This is our second to last day here in Bethlehem and was scheduled as our day
for packing, but I think that most of the guys where walking through the city
saying goodbye, and spending time in prayer at the church of the Nativity. It
will be difficult to leave Bethlehem, the place which has become like our home
for the past month.
There were some guys who were going around to some of the different shops,
taking advantage of the free day by looking for last minute memories of the
city. Many of the city shops were closed though, as we are in the days of the
Muslim holiday, the time when many Muslims will be making their pilgrimage to
Mecca. We will miss this wonderful little town of Bethlehem and the friends we
have made here.
A month in Bethlehem! On this the eve of the year we also come to the end of our time in Bethlehem and with the Betharram Fathers. In an interesting quirk, New Year’s Eve is also a day of prayer for us. Since we knew this beforehand, everybody has packed up and we’re ready for the day. Until dinnertime we kept silence, although Daniel Schuster wrote up a sort of guided spiritual tour of Bethlehem, following the footsteps of the Holy Family. Most of us took advantage of it, spending the majority of the day reflecting on their journey and offering our final prayers and thanks at the manger itself.
Normally we, as pilgrims, would host a part for those who have hosted us for such a long time. However the fathers insisted on hosting a dinner for us. So we celebrated the Eve’s dinner in style with the sisters, novitiates and fathers. Immediately afterwards we joined them at the university, where we watched a movie with some of the fathers as the clock approached midnight. About ten minutes before the bell the movie was paused and champagne poured into our (plastic!) glasses. At the traditional moment of ten seconds before, we counted down and at 12:am, January 1st, we entered into 2007 in Bethlehem.
Today was a bittersweet day for all of us. It is amazing how attached you can get to a place and the people. We had our last night here in Bethlehem and today we left behind our new found friends in Bethlehem to continue our trek towards Jerusalem. In a small way, we get a little closer to our Blessed Lord as we experience a small portion of what He may have felt as He left areas on His way to Jerusalem. Of course, His journey was to His death that would save the world, ours is to spiritually die to ourselves so to follow Him more completely. Our departure from Bethlehem was sad but at the same time we were excited to begin a new adventure.
The bus ride to our next destination was a long one but when we arrived in Nazareth for the next few days, we were overjoyed. How can you not be happy being in the same town where the Holy Family lived, worked and played! To make things even more special, especially on the feast of the Mother of God, we had Mass at the Church of the Annunciation right next to the spot where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and she gave her fiat. This is where everything began! And we had Mass, bringing again the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ to us. The spiritual fodder for this meditation will last a lifetime and is very difficult to explain. Needless to say, it was a deeply moving and religious experience that we have yet to fully comprehend. After Mass, and when most of us made our Thanksgiving after Mass, we went back to the Sisters of Nazareth convent where we are staying and relaxed until we were treated to a wonderful dinner prepared for us before we retired to bed. A full spiritual soul, a full belly, a warm room and a comfortable bed, it is hard to not be in a state of deep gratitude and thanksgiving for our blessings from God.
Our day kicked off with Mass and Lauds in the (cold) chapel of the pilgrimage house. We then polished off some breakfast and loaded ourselves onto the bus, ready and eager for a busy day of touring and prayer.
Traveling out of the city of Nazareth, it only took about a half an hour to get to our first stop, Zippori National Park. Although only ruins remain there now, the Roman-governed town of Zippori was the “big city” in Galilee in Jesus’ time. It is believed that the parents of Mary, Anna and Joachim, were from Zippori; it is quite likely that Joseph and Jesus worked construction there as well. Delightful are the miraculously preserved mosaics found scattered throughout the ruins. These works of art decorated the floors of the edifices that once lined the streets of this ancient city.
The next stop was Bet She’arim National Park, which is noteworthy because of its numerous ancient burial caves. Basically, it’s a cemetery – but an awesome, historically significant cemetery. Rabbi Yehuda Ha-nasi, an instrumental figure in the creation of the Jewish Mishnah was buried there eighteen hundred year ago.
Stop number three was lunch at a restaurant just south of Nazareth. What was so special about this eatery? They served pork! For obvious reasons, there are only a few farms (called kibbutzim) where swine are raised in Israel, and this particular restaurant was connected to one of these pig-providers. Many of the guys took advantage of this rare opportunity and enjoyed the BBQ ribs.
After having taken the bus back into the city of Nazareth, we dropped ourselves off at the fourth stop of the day, Mary’s well. This site is believed to have been the place our Blessed Mother collected water for the Holy Family. The Orthodox consider Mary’s well to be the place of the Annunciation, and they have built a small but impressive church over this spot of bubbling water.
We then walked to our fifth stop, which tradition describes as the home of the Holy Family. It’s a large cave, essentially, that was typical of first century living in Nazareth. Above the cave is now built a beautiful Catholic church dedicated to St. Joseph. Although it is appears tiny in the shadow of the enormous Basilica of the Annunciation, this noble little church impressed us greatly.
The day was concluded after a quick visit to the sixth site of the day, the chapel that commemorates Nazareth’s first century synagogue, Jesus’ hometown place of worship. If you recall, St. Luke tells us that Jesus was expelled from this place near the beginning of his Galilean ministry (Luke 4:16-30). Fr. McIlhone reminded us of the importance of this passage, saying that is was one of the paradigmatic passages of the entire Gospel of Luke.
This morning we headed out of Nazareth. For me it was saying goodbye to my favorite place thus far on the trip. There is something very special about the church of the Annunciation, it really is holy ground. Nonetheless, we headed from there towards the Sea of Galilee. Our first stop was in Acko, where we walked through the great halls that the crusaders had built hundreds of years before and which have been discovered again only in the 20th century, hidden under other buildings. These halls where massive structures and are really quite impressive. Acko was one of the last strongholds of the crusaders before they were driven out of the Holy Land.
We had lunch at a place nearby, but were given about 20 minutes of free time before lunch to roam along the Mediterranean Sea. I don’t know why I feel so free and happy when I’m walking along the Mediterranean, but I think you can see in the eyes of the other guys that they feel the same way.
After lunch we headed to the place where Jesus drove the many demons named ‘legion’ out of a man and into the pigs who then threw themselves into the Sea of Galilee. (In Mark Ch. 5, the place is known as Gerasene). Having the opportunity to visit little places like this really are treasures for us. They provide us with a great opportunity to pray and meditate upon the life of our Lord.
We also visited Korazim, which is a Jewish town that the Talmud makes mention of, and one of the cities that Jesus condemned (Matthew 11:21). It is on a hill that overlooks the surrounding land and you can imagine how the city once had a panoramic view of everything. Before heading out we had a Biblical reading and reflection by Thadeo.
Finally we arrived at our home for the next few days, a place called Pilgerhaus, just outside of Tiberias. This nice German pilgrimage house is right on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, only about a ten minute walk from the Church of the Multiplication of the loaves, and about a fifteen minute walk from the church which commemorates the place where Christ asked Peter if he loved him 3 times, known as the Primacy of Peter. It is also only about half an hour walk from the church of the Beatitudes.
We celebrated Mass at Capernaum, at a church that is built over the remains of the house and church where Peter lived. If you look at our pictures, you can see how the old church is literally underneath the new church. Next to the church is an old synagogue where we heard our guide’s explanation of the site. We stayed there for a time, looking at the ruins and praying at the church before moving on. The Synagogue stands on the site where Jesus gave the Bread of Life discourse in John 6.
Our final event for the day was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Several of the guys went swimming in the sea while we were there (if it was good enough for Peter, its good enough for us) and this was a nice counterpoint. Both in the swimming and the ride we were reminded of the two major stories that center around the sea: Jesus (and Peter) walking on the sea and the calming of the sea from the boat by Jesus. The sea was fairly well-behaved for us, but as we rode out we talked about how it must have been for the apostles, and wondered ourselves how we would have responded.
Our final stop was for lunch, fish from the sea of Galilee, before heading to our temporary home at the Pilgerhaus. A full day, in all, but wonderful.
Today we began a long journey day, which technically we are on break since we have no classes this week but it feels like work with all the travel we have been doing. We had Mass early to give us the strength and grace to get through the day followed by a hearty breakfast. The weather turned bad last night and it became rainy and very cold. It is amazing that we all were thinking that the Holy Land would be warm or even hot, but we severely under packed for the weather. It has been down right cold a lot of the time! But the cold and wet weather did not dampen our spirits and we journeyed all day to different sites.
Because of the weather we had to alter some of the sites we visited and even stayed on the bus and looked out the window rather than get soaked by the rain. We wouldn’t have minded getting wet too much, but being able to get clothes washed and cleaned has been difficult at times. We visited 4 sites today that had very important biblical ties, especially in the Old Testament. We visited the ruins of Hazor, a city that has had 22 layers of different inhabitants on it and was important for Joshua and Solomon.
Next stop was at Tel-Dan, another important Old Testament city but, unfortunately, because of the rain we didn’t get off the bus but through our guide for the day, and from Fr. McIlhone we learned quite a bit about the ruins. We also had a good reflection prepared by Emilio Chapa that was very powerful and thought provoking.
We traveled on the Caesarea Philippi where we saw the ruins of old pagan temples and also saw where the Jordan River began. At this site we heard two reflections, Byoung Jim Lim gave a reflection about the Jordan River and Dan Dreher gave us something to think about on Christ and what happened at Caesarea Philippi.
Because of the traveling and the shivering to keep warm, we worked up quite an appetite, so we traveled up into the mountains and ate at a small sandwich shop where we feasted on local food that we never ate before. It hit the spot, and it was warm in the diner so that was a big plus.
Finally, we headed toward home, at least our home for the next couple of days. In the distance we saw the large mountain called Mount Hermon and Hai Dinh gave a beautiful reflection as we drove off in the distance about gratitude and being thankful for this opportunity to be here and to thank all our benefactors and families who have helped us from the bottom of our hearts. So, Thank You!!!!!
Today we had the privilege of visiting the Mount of Beatitudes, which is believed to be the place where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Most of the group loaded onto the bus in the morning and rode up the winding hillside to the church that commemorates this important event in Jesus’ ministry. The church is quite close to our pilgrim house; in fact, several individuals from our group decided to leave early and walk up a muddy trail that leads to the church. We all arrived safely and celebrated Mass in the attractively ornamented Church of the Beatitudes. After Mass we were given more than an hour to pray and reflect at this holy site. One cannot help but be struck with awe while enjoying the view of the Sea of Galilee from atop that mountain. It was a peaceful, beautiful morning.
The plan was for the group to walk back down the hillside for lunch at the pilgrim house. It was soon apparent, however, that this was an ill-advised strategy. The dark clouds above us huddled together and began to produce a light rain. We picked up our pace a bit and forced ourselves to smile at this less-than-perfect situation. Then the dark clouds huddled tighter and began to produce a downpour. Many in the group, foolishly forgetting their umbrellas, were soaked immediately and scurried home like wet rats. The scene was simultaneously hilarious and horrendous; it was a “pilgrimage adventure” the group will not soon forget.
The afternoon and evening provided us with some relaxation. We recovered from our rainy morning and rested, read, and prayed. Upon finishing dinner, a small number of guys ventured over to Tiberius, which is less than thirty minutes away by taxi. They saw the sights of this smallish city, and it is said that they capped off their night with ice cream from McDonalds.
Today we left early in the morning from Pilgerhaus to head to Jerusalem. It was raining, so there were a couple of places we had planned on stopping to see, but could not. One of these included what was at one time a crusader stronghold, Belvoir Castle, which was never really defeated. The knights there fought off many attempts but could not be overtaken. Finally the knights decided to just quit fighting and the opposing leader decided to spare their lives because of their brave fighting. It was interesting to hear the history of that sight.
Instead of visiting the ruins of this place, which were all outside, we stopped off at the ruins of a Jewish synagogue at Bet Alpha. We watched a short video on the history of this synagogue and then headed off to Jericho where we ate lunch on our way to Jerusalem. We arrived in Jerusalem and some of us went directly to the church of the Holy Sepulcher. Inside there we found a great place to pray, but realized how chaotic it was. There are so many chapels inside this large, complex building that you would have to take a guide through it just to know what part is dedicated to what. The two most distinguishable parts, of course, are the sight of the Holy Sepulcher, the tomb where Christ was raised from the dead, and Calvary, the place where he was crucified. It was incredible to finally find ourselves in holy sites.
After dinner many of us headed out to find a laundry mat which many of us had been longing to find since we had left Bethlehem.
"Welcome to Jerusalem!" – our greeting as we reached this our final destination before returning to the States. We actually arrived in the late evening yesterday, but today is our first full day.
Jerusalem has so many places to visit that our heads are already spinning: the Temple Mount, the Holy Sepulcher, the Via Dolorosa… the list goes on. Fortunately, we have had the entire day to get a lay of the land; today is one of our free days.
The Holy Sepulcher topped many a list and so a large contingent went there. Others went around the city, simply getting acquainted with the shops (laundry was one of the top priorities in commerce today!) or just relaxing at a café. The rest settled in at the Notre Dame Center, catching up on e-mail, sleep and prayer.
At the end of the day, the priest administrator welcomed our group, giving us a brief history of the place. We have arrived at Jerusalem, our new home (well, at least for the month)!
We have arrived in Jerusalem!!! We had a wonderful free day yesterday where we could explore and pray at our leisure. Today, well, today we begin again our classes. This month we have two new classes; The Acts of the Apostles taught by Fr. McIlhone and Architecture in the Holy Land taught by Dr. Dennis McNamara, who arrived here last week. Surprisingly enough, classes here on pilgrimage are difficult to try and stay focused and study a lot for because our minds are continually wanting to meditate on the life of Christ, especially on His Passion, Death, and Resurrection since the Holy Sepulcher Church is a 7 minute walk away. But we struggle on.
We had a filling breakfast here at the Notre Dame Center (they feed us very well) followed by communal Morning Prayer. The rest of the morning was spent in the classroom for the two classes. We followed class with Mass at 12:30 and a hearty lunch right after.
Being that there is no rest for the seminarians, we had a 2 ½ hour lecture in the afternoon from Jewish man from the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. The topic was Israeli-Jewish Identity and Life, and we learned quite a bit about the history, tensions, etc. of Jerusalem. It is a city like no other and we are seeing that first hand as we explore more each day.
There wasn’t much energy left after all the classes and lecture for the day, so we had a late dinner at 7:00 p.m. and for the vast majority of us it was off to bed or to read a little before we retire for the night as we have another big day of classes planned for tomorrow.
Breakfast, Morning Prayer, and class comprised the first half of our day. Fr. McIlhone was lively in his exegesis of the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and Dr. Denis McNamara kept the attention of the class with his interactive style of teaching. Mass at 12:30pm was celebrated by the Archbishop of Liverpool and concelebrated by the Bishop of Birmingham, two guests here at the Notre Dame Center who are visiting the Holy Land from England. They are part of an international team of bishops trying to provide aid to this region. It was a pleasure having them with us at liturgy.
In the afternoon the group reunited with our former guide, Peter, for a brief introductory tour of the Old City of Jerusalem. This historic district is divided into four sections: the Christian Quarter, the Armenian Quarter, the Jewish Quarter, and the Muslim Quarter. Because there is too much to see in one afternoon, Peter chose to lead us primarily through the Jewish Quarter. It is here where the most impressive Roman ruins are located, as well as the Burnt House Museum. This museum displays the archeological discovery of a house destroyed by the Romans when they razed the city Jerusalem in the year 70 AD. After the group viewed a presentation at the museum, we were free to explore the Old City on our own. A few of the guys made their way over to the Wailing Wall for the first time, while others, feeling the demands of our class assignments, went back to the Notre Dame Center to study and rest.
Today we went out to the church of St. Anne. In the crypt of this church is the place where Mary is said to have been born. The home of Sts. Anne and Joachim is said to have been there. This was a very moving experience for myself, I spent some time praying down in the crypt before we went to a talk on the churches in Jerusalem. After the talk we had Mass in the church of St. Anne. Many of our musicians were impressed with the acoustics in this church.
The church also stands right next to the place where Jesus cured the man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. (The passage for this can be found in John 5 and is known as Bethesda.) Fr. McIlhone gave us the background and description of this place.
After that we headed back to the Notre Dame Center for lunch and then the rest of the day was free. Many guys used this day to go out and pray at some of the many holy sites found here in Jerusalem.
Today started out far earlier than the average day. We had a 6:30 appointment to celebrate Mass at the Holy Sepulcher, the church that marks the crucifixion and entombment of Jesus. The schedule there is quite rigorous, so we needed to be there early, start on time and be out on time. When we arrived there was a Mass going on, a Greek (Orthodox?) celebration in full swing and another Mass starting up, and that was before six thirty.
We weren’t able to spend much time at the church, aside from the Mass itself, but it leaves a lasting impression. Entering the doors, the first thing that you see is a stone slab, behind which is a mosaic of the movement of Jesus from the cross to the tomb. The stone slab is where Jesus was laid before being taken to the tomb that Joseph of Arimathea had for Him. Before going any further, we all took the opportunity to venerate it.
Going to your left, between columns as thick as three or four people (and three or four times as tall), we entered the main chamber. It is a circular area with a dome overhead (the rotunda). The total focus of this part is on a smaller, but similarly shaped, room (called an aedicule) that stands over the spot where Jesus was laid. It has two entrances, one on the left and one on the right. The Greeks were celebrating on the left, so we celebrated Mass on the right.
To help maintain ecumenical and inter-religous peace, our Latin rite does not sing in this area of the church. Despite that, it was a special grace to be celebrating Mass in the aedicule – some of inside and some outside (it has at least two rooms, one inner room with the altar, one outer room where some twenty people can fit – tightly – and then the right entrance where the rest of us were). After Mass we spent some time in prayer at the church and heard a reflection from Jose Garcia before heading back to the Notre Dame Center. (and aside from classes, the day was ours, although the beginning of the Jewish celebration of the Sabbath means that everything is closed on Friday & Saturday!).
Free Day! Free Day! Oh Glorious, Free Day!
Once in a while we have a day where we have no class, lecture, field trip, or other responsibilities. Today is one of those golden days. We know that on these days we are supposed to catch up on homework or other work, but for the most part, most of us use these days to pray at the Holy Sites, to try and deepen our spiritual lives, because it is difficult with the rigors of the classes and lectures during the week to do this. We also use these days for exploring the things and places that we want to explore.
So Blessed be God forever, for giving us days like these!
Three things marked this day distinct from the others. First, at nine o’clock in the morning we celebrated the Divine Liturgy with the Greek Catholic community here in Jerusalem. The liturgy was celebrated in Arabic and the rites of the liturgy are unfamiliar to most of us Roman Catholics. However, this was the group’s second look at an eastern rite liturgy (we celebrated the Fourth Sunday of Advent with the Greek Catholics in Bethlehem), and we could still recognize the basic elements of the Eucharistic celebration. This experience further reminded us the diversity among Catholic Christians, and it was a privilege to worship with our Greek Catholic brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. It was also a privilege to see the inside of their magnificent church, the walls of which are covered floor to ceiling with brilliantly colored icons, an unmistakable mark eastern Christianity.
Second, after dinner the group met with Dr. Stephen Pfann, an authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Our first encounter with this topic came one month ago at Qumran National Park, a desolate locale in the Judean wilderness where the first of these ancient manuscripts were discovered in 1947. The passion of Dr. Pfann was evident by his lecture, and his knowledge of the Jewish Essene community that authored the Dead Sea Scrolls was remarkable. The themes that resonated most forcefully in our group were those that touched upon the Essence community’s link to early Christianity.
Third, the Bears played the Seahawks. After the evening lecture, a number of the guys quickly made their way to a local tavern to watch the game. The Seattle seminarians were sadly disappointed when their team lost, and the Chicago seminarians rejoiced heartily in their team’s victory. A good time was had by all.
Today we were in the classroom all morning long and then in the afternoon we had the first of two sessions with Dr. Deborah Weissman, an Orthodox Jew. We spent a couple of hours with her and then were free for the rest of the day. It seems that many guys just took it easy after a long day in the classroom.