I was praying at the Adoration chapel within St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, taking in the wonder of being present there. I was trying to make sense of all I have seen and learned in the last 2 weeks in Israel. It has been rather overwhelming. We traveled up and down the country of Israel walking where Jesus and the generations before him walked.
We made our way to Jerusalem where every Jew would go to the temple to present a sacrifice. The temple housed the Holy of Holies (the Ark of The Covenant), where the High Priest could only enter once a year. He would have to purify himself to enter the Holy of Holies for fear of death upon entering without doing so.
Here we were visiting almost 2000 years after the temple was destroyed and the Ark was taken out a century before that. You can go today and see people praying at the wall that is as close as a Jew can get to where the Holy of Holies was. If you follow the tunnel system you will find women praying in a spot that is considered the closest a Jew can get to where the Holy of Holies was (Muslims control the Temple Mount).
There are thousands of prayers daily with many written and inserted into cracks on the wall. These prayers are collected up and buried in the Jewish cemetery as a communication between you and God.
Jesus changed all this with his becoming man and dying for us. He has made it possible for anyone to approach him in the tabernacles of the world. From the grand Basilicas to the small simple chapels we can approach God, He is truly present. We can receive Him body, blood, soul and divinity at Mass. Looking at the Western Wall, my wife Michele commented “its just a rock”. We have Jesus!.
In closing you don’t need to travel the world to find God. He is at your local parish waiting for you. You can enter the Holy of Holies without the fear of death. You can go and be with God!
Keeping The Faith
Sean Lynn