Holy Land Pilgrimage Day 8

We did not have any itinerary scheduled today and were free to make our own plans. Although we all made our way back to the Old City for a portion of the day, a few when off in different directions to explore other parts of Jerusalem.

The group I was with elected to walk the rampart of the North Wall of the Old City, with the Western Wall as our destination.  I imagined there would be a reasonable staircase for us to negotiate, followed by a nice easy stroll on the wall overlooking the city.  I was wrong, a winding circular stair case followed by a walk along the wall the mostly involved climbing and descending steep stairs.  Setting those challenges aside, it was quite amazing to walk upon the 1500 year old wall which did offer brilliant views and a different perspective on the Old City. 

Our rampart walk brought us to the Jewish Quarter near the entrance to the Western Wall, the last remnant of the 2nd century temple.  It was a perfect day to visit, as many young men were celebrating their Bar Mitzvah.  They were accompanied by family and friends, who sang, danced and played music along the way.  At the wall the young men carried the Torah Scroll for the first time. We met up with some of our other pilgrim friends who came as we did to witness the joyful celebrations and to offer our own prayers at the Western Wall

After some lunch, a little shopping and some strolling through the Old City at our own pace.  A few of us decided to return to the Church of Holy Sepulchre with the hope of getting closer to the chapels of Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus.  No such luck the crowds were still quite large.  

Unfortunately we also experienced some of the scandal of a Holy Land pilgrimage.  While waiting on the line to the Tomb of the Lord, our group of 5 attempted to pass what we thought was simply a large group stopped to listen to their guide. No sooner did we get past the group, did their guide make his way over to us and began to yell at us, despite our efforts to explain our mistake, he continued to yell at us - in the holiest of Christian places.  One of our group attempted to speak to the man in Arabic, hoping to calm the situation with some familiarity. Unfortunately it did not calm him but only caused him to insult the man's Arabic heritage.  

This is an unfortunate part of pilgrimage.  Some are simply tourists with no appreciation for the sacred. I also want to share what followed.  As we made our way away from the guide and his group, I took our small cohort into an empty chapel, to pray and diffuse our emotions.  It was only after visiting the chapel that I researched where we were.  The chapel was called the Chapel of the Apparition of the Risen Jesus to his Mother. The chapel honors a well-established tradition that does not appear anywhere in the New Testament descriptions of the appearances of the risen Jesus but is an encounter that has been imagined and meditated upon for centuries.  I first experienced the notion of this apparition when I participated in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.  I always found it to be a beautiful and intimate reflection, that the Lord and his mother would have this private encounter, following the resurrection.  Amidst the hurtful moment we experienced just feet from the Lord's tomb, I was so grateful that our Lady called us into this chapel to have this private encounter with her son.

Our final day of touring is tomorrow.  It is a full day that will conclude with us boarding our overnight flight for home.