• Home
  • Mary Immaculate
    • Novena of the Immaculate Conception
  • Oblates
  • Blog
fatherdaniel
dd text

May 17th, 2013

5/18/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The day of the underground walk. I think I can call it this way even if the focus was on the City of David. Looking at the impressive walls of
the Old City as it is seen today one may think that he is looking at the place of the King whose story is known to so many of us. However the truth is that the original old city is outside of today’s Old City. The big story of David from the Scriptures doesn’t mean that the city he captured and made his capital was big too. The then Jerusalem was located on the Eastern Hill above the Gihon Spring that provided much needed water for the city. If the palace of David was North side it definitely highlighted King’s superiority as his subjects had to walk up to meet him. I guess it could also provide a sense of the King watching over his people. However what touched me most was when we reached the original City of David and looking around I could see how the hills do surround the place  that was Jerusalem then. Psalm 124 I pray so often in my Breviary says:  “Jerusalem! The mountains surround her, so the Lord surrounds his people now and for ever.” Today the city that has spread to the surrounding hills doesn’t make this impression but at that time when only the Easter Hill was inhabited and was called Jerusalem those who prayed this Psalm  could very easily get the message that God provide shelter for his people like the mountains here provided shelter for the City. With this thought I descended into the water aqueduct built during the reign of the King Hezekiah. The tunnel was to provide water for the expanding City even in time of a siege. Well, it was thrilling to walk in darkness with our feet in the water but it also showed us how genius the plan was. I must say that the accomplishment of the plan was genius too. The very fact that the tunnel had to be hewn in the rock tells a lot. The quality of job they did is simply excellent. For us it was fun to walk through it but I can only imagine that it was a great blessing for the city when it was completed. Exiting the water tunnel we ended up in the pool of Siloam which is mentioned in the Gospel of St John when Jesus put some mud on the eyes of the blind man and sent him to wash in the pool. This time I was  surprised by the scale of the pool even if today only a tiny part of it is  excavated. It was a large pool tha was a center of social activity. Now I can see that it was a challenge for the blind man to walk this long distance down. The Gospel simply says that he went to the pool and received sight but it was a long walk and long time with mud on his eyes. Now I wander what he was thinking as he was pushing through the crowds to get to the pool and he had lots of time to think as he was struggling down.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013

    Fr Daniel OMI

    An Oblate Priest

    Categories

    All
    Holy Land
    Homilies
    St Eugene De Mazenod

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.