New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan dropped to one knee and prayed in the rain yesterday at the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism, as the cardinal-designate continued on his spiritual pilgrimage in the Holy Land.
It was very moving. I think every person of faith longs to go to the Western Wall,” Dolan told The Post.
The wall is a special place in the spirituality of Jews, but I think everyone in the Judeo-Christian tradition feels especially close to the Lord here.”
Dolan’s visit to the wall, part of a nine-day trip to the region with 50 priests from New York, comes before his Feb. 18 ordination by Pope Benedict XVI into the College of Cardinals in Rome.
Following tradition, Dolan inscribed a prayer on paper known to Jews as a “kvitel” and placed it within one of the wall’s cracks.
It was a personal note. I promised my Jewish friends in New York to remember them in my prayers, and in my touch and in what I wrote,” Dolan said.
In my note I asked for God’s forgiveness for anything I may have ever done to fracture the unity he intended for his children. I asked for God’s mercy and his blessing for my Jewish friends.”
Caught up in their own prayers, the other worshippers did not seem to notice Dolan, who was wearing the scarlet zucchetto skullcap that signifies a bishop.
Dolan had led a morning Mass at the nearby Church of all Nations, also called the Church of the Agony, an imposing golden-stone structure supported by Corinthian columns.
It contains the bedrock where, according to tradition, Jesus prayed.
Leading the Mass, Dolan stood behind the altar and the priests, dressed in white, prayed around the bedrock in a semicircle.
Afterward, the other priests in Dolan’s entourage defied the rain and headed to the top of the Mount of Olives.
Today, Dolan plans to attend Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, before visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
No comments:
Post a Comment