We have arrived in Israel and are safe and sound! David Schalk is the only one who has not yet made it here. His grandmother fell ill just before we left for Israel and so he is spending some time with his family but will arrive shortly we hope. Our prayers are with him in this time of hardship for him and his family.
The first group seemed to arrive without many problems and were here getting a feel for the area and provided some helpful tips for us who arrived in the second group. Those of us in the second group had to wait about an hour or so while our bus tried to make its way through the hazards produced by the snow storm that hit Chicago. When we left Mundelein we left behind about 15 inches of snow.
I don’t know how to begin to describe the overwhelming emotions which flooded over myself and many of us as we realized we had begun to walk on the very ground where our Lord had walked some 2000 years ago. It was overwhelming to celebrate the Eucharist for the first time here in Israel. My thoughts kept returning to the infant Church and their celebrations of the Eucharist in their homes, shortly after the death of Christ and of course to the Last Supper as well. Wow!
By now most of us have been able to visit the church of the Nativity, in Manger Square, here in Bethlehem. What an honor and a privilege to be able to stand in the place where Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I wish I could begin to put the feelings into words. To think that Christ himself was here at one point in history. As one women here in Bethlehem said to Dan Schuster and I today, there is an immense feeling of having a connection as brothers and sisters in Christ here.
The people here are very friendly and seem genuinely happy just to see pilgrims here. One women tried in her broken English to explain how it gave her the hope of a lasting peace. The people often invite us into their homes for coffee or tea, even though some of them don’t really speak much English and they know we don’t speak Arabic. I think the word of the day was ‘Welcome’, and I think welcome is how we feel. Our hosts are gracious, the people are friendly and we are more than happy to be here. (‘Welcome’ is also the only English word that some people seem to know.)
Many are tired after the trip here and some have had a harder time than others adjusting to the time change. However, the weariness hasn’t stopped us from going out and exploring our surroundings. We are too excited to worry much about how tired we are. Unbelievable!!!!!! We have arrived in the Holy Land!!!!! Thanks be to God!
After we had class in the morning today we ate lunch and jumped on a bus to visit St. Saba’s monastery in the desert, St. Theodosius monastery and finally Shepherd’s field. In order to arrive at St. Saba’s monastery we had to change buses because the road leading to the monastery was narrow and there were some pretty sharp turns. When we arrived, we walked around a bit while Peter, our guide, explained to us a bit about the monastery. The view was incredible overlooking the monastery and we saw our first camels off in the distance. Finally we went down to enter the monastery. Sr. Kathleen was told that she could not enter, because they did not enter women into monastery. Someone suggested she disguise herself as a man just as our guide was in the midst of relating to us a story of how a woman once tried to disguise herself as a man and as she entered the entire monastery shook. As things would turn out, we were not allowed in either as they were in the midst of their prayer.
Then we headed towards Shepherd’s field, stopping first at St. Theodosius monastery. We tried to enter there as well, but after waiting for a while and not seeing anyone, we decided to just go to shepherd’s field.
Shepherd’s field is located not far outside of Bethlehem. We were told that it would only have taken about 20 minutes for the shepherds to walk from the field where the angel appeared to them, announcing Christ’s birth, to the actual nativity cave. After another short explanation of the place by our tour guide we headed to one of the caves to celebrate Mass. For me this was a moving experience as I contemplated that a piece of heaven, in the angels, touched earth here in order to give shepherds the message that the Savior of the world was just born in a cave near them. How blessed we are to be in this land and what a moving experience it has been thus far.
Happy feast day Mundelein Seminary!!
Today we took a step back from the hustle and bustle of classes, field trips, and everyday life here in Bethlehem and had a day of prayer. The goal, of course, is to take a breather and deepen our spiritual life and take stock of our relationship with God and how the experiences here are forming us to His will. There were several people who worked hard to create for us a day filled with prayer and contemplation. Fr. Larry Sullivan, Doug Langner, Roberto Molina, Charles Musula, Karol Tybor, and Nick Parker all worked hard on our day of prayer. We participated in solemn Morning Prayer and Mass, Adoration for the day, Rosary, Reflections, and Ending with Evening Prayer and Benediction. It helped us focus on the significance of being here in the place where the Holy Family walked and spent time.
In the evening, there was time for some spirited card games and chatter, but for the most part, most guys went back to there rooms and read or called it quits for the night as the next day looks busy in the morning.
We began the morning going on a tour of the Nativity Church. Our tour guide actually met us where we are staying here in Bethlehem and we all walked together towards the nativity church. Along the way she explained to us how the people of Bethlehem, in the year 2000, worked to prepare the city for the visit of Pope John Paul II.
It was interesting taking a tour of the church with our tour guide, as we have been here for about a week already. However, I think that we were all able to learn something new as she led us through where the study of St. Jerome would have studied, where he translated the bible into Latin, in a cave adjacent to the cave where Christ was born. This same cave has the memorial to the Holy Innocents and a part of the cave is dedicated to St. Joseph. Of course she also led us through the cave of the nativity where many of us have spent hours in prayer.
Next she led us to the Milk Grotto. The Milk Grotto is a place where it is said a couple of drops of milk were said to have dropped to the ground as Mary was feeding the baby Jesus. As this happened, it is said that the rocks turned white. One of the Franciscan brothers led us through this Church and told us stories of the many miracles which have taken place just in the past few years. People from all over the world have come here to pray for some type of miracle, normally having to do with fertility. He showed us a room filled with pictures of people who had written to the Franciscans of the miracles which had occurred in their lives as a result of praying with faith to ‘Our Lady of the Milk’.
After the Milk Grotto we returned to our residence for Mass and then the rest of the day was free. Some of us went to play volleyball with some of the girls from the girls’ volleyball team at Bethlehem University. This was a good opportunity for us to get out and meet some new people and have some fun. Some said we should have let them win, but I know that at least for my part I am far too competitive to allow that to happen.
Our goal today was to walk over to the Church of the Nativity to attend Mass at the Franciscan Church which is attached to the place where Christ was born. Mass time was 10:00 a.m. and most of us got there early to get a seat and observe the parishioners. We were struck and edified at how the people were very reverent and prayerful, dressed with dignity, and participated in the solemn Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with much devotion. Although the Mass was in Arabic, we were all one in the worship of God. We noticed, also, that there are many different orders of nuns of all different nationalities who attended the Mass in their full habits and we tried to say hi to as many as we could.
We were treated after Mass with a special presentation by one of the Franciscan priests on what the parish in Bethlehem looks like and the relations it has with Muslims and the problems and difficulties the parish faces here in the Holy Land. This parish is working hard to provide for the parishioners a deep faith and help in their spiritual life and also in helping to provide for their temporal welfare. One thing that we were made aware of, and of which pope Benedict is working hard to overcome, is that if a Christian wants to convert to Islam, its okay. But if a Muslim wants to convert to Christianity, it is forbidden. For those who do convert, they can never publicly acknowledge it or let anyone know other than the priests for fear of serious reprisal. We must pray much for the Christians here in the Holy Land.
We received another treat today with the arrival of David Schalk to the group. As you know, Dave’s grandmother passed away so he spent some time with her before she died and with his family before making the trek across the ocean to be with us. He is bright eyed and bushytailed upon arrival and wants to see as much as he can now, which is good because within a day, jet lag will make it a little more difficult to get adjusted to the difference here. We thank God that he made it here safely. Now the gang is all here.
A busy day. Starting early in the morning, we headed out from the Jerusalem Center. We began by going to a large (dry) pool that may have been one of Solomon’s Pools. It is a great, wide stone pool – several times the size we might make a modern pool. The one we visited is in a sad state now, basically a spot where folks throw old broken stuff. But it isn’t hard to imagine it full of water and a spot where people came to be refreshed and cleansed.
From there, we went to the Tombs of the Patriarchs in Hebron (in a cave called the Cave of Machpelah or Haram el-Khalil). It is here that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph are buried (as well as Leah, Sarah and Rebecca), although deep underground. The temple (or church) marks the spot and is a point of great veneration between Islam and Judaism. However, because of tensions between the two, it has strong security and a member of one religion may not cross over to the opposing side (despite being separated by solely a wall).
We didn’t expect to be able to see both sides in this atmosphere, so it came as a special exception (the first time in the history of our tour guide!) when we were first permitted into the Jewish side and immediately after, were permitted into the Muslim side. While we were on the Jewish side, we were introduced to the memorial of the tomb of Rebecca and even permitted to see their copy of the Torah, which is kept safely in a fine and ornamental wooden case (the closes comparison might be our tabernacle, but without the sacramental associations). One Jewish elder exposed the Torah and gave us a brief explanation of it, of the site itself and a little bit of the history of the tombs.
Following that, we asked and were permitted to enter into the Muslim side. Many (perhaps even most) of us had never been within an Islamic worship space. The whole area was carpeted (as they pray almost entirely on their knees). We – and anyone who enters – were required to enter shoeless and maintain a certain level of quiet. But as we entered, a local worshipper offered to give a tour of the space and an explanation of Islamic beliefs about them, as well as a bit of history of the tombs.
Despite the mutual antagonism of each side to the other (apparent, notably, in the open bias against the other in their sharing of the history of the site), the tombs are a peaceful place to visit. It is amazing to think that just below us there are the resting spots of those who led the Israelites in worship of God. It is a welcome reminder of a basic tenet that we share (a faith in one God), having Muslims, Jews and Christians (there were nuns coming in as we left!) at this spot to pray and reflect.
From here, we went on to Herodion. Herod built himself many palaces as a manner of ‘just in case’ refuges from sons seeking power and enemies looking to get rid of him. We were told that this particular palace was one that he never visited! The ruins of the palace are all that are left, along with tunnels beneath the palace. Although there are only half-fallen walls, partial doorways and pillars that reach to one’s waist, it is easy to see how this was once a grand place, high above the surrounding country. In the tunnels below the palace, Jewish rebels hid from Roman forces. The tunnels themselves were fairly extensive and it was not hard to imagine taking refuge in Herodion (what was left of it at the time of the revolt) nor in the tunnels.
From the palace hill (or small mountain, I suppose), one could see the country all around. The palace is south of Bethlehem and Jerusalem, but it was easy to see Jerusalem from the palace, as well as the hills in front of Bethlehem. To the south and east, one could turn and see nothing but desert. The view alone was a beautiful sight
After all of this, we were well bushed and headed back to the Jerusalem Center where we enjoyed a hearty (and needed!) lunch. In the evening, a priest came and offered his reflection on Christianity and Islam. Especially after having visited the Tombs of the Patriarchs, it is easy to understand why this is so important (not to mention the enormous constituency of Islam….). As we are here, it is a joy but also a particular responsibility to consider the history of the three great monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and how we may eventually come together in worship of Christ!
We are back in the routine today after our field trip experience from yesterday. We begin with breakfast at 7:30 then Morning Prayer at 8:45. We then settled down from 9:00 – 10:30 to listen to Fr. McIlhone teach us all there is to know about the Gospel of Luke and then from 10:45 – 12:15 we have our spiritual pilgrimage class. Today in class we had Fr. Larry Sullivan introduce himself, he is from the Archdiocese of Chicago, and explain to us that he will be the pastor in residence for us on pilgrimage providing for us the Sacrament of Penance and spiritual direction on a regular basis as well as helping out in many other ways to make our pilgrimage as smooth as possible. We had Mass at 12:15, as the Hispanic choir serenaded us with beautiful Marian hymns.
In the evening, we were treated to a presentation on Islam from Joseph Hremi, a Muslim who speaks very good English, who by the way studied at Notre Dame and at Harvard, on the ins and outs of what is Islam. There were many good points that he enlightened us on that we were unsure of, especially since we are living in a predominantly Muslim area and were perplexed by some of the practices and customs that we see on a regular basis. He will be returning again on Thursday for a second part, as the subject is extensive. We were very appreciative of his honesty and candor in the customs of the Islamic religion and practice and we look forward to Thursday evening.
Today was full of inspiring and invigorating experiences; a journal entry such as this can only begin to describe the adventures that took place. After a light breakfast at 6:30am, the group left on the bus for Qumran with our trusty guide, Peter. We rode out of Bethlehem, through Jerusalem, and over to the coast of the Dead Sea. The trip took about an hour and a half and gave us a good look at the desert terrain of the Holy Land. Some of us commented on the challenges this land would offer to anyone who traveled on foot, as well as the difficulties Jesus must have encountered in his trips throughout Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.
When we finally arrived at Qumran, we were led through a small museum that oriented us to the importance of the site. In 1947 a shepherd boy stumbled upon a cave in the region that contained seven ancient scrolls. It is believed that these scrolls were the work of the Essenes, an ascetic Jewish community that existed in Qumran during the time of Jesus. Spectacularly preserved for close to 2000 years, these scrolls gave the modern world a look at a number of ancient texts of the Old Testament. The discovery at Qumran led to archeological endeavors up and down the coast of the Dead Sea that uncovered many more texts, which are now know as the Dead Sea Scrolls. We were there at Qumran to see the mountains that held these treasures and to explore the ruins of the Essene community.
Just down the road a bit was Ein Gedi National Park. This
is an oasis in the middle of the desert covered in lush vegetation and
beautified by a number of awe-inspiring waterfalls. We had the opportunity to
walk through this Eden-like paradise and snap some great pics. It is believed
that this place is described in the Song of Songs, and it is here that David
spared the life of Saul for the first time (
We then jumped back on the bus and headed for Masada. This mind-boggling site was once home to a magnificent place of King Herod. The size and grandeur of the palace is impressive, but what is most amazing is the fact that this complex is situated on top of a mountain plateau 450 meters above the Dead Sea. The group took a cable car up to the ruins of this fortress and learned about its intriguing history. Although it was built by Herod, Masada was made famous by the Jewish rebels who sought refuge there from the Roman army in 70 AD. These 1000 rebels were able to hold out against the Roman forces on that mountain plateau for two and a half years. They were finally defeated when the Romans finished construction of an earthen ramp that enabled them to climb the mountain with battering rams and siege equipment. This dramatic history, coupled with the shear impressiveness of the view from the mountain fortress, helped us appreciate our brief visit to this popular site.
Our final stop for the day was at a beach on the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on the earth. We had seen the Sea from the road for most of the day, so were glad, at last, to have the chance to take a swim. Because the Dead Sea is so salty, the water actually buoys your body, making it impossible to sink. Everyone was able to float, so we had a blast drifting through the water on our backs. Even though we were careful not to splash too much, some of us got water in the eye and felt the fierce sting of that salty water.
This jam-packed day culminated with Vespers and Mass back at our home in Bethlehem. Everyone agreed that this was one of the best days of the pilgrimage thus far. Looking back over this journal entry, I realize that I have not captured the awe and excitement we experienced at these sites. I recommend you ask one of the seminarians personally about his trip to Qumran, En Gedi, Masada, and the Dead Sea.
Today was a day filled with classes. We continued our trek through the Gospel of Luke with Fr. McIlhone and then moved to our second class of the day with Sr. Kathleen. After Mass and lunch we were free until about 4p.m. when we had a man come in and give his second talk to us over Islam. It was interesting I think for us to sit and listen to man speak about Islam who himself is a Muslim. He was definitely given a longer round of applause than any other speaker we have had to this point. I think we really appreciated his honesty and the fact that he represented honestly what he believed. We had a ton of questions for him and he was not afraid to answer all of them. I know that I learned a lot about Islam from his two conversations with us.
No field trips today (we’ve got to have classes at some point!). Instead we spent the morning in class. Our two classes for this portion of the pilgrimage are with Father McIlhone (studying the Gospel of Luke) and Sister Kathleen (reflecting on the spirituality of a pilgrim).
With Father McIlhone we studied the stories of the Good Samaritan and Martha & Mary. One thought that occurred to us (a reoccurring theme, I might add) is how as pilgrims, we can easily fall into the movement of Martha, filling up our time with too -much busy-ness, rather than moderating that, balancing ourselves between the roles of Martha and Mary.
In Sister Kathleen’s course, we continued to go over Egeria’s journal. Egeria is a famous pilgrim (made famous by this document), whose journal to the Holy Land helped to make pilgrimage the popular spiritual exercise that it is. Her journal is a strong guide to how we should approach pilgrimage and is a fine way to reflect on our own approach. She has a sense of wonder and reverence that we try to incorporate, especially here.
We had the afternoon off, but in the evening a Jesuit priest came and present on his perspective of Christian and Islamic dialogue. He has lived in the Holy Land for over thirty years. He urged us to read the Qur’an and to understand more fully the faith & culture of the religion. He even went so far as to read some of the Qur’an (several translations) and play a recording of one of the prayers. It was particularly interesting to get some insight into the cultural background that Islam grew upon and some of its history.