The Holy Land - Day 5

On Friday, we had two hours of class in the morning and then had free time to head out into the city. A few friends of mine and I decided to go into the old city and do the Stations of the Cross with the Franciscans. From Tantur, we got on the Arab bus and went into the city.

We met up with the large group of Franciscans, and joined them for the Stations in Italian and Polish. (They went around asking what language everyone spoke, and since most of the pilgrims there spoke Italian or Polish, they did it in those two languages. Lucky for me, I was able to understand some of the Italian.) I did not take photographs during the Stations (remember my commitment to be less of a tourist and more of a pilgrim?), so the photos below are from other days.

At each station, the Franciscans read the Scripture passage which went along with the station first in Italian, then in Polish. After the passage, there was a very short little reflection (one or two sentences). In between the stations, we prayed the Hail Mary in Latin, Italian, and Polish. And the Italians sang their version of the Stabat Mater, which I remembered from when I did the stations of the cross in Milan back when I was studying abroad in 2005:

"Santa Madre deh voi fate / 
che le piaghe del Signore / 
siano imprese nel mio cuor(e)."