Our first full day in Jerusalem began on top of the Mount of Olives as we followed along the Palm Sunday route that Jesus walked as he entered into Jerusalem before his Passion and death. We stopped at a small domed church called The Church Of The Ascension. Inside is a rock which tradition marks as the spot where Jesus ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection.
Continuing down the Mount of Olives, we stopped at the Church of Pater Noster where Christians recall Christ’s teaching of the Lord’s Prayer to his disciples. On walls around the church and its vaulted cloister, translations of the Lord’s Prayer in 140 languages are inscribed on colorful ceramic plaques.
According to tradition in this is where around the rock Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer or Our Father in the cave that forms the grotto under the church. When the Crusaders built a church here in the 12th century, they called it Pater Noster (Latin for Our Father).
We celebrated Mass in the Dominus Flevit chapel where there is a panoramic view of Jerusalem across the Kidron valley. The name of the church means "The Lord Wept" as he looked with sadness over the city of Jerusalem with its magnificent Temple.
After Mass, we descended to the bottom of the Mount and entered into the Garden of Gethsemane and saw some ancient olive trees. After the Last supper Jesus came to this place with some of his disciples to pray. Next door we visited the Church of the Agony where the large stone where Jesus prayed is before the altar.
In the afternoon after visiting the Church of St. Anne which marks the place of Mary's birth and the Pool of Bethesda, we began the Way of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa. We prayed the Stations in small chapels and on the street. The Stations conclude in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which is built over the sites of the rock of Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. In this Easter season we celebrated the Resurrection in a most unique way as we touched the stone where Jesus had been laid.
Click the image below to view a short video that contains an overview of our sixth day in The Holy Land!