The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is the holiest site of the Christian faith. Its roof encloses the most sacred places linked to the life and death of Jesus. As you enter the ancient building, to the right, tight steps allow you to ascend to Golgotha and pray on the same ground where the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and Saint John stood at the foot of the cross. A small hole beneath the magnificent icon of the crucifixion lets you touch the very rock of the hill where Jesus died. Several feet to the left of the entrance, a shrine stands underneath a stunning dome, recalling the location of the empty tomb. Early Christians marked this place outside the ancient city wall, Saint Helen in the 4th century built the first sanctuary, and Crusaders in the 12th century built the present church. The weight of history is evident in the sacred place, where all the senses are engaged inside one of the most unique buildings in the world.
On the eastern side of the church, wide stairs lead pilgrims into a lower crypt and the Chapel of Saint Helen. Along the northern wall of the passageway, right at the fingertips of passersby, are crosses carved by believers who visited in the 14th and 15th centuries. A recent study argues this graffiti was not necessarily carved by pilgrims themselves, but by a worker who carved them on behalf of the visitors, giving the dust from the newly carved cross to pilgrims to take as a holy souvenir.
As I walked down the stairs into the crypt, I placed my hand on those crosses which speak of the presence and faith of pilgrims 700 years before me. The tips of my fingers felt the roughness of the carved crosses distinct from the smooth stone wall. “Despite the passage of time, the faith of these pilgrims and mine is the same,” I thought. “It unites us intimately to the same Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Time vanishes as Jesus draws all believers, past and present, to Himself, bringing forth what the Church recognizes as the Communion of Saints. The English Catholic writer G. K. Chesterton penned in his book Orthodoxy, “tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead.” This insightful line highlights the reality that those who have gone before us in faith still have a voice. We listen to and remember them because we recognize that our God is not a God of the dead, but of the living. In Christ, all believers, those on earth and those in heaven, remain united. Our faith draws us to one another into a single communion with the Triune God.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “so it is that the union of the wayfarers with the brethren who sleep in the peace of Christ is in no way interrupted, but on the contrary, according to the constant faith of the Church, this union is reinforced by an exchange of spiritual goods” (CCC #955). The communion that exists between all believers allows us to pray for one another, among the living, and asking those who have died to intercede for us before Christ. The Catechism further notes that those in heaven are more closely united to Christ, hence they help the Church to hold on more firmly to holiness. “They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us… so by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped (CCC #956). The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of a “great cloud of witnesses” which surrounds us the faithful on earth. The faithful in heaven encourage us to finish the race of life well, so that the union between us which exists now, will be brought to perfection in heaven.
Picture from the Creative Commons. Picture was resized to be smaller, link to license is here.
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