Magdala's Women's Atrium

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Step into The Women's Atrium and be moved.

Some Franciscans were visiting Duc In Altum at Magdala Center, too.

Smartphone + biblical sandals for the friars of our time.

After Jesus "drove out the demons" from Maria Magdalene, she became his faithful disciple.
And Magdala is the town of her birth.  So of course there is a pillar for her.

The other columns are for Susanna & Joanna (Luke 8:3), Martha & Mary (Luke 10:38), Salome (Mark 15), Simon Peter's mother-in-law (Matthew 8:15), Maria Cleophas (John 19:25), and "many other women" (Aliae Multae) who supported Jesus (Mark 15:41).

But the coolest thing here is that one pillar has been left empty, waiting for YOUR name! 

As the brochure explains,
"One unmarked pillar stands for women of all time who love God and live by faith.  Each woman can spiritually inscribe her name as a poignant reminder of her role in the history of humanity."

The baptismal font stands solidly in the middle of the atrium.
The mosaic on this side is called Descending as a Dove, recalling how the Holy Spirit descended while Jesus was being baptized in the Jordan River.

Water flows from the center, making meditative ripples.

Quoting again, 

"The cupola reflects the sky, [seven] stars and sun's rays with a piece of an image from Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Mother of Jesus, found on the 'tilma' of a native Mexican in 1531.  Her folded hands signify the importance of women who accompany Jesus in the mission of extending the kingdom through prayer."

(More about the tilma here.)

The golden Latin phrase encircling the image on the cupola echoes an idea from the letter on the Dignity of Women (#31) by Pope John Paul II.   It can be translated:

In this holy place, 'the Church gives thanks to the Most Holy Trinity for the mystery of woman, and for every woman, for her eternal dignity and for the wonders God has worked in and through her in the history of humanity.' 

And one last message from the Magdala brochure (check my photos above to see what is referred to):

Magdala is a crossroad of Jewish and Christian history.  To reflect this, the walls have been painted with the same colors found in frescoes of the 1st century synagogue [i.e. discovered on their grounds and which I'll post about soon].

The mosaic on the floor of the atrium imitates the meander style pattern found in the synagogue.  Upon the floor mosaic stand 8 columns replicating a Byzantine style church.  The columns are inscribed with the names of New Testament women.
The combination of Jewish and Christian artistic elements in the Women's atrium symbolizes the connection between the Judaic and Christian heritages.  For Christians, it is a reminder of the continuity between the Old and New Testaments, and the Jewish roots of Christianity.

In case you missed my previous two posts, you can find my photos of the exterior of this new spiritual center here and about the unique Boat Chapel here.
More about Duc In Altum's side chapels and the downstairs Encounter Chapel and about the antiquities in coming posts.

Lots more about the work in progress at their website, http://www.magdala.org/about/core-culture/ .
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(Linking to inSPIRED Sunday.)
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A feast day in Jerusalem

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A blessed Solemnity of Corpus Christi to the Catholic friends!
There was a Pontifical Mass at the Holy Sepulchre today.

My Ministry of Tourism calendar says
"This feast is celebrated in the Latin Church to solemnly commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist."

But  Father James Gardiner  explains in a much simpler and more personally applicable way  about Corpus Christi.  In this video he makes some really good points, and in less than two minutes!

His monastery--and this is the amazing part (to me, at least)--is the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, begun in 1898.
The architect, Aristide Leonori (1856-1928), visited the Holy Land and took accurate measurements and photographs of the holy sites that were to be reproduced.

So replicas of Jerusalem's shrines are now in Washington, D.C.! 
Take a look at the pictures and how all this was conceived and built at the Holy Land Franciscans' website.
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P.S.  My photo of the beautiful chalices and  the Communion elements was taken at the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion before Mass began, on August 15, 2012, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
Click to enlarge. Even the reflections are beautiful. 
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Update:  I was surprised to learn just now that the Feast of Corpus Christi entered the Church thanks to a vision that a mystical nun had at age 16, in Belgium, in the early 13th century.
Yes, a woman!  St. Juliana.
Her story, as told by Pope Emeritus Benedict, is fascinating.
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UPDATE, June1:  The Franciscan have just posted a video from the Holy Sepulchre Mass.
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Jerusalem's Christian treasures take a trip back home to Europe (until July 14)

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UPDATE 2, April 19:   A short video by the Franciscan Media Center  about the Treasure of the Holy Sepulchre exhibit became available just now:
http://www.terrasanctablog.org/2013/04/19/holy-sepulcher-exhibit-opens-at-versailles/
You can choose your language. 

Recently I ventured into this nice Franciscan museum  in the Old City for the first time.

This old (17th century?)  scale model*  of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, crafted from olive wood, ebony, and ivory, is one of the many unusual things on display.

It's a good thing I saw this while it was still in Jerusalem, because recently it and 250 other "unknown" Christian masterpieces were carefully crated up and shipped to Europe and as of yesterday are  being shown at the Chateau de Versailles!
Yes, in Paris!

You can click to read more about it,  see a slideshow, and  view a video at the website of the Palace:  http://en.chateauversailles.fr/news-/events/expositions/tresor-du-saint-sepulcre-en

And the Custody of the Holy Land explains it thus: 

The Treasure of the Holy Sepulchre in Paris

Paris, 16th April 2013

An important exhibition of Christian treasures from Jerusalem opens today in Versailles, in the presence of the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Guardian of Bethlehem, Fra Stéphane Milovitch and the Franciscan friars of the Commissary of Paris.

The Halls of the Crusades in the Palace of Versailles, just outside Paris, house an exhibition called Treasure of the Holy Sepulchre. Gifts from European Royal Courts to Jerusalem from 16th April to 14th July.
This is a particular event: for the first time 250 “unknown” masterpieces that were sent to Jerusalem over the centuries are on display in one place. They are offered to the public for three months by the Friars Minor of the Custody of the Holy Land, who still use many of these precious implements at the most solemn celebrations in the basilica which encloses the Calvary and the empty tomb of our Risen Lord.

The pieces are sumptuous chalices, crucifixes, lamps, candelabra, ciboria and liturgical vestments given by European sovereigns as a mark of devotion to the Saviour, but also to assert the power of their lineage and nation.

The works will be displayed according to their origin – in particular from the Holy Roman Empire, the kingdoms of Spain, France and Portugal, the Republic of Genoa – showing how the European court rivalled in generosity.

Open every day, except Monday, from 9 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., the exhibition is organized in collaboration with the General Council of the Hauts-de-Seine Department and also has a second venue: the House of Chateaubriand, in Châtenay-Malabry. Here the public will be able to admire nine pictures, also belonging to the Custody. The lengthy work of preparation for the Paris exhibition began three years ago and in the end will also be of benefit for the nascent Terra Sancta Museum, which the Custody intends opening in Jerusalem in 2015.

* UPDATE: Meanwhile I find this good information at http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/SBFmsm.html:

 A striking example of more recent Palestinian art occupies the central spot of the northern hall. It is a small model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with inlaid work, in olive wood and mother of pearl, from the 17th-18th century.
The model represents the Basilica of the Resurrection after the Crusader restoration of the 12th Century, separated from the surrounding buildings. During the 17th century a number of similar devotional objects were produced by craftsmen in Bethlehem and sold to western pilgrims as souvernirs of their pilgrimage. 
The craftsmen based their work on the detailed plans of the sacred edifice drawn and published by the Franciscan Architect Fr. Bernardin Amico, who served the monasteries of Bethlehem and Jerusalem from 1593 to 1597.
Various sections of the roofing can be lifted, so that the inside can be seen.
 The model which is one of best preserved, is an excellent example of the type of work initiated by the Franciscans in Bethlehem, in the handicraft of applying mother of pearl inlay to olive wood.

Inauguration in Italian at Immaculata Hall

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So there I was, your nice-Jewish-girl blogger, sitting in the Immaculata Hall among all these  Franciscan friars and a smattering of nuns.
I came to St. Saviour's Monastery  curious to see the inauguration of the new premises of the archives of the Custody of the Holy Land.
The morning of lectures began at 8:30.  You can see the topics here  in the online invitation; but don't let the English fool you (as it did me)--the lectures were all in Italian.

We browsed the exhibition "Books of the Holy Land. A journey among the ancient books of the General Library of the Holy Land Custody in Jerusalem."

I like what the Custos, Father Custos Pierbattista Pizzaballa, said about all the work that had been invested in this project:
"It is necessary to focus our identity, to have a clear perception of reality, to be capable of having a vision, to give ourselves perspective," because "in books, in documents, in the archives, — that is, in our history — is our future."

See a short Franciscan Media Center  video about the library and its inauguration.

Or a slideshow of the place and some of the beautiful old books at the official website http://bibliothecaterraesanctae.org/.

And about "culture at the forefront."
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(A post for ABC Wednesday:  I is for Italian and inauguration.)
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Above the city wall

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 The sky was nice and blue yesterday around 4 pm, and the wind brisk. 

The Vatican flag was easy to see, flying atop St. Saviour's (Franciscan)  Monastery in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

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(A sky for SkyWatch Friday.)

Dancing on the water and people-watching

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City Daily Photo's theme today is "people-watching."
Oi, what to do? -- normally I am reluctant to point a camera at strangers' faces.
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But quite unexpectedly I found myself on a party boat plying the waters of the Sea of Galilee where mutual picture-taking became perfectly kosher.

Following the festive Mass atop Mt. Tabor for the Feast of the Transfiguration, the frocked group leader of our chartered bus surprised us by announcing that before returning to their parish in the Old City of Jerusalem we would head north to Tiberias for a boat ride.

It was a hot day down there, several hundred meters below sea level, but the friar told the captain to play Arab music full blast and the energy of the music coupled with the enthusiasm of the priest got many people up and dancing for hours.

Even I, the only Jew among the mostly local Arab Christians of the group, was tempted to come to the circle and try the happy Arab dances.
But I remained the perennial wallflower and enjoyed taking pictures for the blog instead.
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(See what other CDP bloggers are posting for people-watching
either at Julie's Theme Day site or on Facebook.)

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Feast at the Church of the Transfiguration

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The festive Mass for the Feast of the Transfiguration was broadcast live as streaming video.

Hundreds ascended to the top of Mount Tabor, believed to be the place of Jesus' transfiguration, and packed the beautiful Franciscan basilica.

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land, and many other priests conducted Mass in the upper part of the church.
Enlarge the first photo to appreciate the splendid golden mosaic.


Cameras of the Franciscan Media Center were grinding away (including one on a huge long boom).

The view of the Jezreel Valley from the top of Mt. Tabor, the lone rounded mountain in the region, was splendid.
Someone really picked a good place for the transfiguration.
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UPDATE: Archbishop Pizzaballa is no longer the Custos of the Holy Land.  He is now the Apostolic Administrator of Jerusalem.

For more about Mt. Tabor and the Transfiguration please see my posts here.

(Linking to inSPIRED Sunday.)
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Jerusalem stair shadows

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Thanks to Israel's strong sunlight, we have many crisp shadows.
Here are two stair-y shadows for Shadow Shot Sunday.

At the Israel Museum, the little inner courtyard next to the Shrine of the Book (of Dead Sea scrolls fame).
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Franciscan monastery "St. John BaHarim" (Hebrew for "in the hills") in Ein Kerem.
The sign next to the door says "Byzantine tombs used as olive press and warehouse during Early Arab Period."

Someday I'll have to find the monk who has the key to all these antiquities places that are under lock and key and beg to see them.
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Give him a hand

To all my Franciscan friends, to those of you who celebrate the Feast of St. Francis today and to those who do not, to all the animals that were blessed today--

Pax et bonum! . . . . Pace e bene!
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Stairway shadows, San Salvatore

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Fun shadows on the outside of the old Turkish city wall that encloses the Old City.
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Now they are part of Hey Harriet's Shadow Shot Sunday.
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The building and tower behind the wall are part of a monastery.
The Franciscan Order opened one of the first printing presses in Jerusalem in this monastery complex and operated an organ workshop.
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That same spire from the first photo was beautifully illuminated for the week of the Jerusalem Festival of Light in July.
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It is atop San Salvador/San Salvatore/St. Savior Church, built in 1885.
This is the Parish church for the Christian Quarter of the Old City.
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Capitolo ends, Mass begins

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Today's 7:30 a.m. Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was a special one.

The Franciscans had just completed their ten-day Capitolo Custodiale, their Chapter meeting at which important regional decisions were made.
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(They even wrote a daily blog about it, in Italian and English.)

Benches were taken out of storage and set up in the rotunda.

The Franciscan fathers lined up for their turn to enter the edicule, the little room containing the tomb of Jesus.
I try to imagine how special it was for them to receive Communion in that holiest of Christian holy places.

Raised hands during the words of institution.

The readings from Scripture.
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In 1342 Pope Clement VI declared the Franciscans the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.

To learn more about how this works in modern Israel, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custodian_of_the_Holy_Land.

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Custodia di Terra Santa has a website explaining their activities, and even a Facebook page.
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For more about the church, you can click on my label "Holy Sepulchre."

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