May 7, 2015
Holy Sepulcher
(Posted from near the New Gate, Jerusalem Old City)
My traveling brother and sister priests said Morning Prayer a few minutes ago in the Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher, traditional site of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Seeing the sights, visiting the shrines, kissing the relics--all have left me with mixed feelings. I was warmed and overcome by a sense of gratitude for the people and events thus commemorated. I was also struck by the centuries of hucksterism profiting from the gullibility and simple faith of countless pilgrims--as well as the nasty partisanship for control over the holy sites and the promotion of competing claimed "true sites." Martin Luther had a similar reaction when he went as an Augustinian monk on pilgrimage to Rome: his rejection of relics and indulgences was sparked in reaction to his horror of abuses he saw in his pilgrimage to Rome.
There is a Zen story about a master who points to the moon and asks his disciple, "What is that?" "The moon," is the answer. "No. It is my pointing hand" replies the master. For me, the sites and relics are hands pointing toward Jesus, not the holy one himself. And the petty infighting about control of the sites might be the fingers of the closed pointing hand that actually are pointing away from the moon.
I got news this morning about the death of parishioner Jane Norris, for whom I have been praying all week, together with prayers for Fred Latty. I read the news on my phone email as I was waiting in line to enter the Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher-itself, to kiss the stone bed traditionally said to be where the body of Jesus was lain and from which he was raised. I prayed for Jane and for us all.
With hope for the resurrection I send grace and peace,
Fr. Tony+
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