Not My Will, But Thine Be Done

Above is a picture of the Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Mark, one of the sites that claims to be built over the Upper Room where Jesus gathered with his friends for the Last Supper. As the nun who spoke with us told us, you have to go down to go up to ancient Jerusalem. She was the most interesting person we have met here and perhaps the most interesting person I've met in my life. I really wanted to take her photo but was too afraid to ask. In any event, they continue to speak and worship in Aramaic here, the language of Jesus; and she sang the Lord's Prayer to us in Aramaic. That in itself made it worth the trip here.

As I think about the events of the Last Supper (wherever that happened) and what follows--with the voice of Sister Justina singing in Aramaic still ringing in my ears, I am reflecting on prayer. The photo above was taken in the gardens at the Church of All Nations, the traditional site for the Garden of Gethsemane. Reflecting on Jesus' prayer in that Garden ("Remove this cup from me if it be thy will; by not my will but thine be done") I am reminded that this is the prayer that never fails. So often we think prayer is about micromanaging God and telling God what needs to be done. My experience here in Jerusalem and in particular as we reflect on the events of Holy Thursday reminds me again that God's ways are not our ways, and we need to do less talking and more listening if we mean to grow in faith.

This photo is taken from the inside of the Church of All Nations (another Barlucci creation) -looking out toward the gardens and beyond to Jerusalem.

This was a pleasant surprise: taken outside of the Church of St. Peter in Galicantu. It is a church run by the Assumptionists, the same order that runs Assumption College in Worcester where I do some teaching. In fact, I bought a beautiful stole here and introduced myself to the nun who was working in the store, who asked me to pass along greetings to one of my colleagues in the Theology Department at Assumption. Small world...

This is a statue outside of the St. Peter's Galicantu, Peter's denial. Interesting to juxtapose this image with the one shared earlier on this site, taken by the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Here Peter says, three times, "I do not know the man." There, he says three times, "I love you, Lord." It is good to worship a God of second (and third) chances!