THE P RTAL
December 2014
UK Pages - page 12
The Pilgrimage
of a lifetime!
Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane tell of the recent
Ordinariate Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
UK Pages
P
eople said
it would be the pilgrimage of a lifetime. They were correct, it was! To explain
everything we did and saw would take up a hundred editions of The Portal, so we shall just give you a
flavour of our pilgrimage in the hope that you too, will take the opportunity to follow in our footsteps.
The temple complex and the Dome of the Rock
are prominent, but the distinctive buildings of the
rest of the city dominate the skyline. It is the typical
Jerusalem picture. To think that after so many years of
reading about it, hearing about it, singing about it and
studying it; we were really there! Here the Lord wept
over Jerusalem wishing he could gather her to himself
as a hen gathers her chicks. There can be little doubt
Israel is usually in the news. Emerging from the that he weeps still.
British Mandate, Israel dates from 1948. Right from the
The Garden of Gethsemane is smaller than we
start, there were problems with her Arab neighbours,
not to mention the Palestinian people inside her had thought, and we had no idea the Kedron valley
borders. Rather less than 25% of these have Israeli is the sought after place to be buried by Jerusalem’s
citizenship, but those who live in the areas controlled inhabitants. So lots of graves on the Mount of Olives,
but few olive trees!
by the Palestinian Authority do not.
The Israeli security at Heathrow for our flight was,
well I suppose “tight” is the word, although I confess
to being bemused at some of the questions asked.
However, one understands that the country is under
attack and care is needed. After one or two hiccups, all
thirty-three of our pilgrims made it on to the aeroplane
and we took the flight to Tel Aviv, arriving safely.
Jerusalem is a wonderful, beautiful and bustling city
where Judaism, Christianity and Islam meet head on.
The old city with its narrow streets and quaint little
shops was where we began our stay with our excellent
tour guide Zaher, a Palestinian Christian.
we were really there
The view across the Kedron valley from the tiny
church of Dominus Flevit (The Lord wept) is stunning.
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To touch the Western Wall of Herod’s Temple, the
stones that Jesus knew and saw, is wonderful. We do not
have the words to express it. To walk on the pavement
where Pontius Pilate condemned Jesus, and to stand in
the dungeon of Caiaphas’ house where Jesus spent his
last night on earth; they are all inexpressible emotions.
All this and King David’s tomb as well!
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a prayerful