Before discussing the remainder of the day, begun in the last post, a picture that I found in the files. This is from the Church of the Last Supper. (The shrine adjacent to the Room of the Last Supper, as discussed in that post. As the Room is a historical site administered by the government, no Masses are allowed there. Masses take place in the shrine nearby.)
This modern treatment of the Last Supper, also called the Institution of the Eucharist (last of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary), shows the consternation of the disciples when Jesus altered the traditional ritual of the Passover meal. No "why is this night different from all other nights?" and so on! No wonder they were shocked. On the right we see that some were less disconcerted and more understanding how it could be that He would give them His Body and Blood to eat and drink. (This question had been raised earlier by Jesus' preaching. See John chapter 6 I think it is for more details.)
After lunch, we visited the Church of Pater Noster, the place traditionally regarded as where Jesus gave the disciples the Lord's Prayer. (Not including the phrase often added at the end, "for Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory" which is an eleventh century prayer that just kind of got pasted on over the years.)
This explanatory tile picture shows the plan of the area. It is a French shrine. There are many, many tile presentations of various translations of the Our Father--well over 100 if I remember correctly.
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| Two of the many translations of the Lord's Prayer |
The grotto where Jesus was teaching His disciples at that time. Note that there is protective glass to keep people from (a) filling the space with little notes of petition, (b) crawling in there and getting stuck or injured, (c) vandalizing the place out of pure meanness. (Remember that nut in Rome who took a hammer to the Michaelangelo Pieta statue in St. Peter's Basilica?)
This small cave does remind me of the famous saying in the Gospel that what has been whispered in the dark will be shouted from the rooftops.
The altar in the church has the prayer in Latin.
After this we went over to the vicinity of the Garden of Olives. Partway down the hill is the site called Dominus Flevit, Jesus Wept in English. (No, this is not an exclamation of shock. It refers to an incident in the Gospel when Jesus looked out over Jerusalem and contemplated the future fate of the city as it then stood.)
There is a teardrop-shaped small church there. We didn't go inside as there was another group preparing to offer Mass. I did stand in the door, with my camera on "discreet" mode, and capture the mosaic image on the altar. "O Jerusalem, how often I have wanted to gather you unto me as a hen gathers her brood under her wings!"
At the time I thought the bird was perhaps a phoenix but now I see that it is, indeed, a brooding hen with her chicks.
We continued on down the side of the ravine that is called the Kidron Valley, some of which was a bit steep and had me zig-zagging my path down the slope. There was basically no sidewalk along there, a narrow lane of passage, a long spaced out line of clumps of people, and occasional cars. Thus very short zigs were required!
The oldest living olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The carvings of olive tendrils on the outside of the church.
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| An explanatory sign about the history of the church on the site. Note the repeated destructions by conquerors. |
The mosaic of Jesus' Agony in the Garden, when we are told that angels came and comforted Him in His distress. (His disciples, being fed, and wined, and tired after a long day, were unable to stay awake in the dimness and keep watch with Him.)
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