We resumed our normal schedule for a lot of our days today which means we had classes all morning. We had classes on a Saturday, Who knew?! After a rousing rendition of the Gospel of Luke and The Spiritual Pilgrim we had our spiritual food of the day with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and then on to lunch.
One thing today that we were very excited about was the fact that we had the afternoon and evening off. No classes, no lectures or speakers. Nothing but what our little minds could think of to do. For the most part, the things that we do in our free time are read, pray, go gift shopping for our benefactors and family, nap, or the ever popular trip to the internet café to keep in touch with our loved ones.
This evening there was a special treat for some of our pilgrims: Doug Langner, Nick Wickert, Chris Forler, and Mark Sappenfield were able to go to the grotto in the Nativity Church and chant Evening Prayer. For those of us who were there is was a very moving experience to be chanting beautifully, and in Latin, too, right next to where our Lord was born. It was an experience that will not be forgotten.
We were on our own for dinner, so many of us split into small groups and spread about the town looking for good food. In general, the food is very good here and relatively inexpensive, which is good for poor seminarians. After dinner it was off to bed to rest for the beginning of our three day field trip the next day into Galilee.
Today we launched into a three-day tour of Galilee. The bus rolled out of Bethlehem at 8am, heading north toward our first stop, the ancient city of Caesarea. The trip took us through the very modern city of Tel Aviv and we had a chance to gaze upon its skyscrapers and countless billboards that advertise everything from Razr cell phones to Mercedes Benz.
The scene changed quite a bit when we arrived at Caesarea National Park. This site is located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea and home to some impressive ruins that date back to Herod the Great (c.29-22 BC). A beautiful theater and the remains of an enormous Roman aqueduct are particularly stunning. As we were finishing up our tour of the ruins, one of our more adventurous members, Ed Lucero, was inspired to wade out into the cold water of the sea. It made for a great picture.
Next, we found our way to Haifa, the third largest city in Israel, also situated on the coast of the Mediterranean. Lunch was made available to us at a hip Haifa hangout, and it seemed as if everyone enjoyed the hummus to an uncanny degree.
We then had the energy to visit the top of Mount
Carmel, which is not just a single mount, but an entire ridge of mountain
peaks. The Carmelite Order was founded on Mount Carmel, and now an
exquisite minor basilica rests high atop one of its summits. It has been
named Stella Maris – that is, Our Lady Star of the Sea – and
its beauty awed the entire group. Below the sanctuary of this church is a
small cave which is said to have housed the prophet Elijah as he predicted
the end of the drought described in the First Book of Kings (
Our busy day culminated in Nazareth. It was already dark when we arrived, so we did not have a chance to tour the city. Instead, we simply settled into the pilgrim house where we stayed, an exceptionally comfortable complex run by the Nazareth Sisters and located immediately across from the Basilica of the Annunciation. We wrapped up the day with Mass in the sisters’ chapel and a home-cooked meal consisting of mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, and roast beef. Comfort food never tasted so good!
Let me end today’s journal by saying something about our excellent tour guide. Peter is both punctual and hilarious. He runs us from site to site authoritatively and pleases the bus with witty Catholic humor. We are lucky to have such a qualified man lead us through the Holy Land.
Today was another event filled day. We started out from Nazareth and went to Cana, where Christ performed his first miracle. For myself and for many of the guys, this was a great place to visit. Many of the guys commented that they took time to pray for the marriages of their friends and family members while they were there.
After visiting there, we traveled on to Mt. Tabor, the place of the transfiguration. It was so nice to have the opportunity to take some real time in prayer. After arriving and praying at the site as a group, which we do at every site, we were given about an hour to pray on our own before we had Mass in the church there. It was so nice to go and feel like we were just resting in the Lord’s presence. After Mass and lunch some of the guys took a walk down the hill to get to the bus. We had taken taxis up there, but had some free time after lunch before we had to go. Some walked down, and others remained atop the hill to spend a little more time in prayer.
Next we made a short stop at Naim, the place where Christ raised the only son of a widow from the dead. This place was moving for many reasons. There was a small and very simple little church there commemorating the spot, but there are no Catholics there, so the Muslims are the caretakers of this little church. They are there to let tourists into the Church.
Our last stop for the day before returning to my favorite spot so far, Nazareth, was Megiddo, the place more commonly known as Armageddon. The view of the whole valley laid out in front of us and the ability to see from there many of the important places of the bible was impressive. From there you could see Nazareth, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Tabor and many other places.
Megiddo is a city (or maybe better said, settlement) that is said to have been built over and over some twenty-five times. Approaching from the side of the hill the whole thing was on, you could see the layers on the hill, much like the rings on a tree. Now it is just ruins, but they are pretty grand. Entering, we could see the entrance gates (a three-fold gate, with space between them to place troops – which was vividly played out for us by our guide Peter and Nick Wichert). The ruins were also complete enough to see the old grain house and stables of the latest (of twenty-five, recall) city.
Our return to Bethlehem! We got up today, packed our bags and prepared to head out from Nazareth. Of course, we had several stops along the way.
Our first stop was the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is just across the street from the religious house that we were staying at. We were able to visit the basilica the days before, but this time Peter told us about the history of the basilica and much of its art. We were able to stay there and pray for a while before heading out.
From the basilica, we went to Jericho and the Mount of Temptation, which are right across from each other, Jericho in the valley, the Mount of Temptation (which is called Jebel Quruntul). The ruins of Jericho were closed, so we were unable to actually visit them. It is kind of funny, because the city of Jericho (at least what we know of it to be Jericho) is very small. You could travel around it seven times quite easily (after which blowing a horn would cost you very little).
We went to the mount from there. The walk up the mountain would itself take a great deal of time – its steep and high. Fortunately, there is a cable car that not only gets you to the top, but afforded us a wonderful view of Jericho, the valley and the monastery at the top of the mountain. Still, even with the mountain there, you have to do a bit of walking to get to the monastery itself (let’s hear it for discipline of the body).
The monastery is pretty amazing in itself. As we understood it, there is a community of one maintaining it, but it could easily hold many more. Too boot, there are some beautiful icons that are preserved there. To have been able to visit the icons alone would have made the trip worthwhile. All the more amazing was to go to the chapel upstairs at the place where Jesus sat, endured and rebuffed the devil. The chapel seemed an invitation to quite reflection and we prayed there for a time before we had to move on.
Our final scheduled stop was the monastery of Saint George of Koziba. We couldn’t really approach the monastery, it is nestled against a cliff in the middle of the Wadi Qelt. Just to approach the overlooking hills meant a bit of a drive, not to mention the walk that would have been necessary to get there! But it was a beautiful view and the monastery stood out as a refuge from the world and a place to pray & reflect.
An unscheduled stop turned out to be the tree of Zacchaeus, the tax collector from Luke’s gospel who climbed a tree in order to see Jesus. Peter worked it so that we drove past it and we pulled over in order to see it before heading home. Obviously a tree isn’t quite the same as a monastery, mountain or city, but it was neat to see it nonetheless. In all, an excellent day.
Free day! Free day! Thank the good Lord, a free day!!! As you can tell, we had no classes today or any other required events in the morning, afternoon, or evening (besides, of course, Mass which is the joy of the day anyway!). We needed this day of rest from the travels of our field trip from Galilee. It is amazing how travel takes a toll on the body, even if you are just sitting on a bus for hours. We did enjoy the stay in Nazareth as everyone had heat and plenty of hot water. Nice!
In the late evening, we were treated to a lecture by one of the Palestinian priests at the local seminary here who talked about the relationship of Christians and Moslems here in the Holy Land. He helped us to understand the dynamics of the area within the political, religious and social polemics. Overall, what is needed is much prayer for the Christians in the Holy Land and for all people here, that a lasting peace may reign in the hearts of all. After the lecture, it was off to bed.
Today was not very busy, so I offer you a short personal reflection. Here are the three highlights of my day: 1) We had an extremely rich discussion on the Parable of the Prodigal Son in our Gospel of Luke class. Fr. McIlhone made it abundantly clear that the historical and cultural context of this Christian story is crucial for its exegesis. Excited about what our professor was saying, everyone wanted to contribute to the effort of unpacking the text. The class was extremely lively! 2) In the evening, we worked together to wrap Christmas presents for the children at the local orphanage. Although the work sounds menial, it was more fun than I expected. The group is looking forward to the Christmas party with the children on Saturday when we will give the presents away. 3) After the wrapping session, a couple of guys taught me how to play cribbage. I lost twice but sill enjoyed the fraternity with my brothers from Wisconsin, Montana, and Washington.
Today we rearranged our schedule a little so that we could go to an ecumenical prayer service at Bethlehem University, which was led by Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor (of Westminster), Archbishop Rowan Williams (of Canterbury), Bishop Hovahannisian (Armenian) and Rev. Coffey, all from England. I thought it was quite a moving experience and felt united, at least in spirit with my Christian brothers from other denominations as we prayed together.
After the prayer service there was a short singing concert. It was great to hear some Christmas music and to hear songs both in Arabic and English was a special treat. As they sang some of the songs we were able to join in and with the others we were able to sit and appreciate the beauty of them singing in Arabic. I really have come to appreciate Arabic music. When I hear people sing in Arabic I can’t get over how beautiful it sounds to me.
In the evening many of us also went to a classical music concert at St. Catherine’s church, which is a part of the compound which makes of the church of the Nativity.
Just a couple days before Christmas! Today’s classes were moved to the afternoon in favor of our visit to the orphanage here in Bethlehem. A couple things about the orphanage – planning that had gone into this visit even before we had left. Ricky Ordonez headed up the event; money was raised for the orphanage and toys collected for the children. A donor (a company, in fact) gave us a whole slew of toys, making up a large part of what we had to give. Too boot, we also had some entertainment planned for the children.
In all, we were pretty well prepared to visit the kids, and excited as well. We were told that there were eighty or so kids who we would be visiting, between age one and five. I don’t think we were quite ready for the number of children, nor the joy these kids had at our visit. Most of the children were orphans, others just kids whose parents dropped them off at the orphanage as a sort of day care arrangement. All of them were happy to have forty-one cheerful guys there to play with them.
We spent a couple of hours there, singing and dancing for the kids, playing with them or just holding the quieter ones. The highlight of the visit was the gift giving, with Deacon Carlos Gelabert coming as Santa Claus. Sitting in the center of the room, he handed out presents to all the kids, a pretty big hit as even here (especially here!) the kids knew who Santa Claus is. Ricky also presented the sisters with the donations that had been collected at the seminary. All in all, it was a wonderful moment of Christmas cheer and charity, and we were glad for the opportunity to be able to offer it.
Merry Christmas from the Holy Land!!!!!
We began the day, as usual, with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before breakfast. Upon our nourishing breakfast of bread, coffee and jam we were scheduled to go to the Greek Catholic Church (the Melkite Rite) for Mass at 10:00 a.m.. For many of us, this was the first Eastern Catholic Liturgy that we have attended and the consensus was that the Mass was reverent and very prayerful. The prayers from the Mass (we were given booklets in English to follow) were very beautiful and prayerful. Our own Fr. Larry Sullivan concelebrated the Mass with the Eastern Catholic priest. It was his first Eastern liturgy and he held up well, although the difficulty was the chanting, of which the whole Mass is chanted. After the Mass, a handful of us had coffee with the priest and his family. By the way, the coffee we had was so strong that it was served in tiny cups and a spoon was able to stand up straight in it. Thank goodness for sugar!!!!
As it was going to be a long day and night, we tried to get a quick nap in before the festivities began with the procession of the Latin Patriarch into the city of Bethlehem in the afternoon. Many of us tried to get good areas to stand along the parade route to see the many bands of Boy and Girl Scouts play and the motorcade of the Patriarch with many other dignitaries. The procession ended at the Church of the Nativity where the Patriarch led the people in prayer. Many of the guys mingled around at the Church while others came back to the Monastery to rest until dinner.
The dinner we had was a special dinner of delicious food prepared by the sisters and the cook to prepare us for the long night ahead. At 9:30 p.m. we all gathered in the Monastery Chapel to have solemn prayer of the Office of Readings. It was a beautiful, prayerful experience of chanting and prayer that prepared us for the Coming of the Lord at Midnight Mass.
We made our way to Bethlehem University Chapel by 11:15 p.m. so we can take our seats as many of our own choir members and schola members serenaded us before Mass with beautiful Christmas songs. The Presider of the Mass was Archbishop Antonio Franco who is the Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine and was assisted by Msgr. Gianfranco Gallone who is the secretary of the Apostolic Delegate and also by our very own Fr. McIlhone and Fr. Sullivan. The University is run by the Christian Brothers, who after the Mass, put on a phenomenal buffet spread for all those attending the Mass to fill our bellies and celebrate the Birth of Our Lord. Having Midnight Mass, in Bethlehem, was an experience that none of us will ever forget.
After the eating and drinking festivities, our Hispanic seminarians serenaded the crowd and led many in dancing with rousing Christmas songs. For the rest us of, we either headed down to the Church of the Nativity (around 3:00 a.m.) to pray at the Star of Bethlehem or headed back to the Monastery exhausted, but filled with indescribable joy. When all was said and done, it wasn’t until about 6:00 a.m. when the last seminarian returned to the Monastery after spending the night in deep prayer and joy. What an experience we had and our prayers and thoughts were with our families and benefactors on this very special night.
Merry Christmas! In spite of the fact that the group was emotionally and physically drained from last night’s festivities, we found the energy to rise from sleep this morning and continue our Christmas celebrations. Individually or in small groups, all of seminarians made their way through the busy streets of Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. We were there to pray and take in the Christmas morning scene.
Pilgrims were everywhere, scurrying about like ants! Masses in a variety of tongues were celebrated in the crypt of the church every half hour. There was also a steady-moving line of pilgrims circulating through the church to reverence the spot where Jesus was born. Outside the church were a great number of exuberant Catholics, singing and dancing. Thus our morning was consumed reveling in birth of Christ with pilgrims from around the world.
At two o’clock in the afternoon we regrouped at La Terrace restaurant for a Christmas lunch that was generously provided by the seminary. The meal was worthy of the Lord’s birth. We were treated to lamb, salmon, wine, sweets – an incredible spread of mouth-watering Palestinian cuisine.
The afternoon was for rest; most of us took a siesta. Then came solemn Vespers at seven o’clock in our small house chapel. Deacon Charles Musula led us in prayer and gave a short homily. It was a beautiful way to end the liturgical day.
After prayer we gathered for a white elephant gift exchange. Everyone in the group had purchased a gift (fifteen shekels or less) for this raucous gift-trading event. The gifts most coveted: olive wood statue of the holy family and a CD of Arabic pop music; the gifts least coveted: quilted toilet paper and a calculator. Although not everyone ended up with the gift he desired, all of us enjoyed the evening.
Allow me to end this entry by giving both Mic Kopil and Ricky Ordoñez the Most-Spirited on Christmas Day Award. I witnessed Mic break into a dance of Christmas joy while making his morning coffee, and Ricky spontaneously wished people “Merry Christmas” in English, Spanish, German, and Tagalog throughout the day. Their merriment reflected the spirit of the entire group this Christmas day.
The second day of Christmas and I still can’t believe we are here. We didn’t have class today, but we did have our Christmas party in the evening. Many of those who have hosted us and those who have helped us along the way were present for conversation, food, and fun. We started everything out with some snacks and good conversation. After a while the pizza showed up and we wasted no time in digging in right after prayer, which was lead by Nate. After people had a chance to eat some pizza and continue with their conversations a bit, we moved directly into the entertainment for the night. The entertainment was provided by our musically talented members and by some of our guests who felt brave enough to rise to the occasion and entertain us.
There was fun to be had by all, but I think my favorite part was the finale where we had a representative from every language group present stand up and sing one verse of silent night. If I remember correctly, we had nine different languages in which Silent night was sung.
I think overall our Christmas party was a success and there was fun to be had by all. We pray that all of our guests felt how much we appreciate all they have done for us in our time here in Bethlehem.
The day after the day after Christmas – life returns to normal around here, though with a good octave-of-Christmas afterglow. Things are winding up for our first two classes of the quarter (recall that we have classes about twice as often as normal so that we can do two classes during the first five weeks and two more in the second five). Exams for Father McIlhone start today, ten minute oral exams on one randomly chosen passage from the Gospel of Luke (out of twenty potential passages).
This afternoon is pretty much free and we are getting in as much time as possible out and about. It is a time to get a memento of Bethlehem for a lot of us, which means olive wood statues, icons and post cards. There are some amazing artists out here, in icons, mosaics and (of course) wood carving. Two men of a particular store (of Saint John’s souvenirs – ask any one of us about them!) have made a point of simply becoming friends with a large number, if not all, of our group and has shown some of us his mosaic work. But because of the situation out here, he is unable to devote much time to such a specialty. Nonetheless, the talent he and others have could easily gain them some real recognition, given the chance.
It is also a time to visit the manger and the milk grotto for the last times, offering our gratitude and simply taking in as much as we can in the last few days before going to Nazareth and then Jerusalem for the remainder of the pilgrimage. Already we are remarking on how we will miss this place. The people are good and it is a great blessing to be able to be here for such a long time!
Today we had a pretty normal schedule. We had our Gospel of Luke class in the morning. However, because this was finals week, we had to study and prepare for our oral exam for the class which was the last few days of the week. Yes, Virginia, we do have to study a lot while on this pilgrimage!
After our class in the morning, we had lunch and then for those who didn’t have a test in the afternoon, it was free time to begin the process of preparing ourselves to leave soon. The Church of the Nativity always seemed to have at least one or two seminarians from Mundelein praying in the Grotto. How could you not pray there?
We had a treat in the evening when the Patriarch of the Holy Land came to the convent and presided at Mass for us. We were all very excited to see and meet him and, most importantly, be able to pray at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with him. In his homily and short talk after Mass, he talked about the relations with Moslems and Christians in the Holy Land and also of the struggles for peace and the political situation between Israel and Palestine. It was very informative and very spiritual.
For the most part, the majority of us made it an early night to continue to study for our tests and begin to gather things up for our departure from Bethlehem soon.
Our guided tour of the Gospel of Luke was concluded today. This was a great class and everyone is already looking forward to our next academic excursion with Fr. McIlhone, Acts of the Apostles, which will begin in Jerusalem in January.
Part of our afternoon was spent in another round of small group discussions. As you probably already know, these one-hour sessions give us time to share with other seminarians insights regarding our pilgrimage experience. It’s intriguing to listen to the comments of my peers who approach the various pilgrimage activities and events with perspectives different than my own. Most of us agree that these small group discussions are enriching, and we appreciate the fact that we have a structured time for reflection.
Allow me to close this journal entry by disclosing to you a personal cultural breakthrough. I had falafels for the first time tonight. Wow! These little pita bread-fillers were quite savory. It was great to sit back and relax in a small Bethlehem falafel joint, taking in the Palestinian scene with the locals.