26 Feb 2020 HOLY LAND TLM PILGRIMAGE – Day 6: Jesus Wept and Peter Denied

Today took us to several significant sites in the life of Our Lord and His chief Apostle and His Blessed Mother.

We started Mass at the church built near the spot where the Lord came ’round the bend and saw Jerusalem laid out before Him. He wept over the city, because He knew what was going to happen to it when the Romans came. It is hard to imagine the carnage. If I am not mistaken, by the time the Romans were done, some million people were dead, and even lying unburied about the city.

We used the Mass formulary for Ash Wednesday rather than the Mass propers for the Church “Dominus Flevit”, but I did double up the orations.  I was torn about which to use, but Ash Wednesday…. pretty forceful.   I thought the Post Communion of the other, however, was striking.

O God, who takest no delight in our destruction, grant the hardness of our hearts to be softened by these Holy Mysteries, that we may wash away the stains of our past sins with tears of repentance, and strive to redeem lost time with holy charity that burns ever more fervently.

In the Church at the Garden of Gethsemene.   Designed by the same architect who built the Church of the Transfiguration.

And back at the same church from across the valley.

We went to the Western Wall.

The Church of the Dormition.  Mary, in one way of telling the story, returned here with John and then did not make the trip all the way back to Asia Minor.   In any event the tradition behind her dying on the Holy Mountain of Zion is strong.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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3 Comments

  1. Mariana2 says:

    Thanks, Father!

  2. mtmajor says:

    Padre, you exceeded your pay this Ash Wednesday; thanks so very much! Great videos and commentary. God bless you, safe travels!

  3. Semper Gumby says:

    “Today took us to several significant sites in the life of Our Lord and His chief Apostle and His Blessed Mother.

    “We started Mass at the church built near the spot where the Lord came ’round the bend and saw Jerusalem laid out before Him. He wept over the city, because He knew what was going to happen to it when the Romans came.”

    From “American Babylon” by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus:

    “As Christians and as Americans, in this our awkward duality of citizenship, we seek to be faithful in a time not of our choosing but of our testing. We resist the hubris of presuming that it is the definitive time and place of historical promise or tragedy, but it is our time and place. It is a time of many times: a time for dancing, even if to the songs of Zion in a foreign land; a time for walking together, unintimidated when we seem to be a small and beleaguered band; a time for rejoicing in momentary triumphs, and for defiance in momentary defeats; a time for persistence in reasoned argument, never tiring in proposing to the world a more excellent way; a time for generosity toward those who would make us their enemy; and, finally, a time for happy surrender to brother death- but not before, through our laughter and tears, we see and hail from afar the New Jerusalem and know that it is all time toward home.”

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