The Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, in our opinion, was a fascinating place not often highlighted in travel books to the Holy Land which we visited last month. Gallicantu is a combination of two Latin words which refer to the crowing of the cock. Peter had denied his friend, Jesus, three times before the cock crowed twice (references in the Christian Scriptures of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).
My first photo shows the wall of a prison (carefully preserved), situated below the home of the High Priest Caiaphas who interrogated Jesus. Jesus spent the night there. The second photo is illustrated for us today at the entrance to this underground prison. Our physical eyes do not see this figure on the wall. Nonetheless, we were in close proximity to a historical moment in the life of Jesus. Devout pilgrims touch the wall reverently believing Jesus' sweaty and blood-stained body held its imprint.
My friend rested his face against this wall. His tears flowed. We did not expect this precious moment of grace, of connection.
God has a way of surprising us and surprised we were!
{Don Ronaldo and Don Milo in Jerusalem, 2016}
reflection #229
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