Mass on Golgotha and Visit to the Catholic Cemeteries

On Friday morning, November 2, the commemoration of the deceased faithful, I had the opportunity to celebrate Mass on the Golgotha. Concelebrating with me were two Franciscan Friars (from Hong Kong and Spain) and a priest from Poland working in Lithuania. I offered the Eucharist for the repose of my dearest Mum, who passed away three years and five months ago.

The Altar on the Golgotha
where I celebrated Mass on November 2

While praying my Office of Readings this morning, I was struck by what St Ambrose says on the occasion of the death of his brother. He is speaking of Christ’s death and how that death, which he, the Lord of Life, entered out of love and not because he had to, meant the redemption of death itself. St Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, calls on death: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” And then he continues: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15,55.57).

I am going to reproduce here what St Ambrose says, because I feel it is very inspiring: “The world has been redeemed by one man’s death. Christ need not have died unless he had willed it, yet he did not think a shameful death a thing to be avoided, not here was any better way to save us than by dying. So his death is every man’s life. We are signed and sealed by his death. It is his death we proclaim when we pray, that we preach when we offer sacrifice. His death is victory and sacrament and, year by year, it is the world’s great feast. What more can be said of his death? We see from his divine example that only death has sought immortality, that death itself has redeemed death. Is it, then, a thing to be mourned when it is the cause of universal salvation? Shall we fly from it when the Son of God did not despise it, did not fly from it?” (On the death of his brother Satyrus [Book 2,46]).

Afterwards I went to San Salvatore, where together with the Latin Parish, we continued our commemoration. After Mass, we went into procession to the three Catholic Cemeteries which are on Mt Zion. The procession passed from the Greek Patriarchate Street, to Jaffa Gate and then to Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Road to Zion Gate.

The Procession on the Commemoration of All Souls to the Cemeteries

In the cemeteries I was struck by the fact that someone has taken the trouble and care to put a flower on all the tombs. Several Catholics came for this celebration, including nuns and priests. The Parish Priest helped by three deacons sprinkled with water and incensed the tombs. 

Prayers at the Cemeteries

Some of the Tombs in one of the Catholic Cemeteries.
This is where we find the tomb of Oskar Schindler.

Among these tombs, my attention was drawn to the tomb of Sr Salvatorina Camilleri, a Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who was serving here in the Holy Land. Her life was cut short through a traffic accident on Christmas Eve in 2010. She is remembered as the ‘smiling nun’, always ready to serve others. What a beautiful witness! 

Tomb of Sr Salvatorina Camilleri,
a Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

This is the report in the Times of Malta at the time: http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101230/local/smiling-nun-salvatorina-camilleri-laid-to-rest.343232

Afterwards I visited the Greek Catholic Church here in Jerusalem. It is a small but highly decorated Church. All the walls and the ceiling are covered by images from the Gospel: a pictorial life of Christ!

The Greek Catholic Church on the inside