Scottish Catholic Observer

TODAY was definitely the fullest day of the Scottish National Year of Faith Pilgrimage to the Holy Land so far. Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow arrived in the early hours of the morning—his luggage didn’t, but more on that another time—yet he still joined pilgrims for breakfast at 6.30am.

His Grace joined the blue bus leaving Nazareth en route to Caesarea Maritima, Mount Sion and Bethlehem. The tone and the mood was different as pilgrims prepared to enter Jerusalem (above) and ultimately cross into Bethlehem. Each day in the Holy Land brings its own joy and challenges, and brings the Bible to life through site visits and the Liturgy. Today had clear highlights, such as our first Mass with Archbishop Tartaglia, the audience with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the honour of Solemn entry to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

Few could have predicted, however, the power of walking in the ruins where Herod the Great walked, nor the emotional reaction to the readings in the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu built over the site of the dungeon where Our Lord was kept before his trial. When the blue bus group entered the actual dungeon, the suffering of Jesus hit home.

Today we learned of the suffering of Christians in the Holy Land, we saw the West Bank and checkpoints, we saw the walls built on the land and in people’s hearts. We learned from Archbishop Twal that Jerusalem has just 10,000 Christians compared to hundreds of thousands of Jews and Muslims.

“We have to live with others, better to live with others as good friends than bitter enemies,” he said. “There is more and more religious radicalism… Both Muslim and Jews can be very bad. There is vandalism against churches. We have to accept this if we want to follow the way of Jesus.

“Jerusalem is a city of surprises. Pray one day we can have another surprise, pray for peace.”

For more see future editions of The Scottish Catholic Observer.