JERUSALEM AT LENT

We now begin our first Friday in Lent here in Jerusalem. A spirit of repentance, sacrifice, and the liturgy now emphasizes sites that once called to mind the fateful days leading up to Christ’s Passion. In a more total way we consider what Christ went through. Lent, for Catholics has this power: we alter our whole way of living to unite ourselves more closely with the suffering Christ. We pilgrims, who have been attacked by things as small as homesickness to things as miserable as the flu (and sometimes both), feel it just a little bit differently.

Many of us have had the opportunity to visit the holy sites associated with His Passion, to participate in the way of the cross on the very road He Himself traveled. Whereas previous sites focused more on His glory and His ministry, Jerusalem, in Lent, expressed His ministry, passion, and glory very uniquely. It seems as if even more pilgrims have flooded to the streets of Jerusalem for that very same experience. I've noted groups from Japan, Australia, the United States, and Canada. Even more people are represented here and their own faith is certainly an inspiration.

That said, the crowded streets in many places are literally choked with people—not the most convenient  experience for us here, but perhaps the way Jerusalem became when Jesus walked the streets. After all, many from the Galilee towns followed after Jesus in great numbers. Perhaps this crowding and near-suffocating was meant to be this time of year. I can only imagine this same multitude shouting, “Crucify him!”

In that thought, we certainly recall our own sinfulness and double-mindedness, asking for His mercy this special time of year. We pray for you and hope you are doing the same for us.