THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AND RELIGIOUS ORDERS 

Bethpage Church: Jesus mounts the mule to descend into Jerusalem

Our destination this past Saturday was the Mount of Olives where we visited three churches:  Bethpage, Pater Noster, and Dominus Flevit.  Bethpage commemorates where Jesus mounted the mule to descend into Jerusalem (c.f. Luke 19:28-40). Along the same route of Jesus’ descent, Luke (19:41-44) records that Jesus wept over Jerusalem marked by the Church called Dominus Flevit. 

Dominus Flevit Church

The Church of Pater Noster commemorates the place where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.  Tradition holds that Jesus regularly taught his disciples in caves.  On the Mount of Olives alone there are two such caves: one at the bottom near the Church of All Nations, and the other being Pater Noster. 

The Church of Pater Noster

The grounds of some sites we visited have adorned prayers specific to the site in multiple languages.  This was the case at the two churches in Ein Karem: The Visitation (Magnificat) and the Birth of John the Baptist (Benedictus).  The Church of the Pater Noster was no exception with over 160 plaques containing the words of the Our Father.  Many groups decide to chant the Our Father in their native tongue; our group elected to chant the Our Father in the language given to the name of the church--Latin. 

There are many religious orders present in the Holy Land, predominantly the Franciscans, in addition to the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), Legionaries of Christ, Benedictines, and the Carmelites. Throughout our pilgrimage we have encountered Carmelite Friars at two places: Muhraqa (where Elijah slayed the false prophets of Baal) and on Mount Carmel (where Elijah sought refuge). The Church of the Pater Noster is also home to a convent of cloistered Carmelite sisters.  In addition to Pater Noster, there were Carmelite Sisters in Bethlehem. 

Visit to the Carmelite Sisters in Bethlehem

Perhaps unknown to many, John Paul II declared the founder of the Carmelite Sisters in Bethlehem Blessed on November 13, 1983.  Blessed Mariam Baouardy, affectionately called the Little Arab, was a native of Palestine before joining the Carmelites in Pau, France.  She is regarded as a mystic of the Church, noted for her levitations, ecstasies, stigmata, apparitions, prophecies, and bilocations to name only a few of her gifts! As a parting gift, the sisters in Bethlehem gave all the seminarians their own small relic of Bl. Mariam (a piece of her habit).

Relics of Blessed Mary of Jesus Crucified in Bethlehem 

During our time here in the Holy Land we have had the privileged opportunity to pray at many holy sites where many holy people have been before we arrived.  We give thanks to God for this privileged time of grace and look forward to the gifts God wishes to give us in our final week, as we pray in the way Jesus taught us, thy will be done!