Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday for Us

Good Friday 
The Place of the Skull-
would have been outside
 the walls of Jerusalem.
Where this might have been 
is now a part of a bus terminal.
The rocks continue to fall off
 the side of the rock side.

It looked more like
 this about 100 years ago.
 The traditional site as preserved
 by Constantine's mother 
is The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The large mosaic in this setting depicts
 the crucifixion, 
and dressing of the body of Jesus.


"Early Christians venerated  the site. 
Then the emperor Hadrian 
covered it with a pagan temple.
Only in AD 326 was the first church 

begun by the emperor Constantine I. 
He tore down the pagan temple
 and had Christ’s tomb
 cut away from the original hillside. 
Constantine’s church 
was burned by Persians in 614,
 restored, destroyed by Muslims in 1009 
and partially rebuilt. 
 Crusaders completed 
the reconstruction in 1149. 
The result is essentially 
the church that stands today."
(seetheholyland.net.)
Whatever the exact site,
we know that the important event
 for Christians was our Jesus 
dying on the cross for each of us.
And we wait with Holy Saturday vigil-
the Good News of His Resurrection. 


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