A Short one: On Jerusalem in the eye of Christianity
Jerusalem: the Holy City
According to Zechariah, the Lord promised to protect Jerusalem, to make it an ‘immovable rock for all the nations’ and to ‘shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David’.
This, coupled with Luke 24:47:’and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’ has led Christians to believe that salvation of the Earth will begin in the Holy City.
Is it still a significant place?
Yes, Because of this belief, and because Christ died and was resurrected in the city, Jerusalem has become one of the most significant places on Earth for Christians.
Each year, millions of Christians make the pilgrimage to the empty prayer of Jesus at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the city to pray. They are seeking solace and redemption in the process.
Many also wish to be buried there, as they believe that the Last Judgment will take place in Jerusalem.
We, The Salvation Garden, offer you the chance to send your urgent prayer requests for any reason. Allow us to pray for you! Send your Urgent Prayer Requests now.
Our dedicated team members will personally take your urgent prayer requests to a Church of your choice in the Holy Land and then offer them to our Lord. After we bring your prayer requests to your chosen Holy Church, we will send you videos or pictures to assure you.
Prayer is relevant anytime and anywhere. But when we make it one of our weekly or daily routines, we achieve much more.
The Holy Hour is a routine we received from Jesus.
Jesus’s Request
The practice of the Holy Hour started when Jesus appeared to Saint Margaret Alacoque in 1674 during her hour of prayer. This was not the first time Jesus appeared to her. However, on this particular occasion, Christ asked her to spend an hour meditating on His sufferings every Thursday and Friday night. According to St. Margaret, the Holy Hour was to be observed between 11pm to 12am. During this period, St. Margaret was sharing the agony and sufferings of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Basically, the practice of the Holy Hour stands on 3 principles:
The union with the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
The remedial prayer
The gestures of self-humiliation.
The Concept and the Garden
The concept of the Holy Hour is based on the Gospel of Matthew during Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane just before his crucifixion. This is how the Gospel of Matthew 26:38-40 captures the events that took place that night:
38 “Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”
40 “And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?”
According to St. Margaret, Jesus made it clear that He wishes His faithful friends to become partakers of that sorrow unto death which he suffered in the Garden of Olives.
His followers should also join with Jesus in the humble prayer which He prayed to His Father at the time.
His followers should also join with Jesus in the humble prayer which He prayed to His Father at the time.
Modern Tradition
The Holy Hour remained strictly confined within the worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1911, it received the right to aggregation for the whole world and is now encouraged in the Catholic tradition. Also, Mother Teresa practiced the Holy Hour as a daily routine. According to her:
“Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it will be recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity.”
We, The Salvation Garden, offer you the chance to send your urgent prayer requests for any reason. Allow us to pray for you! Send your Urgent Prayer Requests now.
Our dedicated team members will personally take your urgent prayer requests to a Church of your choice in the Holy Land and then offer them to our Lord. After we bring your prayer requests to your chosen Holy Church, we will send you videos or pictures to assure you.
Reconciliation is an extremely important aspect of the life of any Christian. This article will demonstrate ways of achieving this goal.
According to Mathew 5:23-24, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift”. Reconciliation is an extremely important aspect of the life of any Christian. It reflects Jesus way for salvation as sprinkles upon all nations. This article is first out of two on the subject.
For any Christian seeking reconciliation, the following are some of the most important points to consider:
Be honest about your motives
Any Christian has to make sure that their desire is to do what pleases God and not to get revenge. Settle the matter of forgiveness just like Joseph in the context of your relationship with God. Guidelines for reconciliation should not be retaliatory.
Be honest with the offender
If you need time to absorb the reality of what was said or done, express this honestly to the one who hurt you. Yet we must not use time as a means of manipulation and punishment.
Be humble in your attitude – be a sprinkle of Jesus
Do not let pride ruin everything. Renounce all vengeful attitudes toward your offender. This demands humility. Those who focus on retaliation and revenge allow self-serving pride to control them.
Be prayerful about the one who hurt you
Jesus taught his disciples to pray for those who mistreat them. According to Luke 6:28, “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you”. Our attitude towards other people can tremendously change when we pray for them. According to Hebrew 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need”. We should act as sprinkles of Jesus love to all nations.
Our dedicated team members will personally take your urgent prayer requests to a Church of your choice in the Holy Land and then offer them to our Lord. After we bring your prayer requests to your chosen Holy Church, we will send you videos or pictures to assure you.
One of the most important days for any Christian is the Transfiguration of the Lord. The light of God was shown to Jesus, the apostles, and then to everyone else in the future.
In the books of Mark 9:2-8, Matthew 17:1-8 and Luke 9:28-36 we are presented with the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. While in Luke 9 there is a focus on the collection of incidents that clarifies the identity of Jesus Christ, on Mark 9 we have a good emphasis on the event itself.
“(2) Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and brought them to the top of a very high mountain where they were alone. He was transformed in front of them, (3) and his clothes were amazingly bright, brighter than if they had been bleached white.
(4) Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. (5) Peter reacted to all of this by saying to Jesus, “Rabbi, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s make three shrines—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (6) He said this because he didn’t know how to respond, for the three of them were terrified.
(7) Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice spoke from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!” (8) Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus”
Moses and Jesus
The transfiguration of Jesus is a confirmation that his suffering will end in glory. According to Luke 9:32, “Peter and those with him were almost overcome by sleep, but they managed to stay awake and saw his glory as well as the two men with him”. Therefore, we can see in this scene the acceptance and approval of Jesus as God’s son, and as the successor of Moses.
In both stories, we see the following resemblance: the six days, the mountain, the radiance is seen on their faces and the clouds (Exod. 19:16; 24:15-18; 34:29-35). Also, we see that the Mountain is also a place of prayer, Luke (6:12; 22:39-41). Both Moses and Elijah represent the Old Testament Law as well as the prophets, while Jesus represents the new law.
God’s Plan
But what did the apostles learn on the mountaintop? This experience allowed them to peer deeply into the identity of Jesus and better understand his divine mission from heaven. The Mount Tabor experience is imperative for the journey up to Jerusalem, as it strengthened Jesus and the apostles. It also provides us the perspective, vision, and strength of our lives as Christians and disciples. The transfiguration of Jesus teaches us that God’s brilliant life included death, and there is no way around it, only through it. It also reminds us that the terrifying darkness can be radiant and dazzling.
Transfiguration & Rosary
Pope John Paul II made the Transfiguration as one of the five Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. The Luminous Mystery Rosary or the Mysteries of Light focus on the public life of Jesus, the years he was preaching spanning the time between His Baptism and His death. They are called the Mysteries of Light because Jesus is the light of the World. Jesus as the light is mentioned several times in St. John’s Gospel.
We, The Salvation Garden, offer you the chance to send your urgent prayer requests for any reason. Allow us to pray for you! Send your Urgent Prayer Requests now.
Our dedicated team members will personally take your urgent prayer requests to a Church of your choice in the Holy Land and then offer them to our Lord. After we bring your prayer requests to your chosen Holy Church, we will send you videos or pictures to assure you.
