Seven o’clock in the morning. The doors to the Holy Sepulcher are closed. They have been since the previous evening. In the forecourt, metal barricades control the crowd that is already pressing against the doors, keeping clear a pathway for the procession of the Franciscans, coming from the Patriarchate escorting Mgr Kamal Bathish, who will be the principal concelebrant for the Passion of our Lord.
How many people are waiting in the forecourt? During these holy days, everyone wants to venerate the site of the Passion. Not everyone knows that once the doors have opened they will remain so for only fifteen minutes before closing again for two hours. This is not a day for visits, but for praying.
As the doors swing open, a dense mass of people presses forward. No one is walking anymore, but being carried along. The Israeli police, the Franciscan friars, the dragomans, the kawas – everyone tries to calm the crowd, lest it get carried away in its fervor and become dangerous.
While the Franciscans move toward the sacristy to prepare themselves in silence for the procession, the faithful who were able to enter turn immediately to the right where the stairs leading up to the Calvary altar are located. The massive build and authoritative bearing of the guards protecting the two stairways are barely sufficient to keep the crowd back. The faithful will only ascend once the religious are in place for the celebration of the Passion.
Suddenly, silence. You can hear the pounding of the kawas’ staves resonating in the basilica like the tolling of a death knell. Franciscans at its head, the procession ascends, somber and silent, to Calvary. Mgr Bathish bears a relic of the Holy Cross. The religious take their places in close ranks; a few of the faithful, those who were closest to the entryway, are allowed to ascend. Two hundred people, perhaps, who will occupy every square centimeter of available space. Not a word, not a sound, and a bit more of serenity. Tears, surprised smiles. Some of the faces are radiant with a contained joy, others still show their amazement at having been able to come here to pray. Still others, sadly, are marked by the rudeness they displayed to be able climb the stairs, not stopping even at harshly elbowing their way…
The service can begin. The recitation of the Passion by the Franciscan friars is interspersed with hymns, animated by the Choir of the Custody of the Holy Land. This Passion, whose last moments will take place in the very place where Christ lived them, resounds with a particular gravity. On the vault on the Latin side, we read these words from the prophet Isaiah: “It was our suffering that he bore, our sorrows weighed him down […] He was wounded by our rebellion.”
Who are we really at the foot of the Cross: disciple or executioner?
After the Liturgy of the Word, comes the long Universal Prayer of Good Friday, then the adoration of the Holy Cross. The exaltation of the Cross in the liturgy is always impressive. But here, at Calvary, it is done with a relic of the Holy Cross. It is overwhelming. Only priests and seminarians can venerate the Cross at this moment. The faithful will do so at the end of the celebration, in the Chapel of the Apparitions.
Communion is given at the Calvary altar. So dense is the crowd that everyone can move forward without jostling, without noise.
After the blessing, the procession of priests and religious moves slowly downstairs. Mgr Bathish carries the Holy Cross and passes before the empty Tomb on his way to the Chapel of the Apparitions… the first fruits of Easter already present. O death, where is thy victory?
MAB
How many people are waiting in the forecourt? During these holy days, everyone wants to venerate the site of the Passion. Not everyone knows that once the doors have opened they will remain so for only fifteen minutes before closing again for two hours. This is not a day for visits, but for praying.
As the doors swing open, a dense mass of people presses forward. No one is walking anymore, but being carried along. The Israeli police, the Franciscan friars, the dragomans, the kawas – everyone tries to calm the crowd, lest it get carried away in its fervor and become dangerous.
While the Franciscans move toward the sacristy to prepare themselves in silence for the procession, the faithful who were able to enter turn immediately to the right where the stairs leading up to the Calvary altar are located. The massive build and authoritative bearing of the guards protecting the two stairways are barely sufficient to keep the crowd back. The faithful will only ascend once the religious are in place for the celebration of the Passion.
Suddenly, silence. You can hear the pounding of the kawas’ staves resonating in the basilica like the tolling of a death knell. Franciscans at its head, the procession ascends, somber and silent, to Calvary. Mgr Bathish bears a relic of the Holy Cross. The religious take their places in close ranks; a few of the faithful, those who were closest to the entryway, are allowed to ascend. Two hundred people, perhaps, who will occupy every square centimeter of available space. Not a word, not a sound, and a bit more of serenity. Tears, surprised smiles. Some of the faces are radiant with a contained joy, others still show their amazement at having been able to come here to pray. Still others, sadly, are marked by the rudeness they displayed to be able climb the stairs, not stopping even at harshly elbowing their way…
The service can begin. The recitation of the Passion by the Franciscan friars is interspersed with hymns, animated by the Choir of the Custody of the Holy Land. This Passion, whose last moments will take place in the very place where Christ lived them, resounds with a particular gravity. On the vault on the Latin side, we read these words from the prophet Isaiah: “It was our suffering that he bore, our sorrows weighed him down […] He was wounded by our rebellion.”
Who are we really at the foot of the Cross: disciple or executioner?
After the Liturgy of the Word, comes the long Universal Prayer of Good Friday, then the adoration of the Holy Cross. The exaltation of the Cross in the liturgy is always impressive. But here, at Calvary, it is done with a relic of the Holy Cross. It is overwhelming. Only priests and seminarians can venerate the Cross at this moment. The faithful will do so at the end of the celebration, in the Chapel of the Apparitions.
Communion is given at the Calvary altar. So dense is the crowd that everyone can move forward without jostling, without noise.
After the blessing, the procession of priests and religious moves slowly downstairs. Mgr Bathish carries the Holy Cross and passes before the empty Tomb on his way to the Chapel of the Apparitions… the first fruits of Easter already present. O death, where is thy victory?
MAB