One of our days in the Holy Land we met up with my parents, who were on the Dr. Scott Hahn Tour, on the Mount of Olives. From the Mount of Olives we had a gorgeous view of Jerusalem. Ellie and Brian enjoyed a camel ride at the top of the mount.
We then walked down the Palm Sunday Road and stopped at the little church, Dominus Flevit "The Lord wept." It was here that Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Lk 19:41).
We then continued down the road to Gethsemane (Lk 22:29-53). We visited:
The Grotto of Betrayal - here Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss (Lk 22:47-48) and Jesus was arrested, bound, and led away (Lk 22:54).
The Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Garden of Gethsemane, which contains trees with roots dating back to the time of Jesus.
The Basilica/Church of All Nations - which is built around the "Rock of Agony," a section of bedrock identified as the place where Jesus prayed alone in the garden on the night of His arrest. We joined my parents' group here for Mass. This was probably the most moving part of the pilgrimage for me. After Mass, I was able to place my hand on the Rock and I immediately started crying as I was overcome with emotion and perhaps a sliver of realization of what God has done for me.
We then went up to Mount Zion and visited:
The Church of St. Peter Galilcantu, where Peter denied Christ (Lk 22:33-34) and containing what is believed to have been a dungeon ("the deep pit") in the high priest house where Jesus was imprisoned.
Dormition Abbey
The Upper Room of the Last Supper (Mt 26:17-30) (what is built over it).
Next we visited the excavations at "the City of David." King David, from the Old Testament, captured, strengthened, and beautified Jerusalem, making it his city around 1000 BC (2 Sam. 5:5-16). The city at that time occupied only the cone-shaped spur of land south of the Temple Mount that is outside the present-day city walls.
We had a good view of Kidron Valley, the boundary of the living, in the City of David, and the dead, on the Mount of Olives. Jesus crossed Kidron Valley with his disciples when traveling to Garden of Gethsemane (Jn 18:1).
It was at the Pool of Siloam that Jesus healed the blind man (Jn 9).
We then entered the Old City through one of the gates.
Our first stop inside the gates was the Wailing Wall. The Wailing Wall is the remains of the retaining wall of the Temple in Jerusalem, where Jesus and all Jews traveled to and prayed at every year. Jesus was presented at the temple as an infant and visited the temple at age twelve (Lk 2:22, 27, 41-52). Twice, at the beginning and close of His ministry, Jesus cleansed the temple (Lk 19:45-48; Jn 2:12-25). Today most of the area that was once the Temple is now controlled by Muslims. The Muslims' golden "Dome of the Rock" occupies this area and is often pictured in Jerusalem's skyline.
At the Wall, we prayed for the many intentions we brought on our journey. We had written down the prayer intentions and left the notes in the cracks of the Wall. Twice a year the notes are collected and buried at the Mount of Olives. (All men and boys must wear head coverings to approach the Wall.)
Next we walked to the Pool of Bethesda (Jn 5:1-9), which supplied the water for the Temple and is where Jesus healed the crippled man.
Our final stop for the day was Saint Anne's Church. Tradition holds that Anne was Mary's mother, and this may have been the place of Mary's birth. We met a lovely priest who explained the significance of the statue of young Mary and her mother Anne, who is holding a scroll with the command to love God with all your heart, soul, and strength (Dt. 6:5).
The following day we walked the Via Dolorosa, The Way of the Cross, concluding in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher -- I'll share more about that in my next (and final) post about the Holy Land!
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