Tomb of Christ

Today we were so blessed to have the opportunity to celebrate mass inside the tomb of Christ! The tomb is enclosed by a small chapel within the Holy Sepulcher Basilica. Our mass began at 7:00am this morning, needless to say it was an early morning for everyone. What struck me most about the experience was that from this one singular place in the world, from one singular moment in history, I am called to be a witness to Christ's resurrection. The realization that from this one spot all of human history has forever been altered. We celebrated the mass with some other pilgrims from various places. It was a tight squeeze fitting all of us into the small chapel and an even tighter squeeze on time since we were only given 25 minutes for the whole mass. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience (as usual).

Some of the guys chose to spend the night praying in vigil at the Holy Sepulcher. Though extremely tired, they made it and are doing well this evening.

After the the mass at the Holy Sepulcher we visited Malachite Orthodox Patriarchate church which had perhaps some of the most stunning icons I have seen on the trip thus far. The entire inside of the chapel was covered with wall-sized icons of various biblical scenes and saints. Later, we visited St. Mark's Syrian Orthodox church, walked along the Jerusalem walls, and through the Jewish quarter of the Old City.

Also today, we transferred our living arrangements to the Bridgettine Sisters guest house on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount and the Old City just down the street from Garden of Gethsemane. The building itself was originally established as a clinic by the Vatican but later went out of service in this capacity. While still owned by the Vatican, the Bridgettine Sisters now run the place. They have been very gracious to us and have made a huge lunch and dinner leaving us all stuffed.

God Bless,

Steve Blaxton