An Unremarkable House

            Our morning was filled with talks that helped us to more fully incorporate the experiences we are having on pilgrimage.  The first talk gave us a deeper appreciation of both the history and theology of ecumenical dialogue, something that has become more real to us since our experiences at the Church of the Nativity and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  Our second talk focused on deepening our appreciation of God's movements in our life through prayer.  This afternoon, one of our hosts in Jerusalem brought us up to the rooftop of our building.  We had a beautiful view of the Old City as the story of Salvation history, and centrally the Paschal Mystery, was shown to us, location by location.

            Looking over the entirety of the Paschal Mystery from a rooftop made one thing clear - each of the key sites of this mystery of our salvation are marked by rather unassuming buildings.  Even the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the most sacred site in all of Christianity, doesn't stand out. It blends into the surrounding buildings and on the inside is mostly dark and dingy.  Some say that the most holy site in all of Christianity should be a glorious Church which radiates beauty throughout the city.  However, I wonder if this actually is the best representation of our faith.

            This unassuming Church is the most appropriate place to honor a God who, humbling himself, assumed an unassuming human nature.  Just as the eyes of faith allowed one to see through Christ's human nature to his divinity, so too do the eyes of faith allow one to see the glorious Paschal Mystery through this building.  Our faith allows us to see beyond what is simply perceptible by our senses and peer into the fullness of reality, to peer into the Mystery of God.  What is true for this building is true for the life of every believer.  The simplest acts and the most common experiences can be windows through which we gaze upon the love of God.  If, however, we are always expecting God to manifest himself to our senses in glorious ways, we just might miss the one who emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and “humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7).  The outward unremarkable appearance of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher reveals an inward reality that is the transcendent glory of the Paschal Mystery.  I just hope that, once I return home, I will continue to see the glory of Christ shine through the most mundane of experiences.