Day 8

Good Evening Friends,

This morning we started our day off quite early so that we could walk the Way of the Cross with few vendors and general public around to distract us from the powerful journey. The last five stations were located in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which contains the sites of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. What an amazing and moving experience to not only see these holy sites but to also touch the spot of the crucifixion and walk into the tomb where Christ was placed after his death. We had the opportunity to celebrate the Mass in the holiest place for the Christian community.

We left the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to visit the holiest place for the Jewish community: The Western or Wailing Wall. We had the opportunity to visit the wall and pray at this holy site. We also witnessed two Bar Mitzvas. Our next stop was to the Muslim's third most holiest place: The Dome of the Rock which is a shrine honoring Mohamed.

We then gathered together to travel through the busy narrow streets to the Pool of Bathesda (Jn 5:1-15) and the Church of St. Ann. It was a very emotional and full day. We all feel blessed. One day left of our pilgrimage.

Note that this will be our last Blog post from Israel. We leave early tomorrow for a full day, followed by our departure from Tel Aviv at 11:15 PM Israel time, then overnight home, arriving back home to Rockville around noon Connecticut time on December 9th. We will post our final day with photos after we return home.

Tomorrow, we will visit Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Museum, then Ein Karem where John the Baptist was born and Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth to utter the words of the Magnificat (Lk. 1:39-80). Then we travel to Abu Gosh to walk the road to Emmaus where Jesus appeared on the first Easter Sunday, followed by Mass at Our Lady of the Ark Church overlooking Jerusalem and our farewell dinner.


Peace,
Fr. Rick



Early morning walk on the Via Dolorosa praying the Stations of the Cross. The Via Dolorosa is the path where Jesus carried his cross to Calvary.




Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the marble slab on which the body of Jesus was anointed with scented burial oil. Pilgrims traditionally place their rosary into the oil on the marble.



Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Station Twelve, Jesus is nailed to the cross.



Dan LeBlanc leaves the Holy Sepulcher, the tomb of Jesus. He also celebrated his birthday today.




Mass at Church of the Holy Sepulcher where we begin by singing "Were You There", a very powerful spiritual experience for all of us.




Fr. Rick prays at the Wailing Wall, the most sacred place in Judaism.




Also known as the Western Wall, the wall is the western side of the Second Temple.




The Dome of the Rock, the third most sacred place for Muslims



Lunch at Pizzeria Basti--the best pizza place in Jerusalem--excellent!



The Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the paralytic.



Fr. Rick reads Jn. 5:1-15 at the Pool of Bethesda



Singing "Immaculate Mary" and "Come to the Water" at the Church of St. Ann, honoring Mary's mother and the birthplace of Mary. The Church of St. Ann is famous for its acoustics and pilgrims traditionally sing here.



Statue of the Virgin Mary with her mother, St. Ann.




The crypt below the Church of St. Ann, marking the place of Mary's birth.