In the Valley of Jehoshaphat. All Souls Day in Jerusalem began this year with a Mass in St. Saviour's Church. There was great participation from the local community, even though it was not a public …More
In the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
All Souls Day in Jerusalem began this year with a Mass in St. Saviour's Church. There was great participation from the local community, even though it was not a public holiday. After the Mass, the faithful processed through the streets of the old town to the cemetery of the Custody of the Holy Land where the Franciscans are buried.
The next stop was the Catholic cemetery of the Holy City, where among others is the grave of Oscar Schindler, the German businessman renowned for having saved at least 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust. The gratitude of the Jewish community is visible on his tomb: instead of flowers, small stones can be found which symbolize eternal memory.
An area of Jerusalem which is especially impressive and unique is close to the place where the ancient temple stood ...
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "This is an important place in the memory of the dead in Jerusalem, because since ancient times, the cemeteries of Jews, Christians and Muslims have been found here. On the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem, especially towards the temple, there is the Jewish cemetery, and on the other side, behind us, beneath the walls of the holy city, is the Islamic cemetery facing the holy city of Mecca. Then, in the valley, the lowest point of the Kidron Valley, we have the Christian cemetery, where the dead face towards the sky - not towards the earthly Jerusalem or a city, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, which we are waiting for at the end of days ".
The valley of Jehoshaphat, which in Hebrew means "God's Judgement", is the allegorical place where God will judge all his people at the end of time, the day of Resurrection.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "In the Bible, this judgement is negative, since it is only mentioned twice in the book of Joel, in chapter 4 verse 2 and verse 12, and in both places it says the Lord on the Day of Judgement will gather in this valley, the Valley of Jehosephat, all the people who have done evil to Jerusalem and to the people of Israel, who led them into exile, and divided the earth."
Only from the fourth century did this perspective change, when the idea of individual responsibility was affirmed.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "While the early Christians and even Jews never wanted to be judged in this place because it was a place of condemnation, the idea of individual responsibility has ever so slowly emerged... so those who are buried here will rise but there won't be two groups - the good and the bad. Rather there will be people who will be judged individually according to their deeds. Now many people want to be buried here because during the last days they could rise sooner than those who are buried elsewhere."
Father Massimo points out the Golden Gate which is now closed. According to Jewish tradition it will be reopened at the coming of the Messiah, when the dead buried there will rise. It's a place of final judgement. Without doubt, commemorating the dead in Jerusalem, where God spoke through the prophets of Jesus, is filled with deep spiritual sentiments.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "When we look at this valley, this place where all are gathered according to their community, but in an indiscriminate manner, each next to each other, separated by a road or a wall or a yard or little more, here we can look forward with more confidence ... we see that at least in death we are all equal and all of us are turned towards the heavenly Jerusalem and to the resurrection..."
All Souls Day in Jerusalem began this year with a Mass in St. Saviour's Church. There was great participation from the local community, even though it was not a public holiday. After the Mass, the faithful processed through the streets of the old town to the cemetery of the Custody of the Holy Land where the Franciscans are buried.
The next stop was the Catholic cemetery of the Holy City, where among others is the grave of Oscar Schindler, the German businessman renowned for having saved at least 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust. The gratitude of the Jewish community is visible on his tomb: instead of flowers, small stones can be found which symbolize eternal memory.
An area of Jerusalem which is especially impressive and unique is close to the place where the ancient temple stood ...
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "This is an important place in the memory of the dead in Jerusalem, because since ancient times, the cemeteries of Jews, Christians and Muslims have been found here. On the Mount of Olives which faces Jerusalem, especially towards the temple, there is the Jewish cemetery, and on the other side, behind us, beneath the walls of the holy city, is the Islamic cemetery facing the holy city of Mecca. Then, in the valley, the lowest point of the Kidron Valley, we have the Christian cemetery, where the dead face towards the sky - not towards the earthly Jerusalem or a city, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, which we are waiting for at the end of days ".
The valley of Jehoshaphat, which in Hebrew means "God's Judgement", is the allegorical place where God will judge all his people at the end of time, the day of Resurrection.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "In the Bible, this judgement is negative, since it is only mentioned twice in the book of Joel, in chapter 4 verse 2 and verse 12, and in both places it says the Lord on the Day of Judgement will gather in this valley, the Valley of Jehosephat, all the people who have done evil to Jerusalem and to the people of Israel, who led them into exile, and divided the earth."
Only from the fourth century did this perspective change, when the idea of individual responsibility was affirmed.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "While the early Christians and even Jews never wanted to be judged in this place because it was a place of condemnation, the idea of individual responsibility has ever so slowly emerged... so those who are buried here will rise but there won't be two groups - the good and the bad. Rather there will be people who will be judged individually according to their deeds. Now many people want to be buried here because during the last days they could rise sooner than those who are buried elsewhere."
Father Massimo points out the Golden Gate which is now closed. According to Jewish tradition it will be reopened at the coming of the Messiah, when the dead buried there will rise. It's a place of final judgement. Without doubt, commemorating the dead in Jerusalem, where God spoke through the prophets of Jesus, is filled with deep spiritual sentiments.
Father Massimo Pazzini, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Jerusalem): "When we look at this valley, this place where all are gathered according to their community, but in an indiscriminate manner, each next to each other, separated by a road or a wall or a yard or little more, here we can look forward with more confidence ... we see that at least in death we are all equal and all of us are turned towards the heavenly Jerusalem and to the resurrection..."