Love Freely Chosen

I write in awe and great pause at the mysteries encountered today.Throughout, the theme of Jesus freely choosing to suffer and die for us resounded. We began the day early with mass on the Mount of Olives. The altar was on the rock where Jesus sweat tears out in the midst of the intense pressure he felt. Our guide shared his take that this was the peek of Our Lord's passion. It was here that he was most in anguish and here that he chose not to back down and to go forward with giving his life to his Father and for the salvation of the world. It was a solemn and deeply intense place of prayer as we all were able to bend down on knees and kiss the rock after mass during personal prayer. I prayed for our parishes that we may persevere in the face of opposition, tests and trials. This is the first place Jesus actualy prays for himself to the Father..revealing his humanity and level of suffering. We walked out of Church among the 2100 year old olive trees in the Garden. If only they could speak to tell us what they saw. A little FYI, Jesus goes to the Garden to say YES to the Father to redeem the NO Adam said in the "Garden" of Eden. We then traveled to a lookout over the entire "Old City" which is the city in the time of Jesus' day. From there we were able to see the proximity of the Mt. of Olives, the Kidron Valley, Bethany, the place of accusation, the last supper, Herod's place and place of crucifiction. Please let me explain to you that this was truly heart moving to see how far and how long they pushed Jesus throughout the city while he was scurged, bleeding, etc. We then visited Pater Nostra where Jesus taught the disciples the Our Father. There is a cave there where Jesus taught the prayer, believed to be the same place where he ascended. We prayed the Lord's prayer there. The Church of the dormition was next. This is where Mary fell asleep. The story is told that she fell asleep and a grave was made for her. The whole time, her body smelled like roses. On the eighth day, her body disapeared . Mary 's presence in my own heart confirmed without a doubt the significance of this place. We all prayed a decade of the rosary to Our Lady in the lower church. To add to the depth of this moment, the upper room was only some 80 feet away. Here we entered a room that was not the original but one built on top of several. There were several countries there praying. We prayed a while realizing all the many mysteries of the early church: the last supper, washing of the feet, Judas' betrayal, the appearance of Jesus after his rising, appearance to Thomas and Pentecost. I pause in awe of just thinking about the significance of this place. On my heart the whole time was a question to Jesus: "What was on your heart as you ate this meal with your friends?" We had prayed on the Mt. of Olives where he sweat blood. His anquish must have been on his heart at the meal. Yet he chooses still to love in the midst of the darkness of betrayal. He chooses to love and show an example of being a servant (he gets up and washes their feet). This was personaly moving to me because the priesthood was confired upon the disciples in this place as well as the institution of the Eucharist. We ended the day at the Church of St. Peter in Galicantue.This is the sight where Jesus is put on trial before the council of the high priests who put him in their prison. They floged Jesus 39 times. Then they lowered Jesus with a rope, his hands tied, into a cistern where the water was up to his waist so he couldn't sit down. Reflect on Jesus, cut with open wounds in this dirty water overnight, cold and tired from the beating.
We all stood in this cistern and remained in silence and prayer. We ended the day here in preparation for tomorrow. We will wake up early 4:45 am and travel the Via Dolorosa (the way of the cross). Then we celebrate mass in the tomb of our Lord. Good night...its been full, powerful, awe filled day. Thanks be to God Fr. Michael.