Mount of Olives — Jesus walked here, prayed here, taught his disciples to pray here and he sweat blood here. We had Mass at Gethsemane where the sins of the world fell on the holy, holy, holy Son of God. The real pain of the passion happened here. One Mystery here.
Caves have great significance here. The disciples learned the Our Father in a cave. Jesus also ascended to heaven from the same place. One Mystery here too.
The Palm Sunday Road. We walked it and imagined Jesus with us overlooking Jerusalem with tears in his eyes. Lunch at a Jewish kibbutz, not as exciting as walking in the footprints of Our Lord.
Mount Zion required four Mysteries of us. Two at the Church of Mary’s dormition and two in the Upper Room. Here the birthday of the Church took place, three sacraments were instituted and the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples in the Upper Room.
We heard a rooster crow (well, kind of) as we visited the place Peter denied his Lord and where Jesus was lowered into a cistern prison over Holy Thursday night. We read Psalm 88 in the dungeon.
Then, Steve (me) gave a 25 minute overview of Salvation History from Adam and Eve until today. We did it with the whole panorama laid out before our eyes. The only view of Jerusalem that could be better would be from a helicopter.
Then to the Visitation where we saw Mary and the Ark of the New Covenant, Mother of the Church and the Mother of God.
After that, free time for group discussion before dinner and a free evening. Wow!