us waited in line to go into the Holy Sepulcher. This is one of Fr. Dan's highlights every year. One enters into the small vestibule first, where the meeting of the women and the angel is recorded. Then, you bow down and four people can crowd into the small tomb room and pray before the stone couch or bench where Jesus' body was laid. In the line ahead of us was a group of about 30 neo-catechumenate people from Italy. They come here after they finish their several years long post-baptismal formation. They wear white albs for liturgies and they wore them this morning. They are usually in no hurry at all with liturgical/devotional matters and I thought we'd be in line forever. However, the Greek monk in charge this morning moved us along. He'd get a group in the sepulcher and another in the vestibule. At a certain point, he'd cry out, "Finish!" and those inside would move out and the vestibulites would move in. He'd then come out to the line and wavefour fingers at the head of the line and cry out, "Four!" He posed for pictures with pilgrims in front of the tomb and I'd never seen a guardian have such a good time. God love them, they see everything, and keeping some equilibrium has to involve a good deal of grace. It's like trying to have a good attitude MCing the last Easter Mass in the later hours of the Sunday at the end of a long holy week - every day. Not my idea of an easy task. We all have our own gifts.

A group of us then walked over to the bakery on the Via Dolorosa. The pastries are right out on the street and are delicious. For about $3 ("for you my friend, 15 shekel") we had a cup of coffee and a large pastry. There's a room to sit down and clean restrooms - a feature that we've come to much appreciate - similar to our brethren in Mexico this summer. On the way back, RJ and Fr. Dan decided to get a hair cut since both chairswere empty in the small shop near the Erloese kirche. The barbers here generally don't use electric razors. It's all snip, snip and they do anice job. For $8 and 15 minutes, not bad at all. As they sat there, Fr. Dan was struck once more by the graciousness of the Palestinian people. The door to the shop was open and the chair I was in was probably four feet from the street. Several men walking by popped their heads in the door to wish a quick good morning to the barber, who answered back. Others wished peace to him and again, he responded in kind. In the souk, you hear so much yelling and the sales pitches to the tourists and pilgrimsare shouted out, but there is a whole other level of relating which Ifind admirable and frankly refreshing.

After the haircut, Fr. Dan went back to the Holy Sepulcher (the church, not the edicule, or small chapel which gives its name to the whole church). The Greeks were having a liturgy of some kind in the upper section of Golgotha. One of the realizations of this trip is how little I know about Greek Orthodox liturgies. The seminary's annual trip to an Eastern Catholic rite is nice, but these people are like Romans from Rome - They are Greek or Russian Orthodox from those countries. The real deal, you might say. Fr. Dan and Jon were able to find a bench in the back of the Latin chapel to pray. As is usual, if you're there for a while, half of humanity seems to pass in front of you. There was a large group of Russians and then a good sized group of Indians. Some Israelis strolled through and a Muslim family. A Greek monk scolded a young German for wearing shorts in church. The German looked as if this was totally new news to him. Some people seem very devout and others come up to smirk, point and laugh at the spectacle. All the reactions to Jesus in His earthly life and death are still there, it seems to me. At 11:30, most of us came back to Ein Kerem for lunch. Father Battersby's plane should be arriving in Tel Aviv soon and then he will be driven here by taxi. We are looking forward to seeing him. Father Byrnes will be with us for another full day and then has a very early flight out on Monday. I have especially appreciated Father's homilies over the past two weeks; we'll miss him when he goes.

Those of us that did not come back for lunch amused themselves by walking around in New Jerusalem. Those of us that did not venture into Jerusalem elected for a restful day at the compound and a lunch or dinner out. This next week promises a lot of motion, and it is good to reflect and recollect ourselves for the long haul. We'll be in Jerusalem until Tuesday, then to Tabor, then to the Sea of Galilee on Thusday...