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Here’s a plot twist I didn’t see coming. Sunday was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, the Christian commemoration of the last five days of Jesus’s life and alleged resurrection. This is the most important period of time on the Christian calendar, particularly in and around Jerusalem, where most of the events being commemorated are said to have occurred. The Catholic Mass has been said at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus was said to have been buried, for centuries. Until this past weekend. From The New York Times:
The Israeli police said they blocked the leaders—Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Rev. Francesco Ielpo, the official guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher—from the church out of concerns for their safety. The church is among the holy sites of all religions in Israel that have been largely closed to the public since the war with Iran began. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land said in a statement that it was “the first time in centuries” that senior church officials had been unable to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass at the church. According to tradition, the church was built on the site in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was both crucified and buried.Dean Elsdunne, an Israeli police spokesman, said the church leaders had been blocked from the building because the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Jerusalem’s Old City, would be difficult to access in an emergency. “The narrow alleys of the Old City, where emergency and rescue vehicles cannot quickly arrive to a scene or victims, means a single incident can become a tragedy,” he said.
This was a colossal failure on a number of levels by a government that can’t afford very many more of those, and also a government that still doesn’t want to hear that from anyone.
The closures of holy sites have stemmed from a lack of sheltered spaces amid frequent missile attacks from Iran, according to Israeli officials. Earlier this month, shrapnel from an Iranian missile that fell in the Old City of Jerusalem came close to hitting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Al Aqsa Mosque compound, which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews, was also hit by debris. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that the decision to block the church officials had been made “out of special concern” for their safety, and said there was no malicious intent. The prime minister’s office added that Israeli officials would work to “enable church leaders to worship at the holy site in the coming days,” citing the coming Easter holiday.
For me, Holy Week reminds me of wearing a cassock and dozing on the altar while the interminable Passion narrative from the gospel of John was read, occasionally with parishioners taking the speaking roles. Our milkman played Caiaphas one year. I thought he did well.