Day: 8. November 2017

A pilgrim among the pilgrims

A monthly group gathering on the last Thursday of the month, called “Praying Together in Jerusalem”, reminds me of the Psalm 122 and eventually becomes one of my favorite Psalms for my prayer during our apostolic ministry in our guest house at Ecce Homo, in the Old City. “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord! Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem”. Psalm 122:1 When I try to read and meditate on this Psalm, I arrive at the moment when I ask questions about a “house of the Lord” and “Jerusalem”. Why does the city become the house? Why did the psalmist use an image of a “house” to describe Jerusalem? Can we consider a house as a home where people take refuge, where members of a family live together, where the people come together in relationship? James Luther Mays says that Jerusalem is praised for three reasons: it is a place of refuge; a place of praise; and a place of justice. …