The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre is the holy place that holds the memory of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. The mosaics at the entrance illustrate the events that took place here on the last day of Christ's earthly life. The Franciscan friars together with Brother Francesco Patton, Custos of the Holy Land, the Vicar Brother Dobromir Jasztal and their closest collaborators, begin the liturgy with the procession to Calvary. It is a moving moment in which we remember the deposition of Jesus from the Cross and the burial, as narrated by the Evangelist John. John 19, 38-42 "Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to take the body of Jesus. Pilate granted it. So he went and took the body. Nicodemus, who had previously come to him at night, also went and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about 100 pounds." They then took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in cloths together with aromatic oils, as is the custom for the Jews to bury. Today this gesture is repeated by Brother Francesco Patton in a Church packed with the faithful. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, into which no one had yet been laid. There they laid Jesus, because of the Preparation of the Jews, for that tomb was near. In the evening when the mystery of Jesus' crucifixion and death is contemplated, the liturgy ends in silence, awaiting the great alleluia of the Resurrection. Read More