This month, Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox describe their experience participating at Holy Mass in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.
1986 – Second Visit to the Holy Land, Part 2
The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre (meaning tomb) was first built in the 4th Century by the Roman Emperor and Christian convert, Constantine, over what is known to be where our Lord Jesus was both crucified and buried in a cave tomb. Two centuries before Constantine, the emperor Hadrian had a Roman temple to Venus built on the spot where it was believed Christ was crucified. During a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Constantine’s mother, Queen Helena, ordered that the temple be torn down and excavations undertaken. Evidence of a mass grave and many discarded crosses were found.
The Basilica has been destroyed and rebuilt at least four times over the centuries. It was last rebuilt in 1042, expanded during the years of the Crusades, and continues to be restored up to modern times.
Deacon Tom: Early in the morning around 5:00am on our second day staying in the Hermitage in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father Giorgio knocks on our door waking us from our sleep. He asks if we want to join him as he celebrates the 6:00am Mass in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.
Mary Jane: We are groggy and are having trouble deciphering Father’s words through his Italian. Once I understand what he is asking and tell Tom, we immediately respond with an enthusiastic YES! We rush to get dressed. It is still quite dark and difficult to see so we follow closely behind Father. He walks us outside the Garden of Gethsemane, through the Kidron Valley and up the hill into the Old City of Jerusalem.
Tom and I are holding hands as we walk the way through the Old City. I say something to Tom and Father Giorgio looks back and says, “No holding hands, no conversation. Remain in quiet prayer and ask Jesus to walk with you and prepare your hearts for Mass.” At first, we are startled; but realize the importance of that walk in prayer from Gethsemane to Calvary, the site where Father Giorgio is scheduled for Mass. Our walk gives us an opportunity to imagine the Apostles, Peter, James and John waking at the approach of the Roman soldiers coming to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. That terrible day becomes vividly alive to us as we walk the same way to the cross as Jesus did.
Deacon Tom: We enter the Basilica and ascend the steep stairs to the altar built over Calvary. Father offers Mass and it is just the three of us. We receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Eucharist right where Jesus was nailed at his hands and feet, lifted on the cross to die as expiation for our sins.
Our Catholic faith teaches that Jesus is sacrificed only once, but through the miracle of the Mass, we are made present to His Passion. This takes an effort of the will to remember when we attend our parish church Mass, but not here. Here, our body, mind and soul join effortlessly to the reality we are over the actual ground soaked in Jesus’ blood given for us. We listen to the Scripture of the Passion and receive Jesus into our soul through the bread and wine made Body and Blood.
Mary Jane: The experience of participating at Holy Mass on Calvary is beyond description. Tom and I walk back to the Hermitage in silence. We remain in silence through our last few hours in the Garden of Gethsemane, and as we pack our suitcases to return to the Franciscan Casa Nova in the Old City of Jerusalem before departing the Holy Land to return to San Antonio.
When it is time to depart the Hermitage, Father Giorgio blesses us and wishes us farewell. We say our goodbyes and thank him for his hospitality, but words are not sufficient. Our time in the Hermitage in the Garden of Gethsemane and at Holy Mass where our Lord suffered so much so that we can have abundant life is a priceless gift no words of gratitude can properly express.
Deacon Tom: We have a few more goodbyes to be made to Sr. Bernarda and our Holy Land family at Casa Nova. Mary Jane and I fill with a sorrow that can best be described as homesickness. How strange it is to us to return to our ‘normal’ lives, when it is here that feels like home.
The seed that God watered on our first visit is now taking root thanks to our second visit to the Holy Land. We are going back to our same lives, but we are not the same. We are being transformed, a seed is growing, and Mary Jane and I know it.
Deacon Tom and Mary Jane sensed interiorly beyond words what each Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is, a re-presentation of the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ to which the Catholic faithful in every generation are invited.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains:
1382 The Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord's body and blood. But the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice is wholly directed toward the intimate union of the faithful with Christ through communion. To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself for us.
1380 It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way (The Eucharist.) Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us "to the end," [Jn 13:1] even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us, [Cf. Gal 2:20] and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love.
Note: As of 2023, Deacon Tom and Mary Jane Fox have been blessed to journey to the Holy Land more than 60 times, guiding many pilgrims to encounter Christ in this sacred place.
