In the tomb

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This, my friends, is THE picture for today, the day Christians call Holy Saturday.
The day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday when Jesus lay in a dark tomb, hidden away, here in my country, in Jerusalem.
Although not a Christian I can't help but wonder what the feeling of Christians is on this heavy day. 

I entered this silent, dim, empty 18th century church in rural Austria alone.
How stunned I was to suddenly discover a life-sized dead "body" lying below the altar.
Such a life-like statue! 

It was almost too life-like.

And look here -- how often do you see a pieta with Mary holding his hand?

A Way of the Cross ends on top of Mount Calvary, with three crosses as the final station.

The old Baroque church is called in German Kalvarienbergkirche.
Next to it was built (in 1984) the Franziskusgemeinschaft, the communal farming community where I volunteered last October-November.
It was a wonderful experience, all of it.
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)

On Good Friday, tall ladders to the cross

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It is now late afternoon in Israel.
This is the day my Christian friends call Good Friday, and this is the hour when they solemnly reflect on the taking down from the cross.
Very soon it will be Shabbat evening. 

It was in Friedberg, a small town in the rolling green hills of Styria, Austria, that I first saw  statuary such as this!

Please click a few times to enlarge the photos and get the beautiful details.

The church was first mentioned in writing in 1377.
In 1706 it was expanded and magnificent frescoes were added.

The Baroque pilgrimage church and its surroundings can be seen here.
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I try to imagine how you Christian readers out there experience the Triduum, the three saddest days, as you await the joy of Easter Sunday.   Blessings to you.
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)

Orthodox Holy Week in a dome

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Orthodox Christians are now in Holy Week.
Here are all the events of Holy Week, starting with the raising of Lazarus, in one beautiful dome.
Click on the photo 2x to see all the details.

The dome is on the Orthodox church, St. Elias,  on the summit of Mount Tabor.

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Kali thinamis, good strength, to the Orthodox Christian friends.
It has been a very long and strict Lenten fast for them.
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Keep looking up

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I'm just a Jew, what do I know--but I have a feeling that during Holy Week Christians can sense Jesus peeking through into their lives.
And I think that whether they are religious or not, they try to catch a glimpse of him too.

Especially as the intensity grows, from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday.
Here in the Holy Land at least, this is all quite palpable.

At such times the sun sends dramatic shafts of light into the dim Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A protected tapestry on the wall reflects the same dome of the Greek Orthodox Catholicon.
Light is all around.
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