Today, I had a migraine (no worries, it happens) so I stayed
at the Knights Palace Guest House and rested while the rest of the group
ventured out for the day. The went and had Mass with the Latin Parish of
Jerusalem St. Savior, after which they met with the Franciscan father Feras
Hijazeen, parish priest of St. Savior to learn about the work of the Franciscan
fathers in the Holy Land.
After Mass, they walked the Stations of the Cross along the
Via Dolorosa (also known as the “Way of Suffering” or “Painful Way”), which is
a street in the Old City in Jerusalem which tradition tells us is the path
Jesus walked to His crucifixion. I absolutely hate that I missed this, but I
have tried to attach some video of Tony and our friend, Pam O’Connell carrying
the cross. Pam shared with me that during part of the journey through the
street, they passed a man shouting loudly and crudely at a little person,
heard a garbage truck loudly crush trash and encountered a local Israeli teen
mocking them as they passed. While she tried to tune all of this out of her mind,
it dawned on her that these were similar circumstances to what Jesus
encountered when He carried His cross through these same streets. Movies and
re-enactments make us believe otherwise, but His walk to His death was probably
more like what our group experienced – walking through a busy marketplace while
some mocked Him and others ignored Him. They all said it was profoundly moving
experience.
After a group lunch, they visited the Yad
Vashem Holocaust Museum. According to Wikipedia, a core goal of Yad Vashem's
founders was to recognize gentiles who, at personal risk and without a financial or
evangelistic motive, chose to save their Jewish brethren from the ongoing
genocide during the Holocaust. Those recognized by Israel as “Righteous Among the Nations” are honored
in a section of Yad Vashem known as the “Garden of the Righteous Among the
Nations.” After the Western Wall,
Yad Vashem is the second most-visited Israeli tourist site. Its curators charge
no fee for admission and welcome approximately one million visitors a year.
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