LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE 5TH GOSPEL

The other night 17 of us who had spent 12 days on the ground in Israel got together for socializing and exchange of ideas. The priest who had accompanied us was there and asked us to communicate the most impressive part of our experience in the homeland of Our Saviour. It turns out that it was a good time to do this since it has been about six weeks since our return. Believe it or not, a couple of people have had the time to express themselves by creating very artistic scrap books of the entire pilgrimage. It is impossible to recreate them here, but we do have a collage of testimony here that is quite touching and very spiritual.

The priest went first. He had been to Israel before but it was a whirlwind, two and one half day, touch and go visit. This time he was there as a pilgrim. He was asked to preside over the Sacrifice of the Mass every day, as of course, provide the other pilgrims with food for reflection and meditation. He has been forever touched by the fact that he was able to celebrate the Mass at some very sacred places. The altar in the grotto of St.Jerome in Bethlehem where St. Jerome translated the Bible from Greek to Latin; the altar at the Calvary in the Holy Sepulcher Church; the altar in the church that marks the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus; an outside altar on the mount where Jesus delivered the sermon with the Beatitudes as the introduction; the church which marks the place of the home of Zecariah and Elizabeth and their son John as well as the altar in the church that marks the place of the Transfiguration. There were more, but you get the picture. Just as so many others stated on this fine evening, he never thought that despite the fact that this had been a life-long dream of his, it would ever come to pass.

Another striking theme is the renewal of faith and spirituality that the pilgrims experienced. So many repeated the experience of having a much deeper faith and connection with God now that they have touched the ground where Jesus lived. One even said that while there, it was difficult to pray because there were so many different stimuli affecting her every moment. But now, prayer is better, deeper and more sincere because "I get lost in the memories of the pilgrimage. I guess I didn't realize it, but I was meeting Jesus there every day. Now, I meet him in my prayer, every day. When I read my Bible, I pay attention because I know where I am."
As this person said about the Bible, so did others. "The readings in church mean more now because I can see the place where they happened. I didn't read the Bible much before, but now, it means more to me and I always find something interesting and spiritually challenging in my reading."

Some of the pilgrims had their moment of spiritual awakening in Bethlehem, at the grotto of the birth of Jesus. Others had it on the Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross). There we had a plain wooden cross to carry as we commemorated the stations of the cross as we have them in our churches. It was difficult for some to bring themselves to participate because of a feeling of inadequacy, or humility. It was too much of an honor for them to be the helper of Jesus to carry the cross. The sentiment stays with them until now and they don't think that it will ever go away. The Way of the Cross in Jerusalem is not easy. It is a rough, narrow road lined on both sides with shops that are owned and operated by cynical vendors, just as they were back in the time of Jesus. Our pilgrims came to know the physical and emotional difficulty that Jesus had to endure on His way to Calvary.

There were some pilgrims who had (have) physical limitations, mostly with their legs, knees and ankles. There were a couple places that made them wonder if they were going to be able to render homage to the sacred places because of their physical problems. The worst place of all is the one on the way up a vicious stairwell that leads to Mt. Calvary. Of all the difficulties this is the one that they HAD to negotiate. They did, up and down, and were none the worse for wear. They are all convinced that these moments when they conquered their handicaps are miracles.

No one cried as they were rendering their testimony this time, but one said, "every time I tell the story of my pilgrimage, I'm so happy, I cry." Others had the same experience.

Finally, a sentiment that rang a bell with everyone was, "When I go to church now and see one or two of you, it means a lot to me."

Finally, I have two personal sentiments to put before you.I had invited my Jewish cousin to come with us. I somehow knew that he had never been to Israel. He accepted the invitation because he know that I wasn't going to try to convert him. God took care of that. The day that he went to the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) will live with him forever. He told me so. God bless you, Les.
Finally, the second morning that we were in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, I woke up and looked out the window as I always do when I am there. What I saw in the gray pre-sunrise light was a community of Southern California Pilgrims waiting to praise God as His sun rose over the hilltops in a blaze of glory and reflected His grace on the Holy Water upon which He had walked. This was not orchestrated by anyone. God had moved them all to be there.

Since we still had about thirty more minutes, we got ready and went down to the deck to join our fellow pilgrims. I, for one, will never forget that moment.

PILGRIMS ON CLOUD NINE

Day 1 – Sept. 3 – The Pilgrims of Moreno Valley participated at Mass at St. Patricks’ presided by Fr. Ike. At the end of the mass he said a prayer of blessing for us.

Day 2 – Sept. 4 – We arrived at Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion airport where we were met by a representative of George’s International. We also met our Guide for the pilgrimage.

Day 3 Sept. 5
1. Mt Scopus – the place where the Hebrew University was built. We went to the Panoramic view site and our guide showed us a brief description of the important places of Jerusalem: 1] Mt of Olives; 2] Temple Mt.; 3] AL Aqsa Mosque; 4] Golden Gate; 5] Dominus Flevit church ("The Lord Wept); 6] Russian Orthodox Church – Mary Magdalen
2. Proceeded to En Kerem – a beautiful city where we visited: The Church of the Visitation – Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth upon hearing that she was pregnant. She stayed with her for three months to help her. We read Luke 1:39 ff..We sang, “Gentle Woman”
 We then proceeded to the Church of St. John the Baptist – a church commemorating the birth of St. John. We celebrated Mass here. Lk. 1:5-17
 Proceeded to Abu Gosh – one of the sites of the Emmaus Event. We read Luke's rendition of the Emmaus event. (Luke 24; 13-35) Mostly Muslim population live in Abu Gosh. On our way to Abu Gosh we stopped by Notre Dame d’Alliance Convent and visited the Crusader’s chapel built to commemorate the resting of the Covenant. Met a French sister and several Filipinas who are aspirants to the religious life. The Filipino pilgrims befriended them and bought several souvenirs from their religious items store.

3. The group went to a Kibbutz – a community that lives together. This is a movement started by immigrant Russian Jews based on a socialist concept – much like the early Christian community of Acts 4:42 following except that they did not the religious element of communal praying.

4. We headed for our hotel – stopped by a scenic view to see a panoramic view of Jerusalem from the south.

5. After dinner at the hotel, we invited everybody for a reflection meeting.

Day 4 – Sept. 6
1. This is Bethlehem (House of Bread) day.  We celebrated Mass at the Grotto of St. Jerome. St. Jerome translated the Hebrew Bible into Latin. The translated version is called the vulgate (the common language of the people) St. Paula, a rich lady, helped St. Jerome, by financing the translation. The gospel for the Mass was the Christmas story, naturally. So we sang Christmas carols, naturally. (Lk. 2: 1ff) After Mass, we went to the Nativity Grotto where each of us had a chance to kiss the very spot where Jesus was born. We proceeded to the chapel of the Milk Grotto. We took a break for lunch. After lunch the group was given some time to go shopping for souvenirs at a Catholic store. In the afternoon, we went to the Shepherd’s Field – the place where the Shepherds were watching their sheep when the angels appeared to them and proclaimed the birth of Jesus. We visited the caves where they stayed with their sheep at night. We also spent some time in the chapel.

2. Back to Jerusalem. Our pilgrimage brought us to St. Peter in Gallicantu, the place where the cock crowed three time on the night that Peter denied Jesus.(Lk.22:57) Underneath the Church was the pit dungeon (dark) where Jesus was imprisoned for a night while waiting for his trial. Prayed Psalm 88 – a lamentation a very touching one that I felt Jesus’ feelings at that time. There is a courtyard where Jesus was presented to the high priest Caiphas. Here we read the gospel of Peter’s denial. We proceeded to Mt. Zion’s Gate to visit David’s Tomb, the Cenacle, (Upper room) where the Last Supper and Pentecost were believed to have taken place. We read the story of the Last Supper. Then we visited the Dormition Church, a place that commemorates Mary’s sleep for eternal life. – Dogma of the Assumption We then headed to the hotel for a brief rest before dinner. After dinner we again invited everybody for a reflection sharing. Those who came shared their spiritual experience.

Day 5 – Sept. 7
1. Old City We left the hotel at 5:30 A.M. And were dropped off at the New Gate. We walked to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The city was empty and quiet. The Church was empty and quiet too so we had time to adoring the very spot where the cross of the dying Christ stood. Most of us were touched and had tears in our eyes. Mass was celebrated at 6:30 A.M. by Fr. Ike on Mt. Calvary. It was a very solemn and moving Mass. Some English speaking nuns joined us. After Mass we visited the sepulcher (the tomb). We were so blessed that there were not the many pilgrims yet so each of us took time to pray and the kiss the Tomb. It was so touching and we felt the grace of Christ. We also visited the chapel of St. Helena and paid homage to a relic of the True Cross that she found. From there we went to view the pillar on which Christ was scourged. Before going back to the hotel, we had a group picture taking at the outside steps to Mt. Calvary. Then we back to the hotel for breakfast After breakfast we went back to the Old City to pray the way of the Cross on Via Dolorosa. It was about 9:30 A.M. then and so the Old City was bustling with pilgrims from other countries and vendors. The Via Dolorosa is situated in the Muslim Quarter. Each of us had the occasion to carry the cross. It was quite an experience! With the vendors’ yelling and carts passing through, we experienced what Christ must have felt at that time. After the Via Dolorosa – some of us were given some time to buy souvenirs. Then we headed to lunch at the Kibbutz.

 After lunch we went to the Mt. of Olives. We visited the Church of the Ascension and saw also Christ’s footprints. From the top of Mt. Olives we followed the road of this triumphant entry into Jerusalem: stopping at the Dominus Flevit Church – remembering Christ’s weeping for Jerusalem: (Lk. 19:41-44.) We read the gospel. We spent some time to marvel at the beautiful panorama of Jerusalem. We proceeded to the Garden of Gethsemane. (Lk. 22: 39ff) We saw the 2,000 years old olive trees. Paul read to us the gospel of Christ’s prayer and struggle in this garden. After the gospel was read I led the group to a meditative Taize chant: "Stay with me, remain with me, watching and praying." We repeated this chant several times. We went inside the Basilica of Gethsemane (Church of All Nations) and viewed the rock on which Christ prayed on the night of his arrest. This ended our almost perfect Sunday pilgrimage.

Day 6 – Sept. 8

After breakfast we boarded our coach for Jericho. (Joshua 6: 20, 21,24) Jericho is a small “city” mostly inhabited by Muslims. It is not a wealthy “city.” We met the pastor of the parish and director of the school who is a Franciscan. He was very welcoming and jovial. We had the celebration of the mass in his parish. After mass we went to visit the sycamore tree where Jesus saw Zacchaeus and called him down because he invited Himself to dinner at the house of this tax collector. Truly it is an enormous tree. We read the gospel of Luke. 19: 8 ff) After taking pictures of the tree we went to Elisha’s spring (2Kgs.2:19-22)
Once the inhabitants of the city complained to Elisha, "The site of the city is fine indeed, as my lord can see, but the water is bad and the land unfruitful." "Bring me a new bowl," Elisha said, "and put salt into it." When they had brought it to him, he went out to the spring and threw salt into it, saying, "Thus says the LORD, 'I have purified this water. Never again shall death or miscarriage spring from it.'" And the water has stayed pure even to this day, just as Elisha prophesied.
Travelers who have visited Palestine in modern times find a spring at the place where it is believed this miracle was wrought. They describe it as “‘a large and beautiful fountain of sweet and pleasant water, and as ‘scattering, even at the hottest season, the richest and most grateful vegetation over what would otherwise be a bare tract of sandy soil.’”—(“The Pulpit Commentary,” on 2 Kings, chap. 2, p. 23.) Elisha’s spring provides water for this desert city and its farmland is lush and green because of Elisha’s spring. (On a personal note: I drank this sweet spring water. I took a bottle filled with it but I forgot it in the Grand Hotel)
From Jericho we drove to the Qumran. There we saw a brief documentary on the life of the Essene community who lived in the caves. They were responsible for writing the scrolls and placed them in a jars in the caves where they lived. Between 1947 and 1979 the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered by a shepherd who threw a stone into one of the caves that landed on something…a jar. That is how the Dead Sea Scrolls came to be known.
We then proceeded to the Dead Sea. Russ and Fr. Ike went to float in it. Most of us stayed behind and rested under a canopy.
The heat and fatigue were too much to bear so we went back to our hotel to rest before dinner.

Day 7 – Sept. 9

After breakfast we went to the Temple Mount and went first to the Wailing Wall (the Jews prefer to use Western Wall.) The Western Wall in the midst of the Old City in Jerusalem is the section of the Western supporting wall of the Temple Mount which has remained intact since the destruction of the Second Jerusalem Temple (70 C.E.). It became the most sacred spot in Jewish religious and national consciousness and tradition by virtue of its proximity to the Western Wall of the Holy of Holies in the Temple, from which, according to numerous sources, the Divine Presence never departed. It became a center of mourning over the destruction of the Temple and Israel's exile, on the one hand, and of religious - in 20th century also national - communion with the memory of Israel's former glory and the hope for its restoration, on the other. Because of the former association, it became known in European languages as the "Wailing Wall". Some of us put our prayers in the cracks of the wall.  From the Western Wall we went to the Temple Mount – conquered by the Muslims and now it belongs to them. There we saw the Golden Dome, Al Aqsa Mosque.The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism. Jewish Midrash holds that it was from here that the world expanded into its present form, and that this was where God gathered the dust He used to create the first man, Adam. The Torah records that it was here that God chose to rest His Divine Presence, and consequently two Jewish Temples were built at the site. Jews believe that the Third Temple, which they hope will be the final one, will also be located here. In recent times, due to difficulties in ascertaining the precise location of the Mount's holiest spot, many Jews will not set foot on the Mount itself. (Wikipedia) We then proceeded to the Franciscan chapel – the chapel of flagellation where we celebrated the Mass.  After mass we went to visit St. Ann’s Church the birth place of the Blessed Virgin Mary. A hundred feet away from the Church is the pool of Bethesda. (Read Jn: 5: 1- 9) Bethesda means house of mercy.

Afternoon : Free.

Most of the pilgrims went to visit the Holocaust Museum. Paul and I took Teresita to the Old City because she could not join us last Sunday. Gloria tagged along. We visited the Church of the Old Sepulcher: went to Mt. Calvary and we let them go the Tomb.  On the way to the 1st station of Via Dolorosa, we showed Teresita the different stations (backwards) (I must confess that I led them into temptation when we stopped by at a shop to buy more pashminas (Shawls made in Israel.) We went to visit the 3rd and 4th stations that are hidden. We saw a beautiful statue of the 4th station – Jesus meets his mother. By this time we were hungry because we had not had our lunch so we decided to eat in an Armenian restaurant and we then headed for our hotel. George’s International arranged a delicious Mediterranean dinner at the Christmas Hotel owned by George’s International. Great night!!!

Day 8 – Sept. 10.

After breakfast we started our day with Mass at the Franciscan Cenaculum, on Mt. Zion. From there we drove to Bethany, the village of Martha and Mary. (Lk. 10:38-42) We visited the tomb of Lazarus. From there we were off to Galilee: stopped by Beth Shean – (2 Sam. 21:12) where the body of Saul was fastened to the wall of Beth Shean. Here was a large city of Roman ruins. We had our lunch at Beth Shean. We then proceeded to River Jordan where we renewed our baptismal vows. Most of us took some water from this holy river. Finally we arrived at Tiberias, in Galilee. Our hotel is situated right by the Sea of Galilee. This is our second time (Paul and I stayed in this hotel a year and a half ago. We just love it) Our rooms have the view of the sea – the waters on which Jesus walked.  We had a sumptuous dinner.

Day 9 – Sept. 11

Paul, I and the others woke up early to watch the rising of the sun. It was spectacular to see the reflection of the rising sun on the sea of Galilee. After breakfast we drove to the Mount of Beatitudes (Mt. 5: 6ff) where we celebrated mass out doors. Marvelous!
Ascending to the Golan Heights we stopped by Caesarea Philippi. Saw the ruins of the Temple of the goddess Pan. We also saw the Banias spring that rises from under a cave and is one of the sources of the Jordan river. It is here that Jesus asked his disciples: “Who do people say that I am? And “Who do you say that I am? (Mt. 16:13) We then proceeded to the Golan Heights where the war between the Syrians and the Israeli war took place. The Druze live here. The Druze (Arabic: درزي, derzī or durzī, plural دروز, durūz) are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of the Ismaili sect of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies. Because of such incorporation, many Islamic scholars label the Druze as a non-Muslim religion, even though the Druze are officially classified as Muslims. Theologically, Druze consider themselves "an Islamic Unist, reformatory sect". The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid "People of Monotheism or Unitarianism" or al-Muwahhidūn "Unitarians, Monotheists." The origin of the name Druze is traced to Nashtakin ad-Darazi, one of the first preachers of the religion, though the primary leader of the faith was the Persian mystic Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad. (Wikipedia) We had lunch at a Druze restaurant. Some bought a Druze lunch while some of us brought our won lunch. We then proceeded to Capernaum, the hometown of Jesus and where Peter had his house as well. Next to Peter’s house is the Jesus’ synagogue. We went then to Tagbha – where the multiplication of Bread took place. (Jn.6:5-15) We strolled along the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus called his disciples – the same sea where he walked. From here we went to the Primacy of Peter: “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.”(Mt. 16:18) Then we went to see the 2,000 year old ancient boat.  We then got into a boat for our boat ride. It was a fun boat ride. To the accompaniment of Israeli music we danced an Israeli dance. The music was so compelling that the entire group joined in the fun….even an Italian family who missed their group’s boat and "stowed away" on ours. This ended our day and so we went back to the hotel for dinner.

Day 10 – Sept. 12

Following breakfast we went to Mt. Tabor for a 9:00 A.M. mass. We were blessed to be the only group there at that very early morning hour. This is the mountain of the Transfiguration. From Tabor, we proceeded to the Basilica of the Annunciation. We saw the mosaic of the Annunciation as interpreted by the different nations of the world. We also visited the St. Joseph’s Church, Mary’s Well, Joseph’s workshop, the Cave of the Annunciation and the Church of the Holy Family. We stopped at a roadside Kibbutz for lunch. After lunch we went to Cana and celebrated the renewal of marriage vows for the married couples. It was in Cana that Jesus changed the water into wine at a wedding.

Day 11 – Sept. 13

Following breakfast we departed Tiberias for Tel Aviv. We ascended Mt. Carmel, the place where the priests of Baal and the prophet Elijah had a contest. Of course, Elijah won with the help of "his" God. This is also the home of Elijah and Elisha. The Carmelite Fathers are the custodians of Mt. Carmel. We had Mass in the chapel. We had the surprise of it all when we found out that the small Mexican man who helped us for the Mass is the Superior of the house. Our fellow Mexican pilgrims had a good time speaking with him. Then we went to visit a Carmelite Monastery that was once upon a time the place where Elijah taught his disciple Elisha. We continued our route to Tel Aviv through the beautiful city of Haifa. We stopped by to see the beautiful garden of the Baha’i. We continued our journey along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Caesarea Maritima, the capital of the ancient Roman procurators where we saw the Roman theatre, Crusador’s Moat, Byzantine churches and the Roman aqueduct. We continued on to the city of Tel Aviv to Joppa where Peter performed a miracle of raising a dead young person to life. In Joppa we had a Farewell Dinner at a restaurant where most of us chose St. Peter’s Fish, Tilapia.  After dinner we drove to the airport and bade goodbye to the Pilgrims while Paul and I stayed behind for rest and retreat.

Day 12 – Sept. 14

The Pilgrims departed for the USA. Paul and Belle stayed behind --- Read on ...

ADDENDUM:

Sept. 14

Paul and I stayed behind for rest and retreat. We stayed with our friends at Tantur Institute of Theological Studies where we attended a three week Theological and Biblical seminar.
Sept. 15

Fr. Mike McGarry, the Rector of Tantur invited us to join the three month Sabbatical participants to join them to go to Abu Gosh for the celebration of the Sunday Eucharist in the A.M. The Liturgy was in French and those parts of the mass that are chanted were chanted in Gregorian chant, in Latin, of course. Indeed it brought memories of our Palm Sunday Mass with the Benedictine monks and nuns last March 2007. In the afternoon we went to the Old City to go to the Sepulcher but we did not go in because it was packed with pilgrims so we went home for rest and prayer.

Sept. 16

We went to Bethlehem. At the checkpoint we saw a line of buses of pilgrims waiting to cross the border. We thank God for Dicko who, in a similar situation the week before, knew how to avoid that hassle. We took a taxi for the Church. We arrived there early thinking that we would be the first ones to go to the nativity Grotto. We were early alright…but the Armenians were having their Mass that lasted almost forever. So Paul and I decided to participate in the mass from the top of the stairs. Because I was looking down at what was happening in the grotto, I had a vertigo attack. Thank God I brought my pill and a bottle of water. As soon as the Mass was over, we went down to the Grotto in spite of my dizziness. We did not stay there long because the Armenian seminarians told us to get out because they were going to clean the place. Nevertheless we had the chance to pray briefly at the grotto. So we went into the sanctuary upstairs and rested hoping that my vertigo would go away. So we took that time to meditate. My vertigo faded a little bit so we went to the International Peace Center across the manger square to rest in the lobby. After feeling better we went to visit again the nativity scenes from all over the world on the second floor of the Center.
Then we went to the market place hoping to meet “Sami,” the Palestinian gentleman we met last April who was selling the Palestinian coffee and tea. Unfortunately, we did not find him. So it was time for lunch so we went to a tiny restaurant and we had our swarma. The owner and even the people having their lunch were very hospitable. We found out that they all speak English and have come to the US. Some of them have relatives here. One of them engaged Paul in a political discussion as to who will be the U.S. President in 2009. GREAT EXPERIENCE! …For those who are leery about the absence of peace in Israel - that is not true. We had conversations with the Palestinian people and they were very nice.
After lunch we headed for home…Tantur for rest.
At 4:30 P.M. we left for Jaffa street to attend a Hebrew Catholic Mass. The residents are mostly Jews. Since we did not know where the side street where the “church” is located we had to ask someone for directions. We got to the “church” – actually it is chapel under the custody of the Franciscans and we were told that the Mass was only at 6;30 P.M. So we went for dinner and we saw a Chinese restaurant…We went in there but left when we found out that it would cost us an arm and a leg. So we found a Thai fast food restaurant. Hey! Myrna we found an Asian restaurant! A good one too.
We went back to the Franciscan chapel and while we were waiting for the door to open at 6:00 P.M. two gentlemen and a lady approached us and asked us if this was the place for the Hebrew Catholic mass and we said yes. We got into a conversation: one of the gentlemen spoke English; the older gentleman spoke a little bit of Italian. So he and Paul conversed in Italian. We found out that they have been studying in Rome and part of their course was to come to Jerusalem for a year of archaeological study. The two gentlemen are priests and the lady is a “Daughter of St. Paul” sister. (she did not wear her habit) So we took pictures of one another and just had a very nice fun conversation.
The Hebrew Catholic mass follows the Roman Rite but they have incorporated a very minute Hebrew rite at the beginning of the mass. We did understand these Hebrew words: hosanna, alleluia, adonai, amen, abba, sabbaoth. It was a meaningful experience indeed!
Sept. 17

We went to the Old City. Got off at Jaffa gate. Guess what we discovered? The Latin Patriarchate (Roman Catholic Residence of the Bishop of Jerusalem) at Gloria Street. We had to make a "U-Turn" to get back on the main road. Once there, we visited again the Greek-Melkite Catholic Church. We just love this Church because of the beautiful icons that tell about the history of salvation. We then proceeded to the Church of the Sepulcher. This time the Mt. Calvary was half full so we had some quiet time there.
We went to the Sepulcher and inserted ourselves with the Nigerian pilgrims. It was hot. Then we heard this loud noise and it was a lady in front of the gentleman beside us. We thought she was having a seizure because she was shaking and babbling words. The gentleman at her side tried to calm her down but she would not. So a voice inside of me told me to look for my fan and I fanned her. I told the gentleman to remove the lady’s jacket. So we continued fanning her vigorously and after a while she returned to normal. The Nigerians were thanking us profusely. We were able to join them in entering the sepulcher. A GRACE-FILLED MOMENT INDEED!
After dinner we headed for USA. A shuttle picked us up to go to the airport. Our flight was at 1:30 A.M. – Sept. 18. The seats in the plane were so tight that one could hardly move. As a consequence, Paul had an attack of the gout. We arrived at 6:30 A.M. LAX time. We rented a car for MV. Paul was in severe pain that he had to stay in bed for two days. I went to work the next day.

SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!!!

WE'RE BAAAAAACCCKKKKK

Pilgrimage to Holy Land Brings its Benefits Back Home. As you know, several Southern California parishioners went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land as of September 3 of this year. They have now come back home and are praying with us in person again. We did not forget anyone while we were in the country of the birth of Jesus. Every time we hit a special holy site, Father Ike would lead us in the celebration of the Holy Mass and all of you were a part of our intercessory prayers. Now we are back, and we are still praying for you all. A pilgrimage to the holy land is a rich experience. It helps the pilgrims to understand how important the Bible and the stories and the lessons it contains really are in our lives as Catholics. It helps us to realize just how much territory Jesus and His disciples had to cover while they were carrying out God's Mission. It helps us to realize just how much we respect the River Jordan, the Sea of Galilee, the City of Jerusalem, the towns of Nazarreth and Capharnaum and so many others. A pilgrimage to the holy land is like a refresher course in catechism. It is also a deep lesson in the respect due to those who follow God in other religions. Jerusalem especially is a serious collage of many different types of Catholics, of Orthodox and of Jews and Muslims. They live there, they have it as the life-long dream place to visit before dying and they go through life respecting one another for the sake of peace. It is impossible to go to the holy land and not appreciate the ecumenical reality of the Land. Living it close-up, even for two short weeks is a spiritual eye-opener that can never be forgotten.Yes, we are back. We pray that our blessings will fall upon you who stayed. May God bless us all.

BEN GURION AIRPORT-- ZACHARIAH, ELIZABETH, MARY AND JOHN

Ben Gurion Airport -- Bling!Zachariah, Elizabeth and JohnEn Kerem
We have arrived. The ground is still beneath us, but the wheels are turning. After 14 plus hours of existence in a an 18 foot metal tube with a couple hundred strangers, just the thought of being sprung free is rather refreshing. We have to confess that these are not holy thoughts, they're just the thoughts of traveler who is finally close to the goal. We finally get off the plane and start our long walk to the passport processing line. The visual surroundings provided by the airport at
Tel Aviv are spectacular and most people in our group are quite impressed. It is a very beautiful terminal. It is a small jewel, but a very pretty one.
We meet our official greeter, representative of George's International travel of San Diego. He is a Urugayan who immediately spots our Latino pilgrims and for a few moments there was a Latin flavor to the environment. Passport processing goes rapidly, baggage claim is normal and we proceed to the meeting of our guide who will accompany us for the two weeks that we will be in the Holy Land. I wish I could recount emotional ground kissing events, spectacular blood pressure drops or fainting spells, but none of that happened.
We were just very happy to be here, happy and not too much the worse for wear than we were at the beginning of the day. We were bedraggled and wishing for shampoo, shower and shave, and of course, real food.We reached the Grand Jerusalem Court Hotel in good time (minimal traffic), quickly got our luggage up to our rooms and prepared for the attack on the real food that awaited us. On the way from the airport (25 minutes' drive), our guide, Dicko (pronounced Dee-ko) introduced himself and gave us an orientation about the procedures that he employs while plying his craft. We reach Jerusalem and of course we do not see anyone walking around who resembles Jesus or anyone else whom we have met in the Bible. That will have to wait until we go visit His cousin, John the
Baptist's place in the morning. It is a very pretty small town, tucked away from Jerusalem proper and presented about a 45 minute to 1 hour walk for Zacharia, John's father, to report to the Temple to practice his duties as the head priest during the year that he found out that Elizabeth, his wife, would bear him a son. Despite carbon monoxide, global warming, political wrangling (what else is new?), this is a very charming little town and it's character speaks well of the family of the head priest, relatives to our Mother, Mary.
We made it. The weather is hot and humid, but En Kerem remains the jewel it always is. The visit to the birthplace of John the Baptist is always touching. Most of our pilgrims were touched by the wonderfully executed bronze of a pregnant Elizabeth being admired by the awed Mary. These few short hours visiting the place of the Jesus' cousin made a strong impression on us all.
We went from here to have lunch at the only kibbutz within the borders of the municipality of Jerusalem. It is called "Ramat Rachel (Hills of Rachel)" The victuals were simple, tasty,
served family style with no fanfare. We read the passage from Acts about the life of the first Christian community. Everything here speaks of God.
We took the opportunity to visit the site of the repository of the Ark of the Covenant after it got sent back to the Israelites by the Philistines. It is not easy to make all the visits in a perfectly well constructed historically correct logical order. Every day is a mix of Old and New Testament stories. Hopefully, by the end of the two weeks everything will come together.
Today, Bethlehem - Bring your passports; West Bank, here we come - the birthplace of David, Joseph, Jesus and the Latin Bible.
Back at you soon.

Comedy of Holy Errors, 1st Travel Day

The pilgrim's pride, 1st day of travel.

Treparations are all done. You sleep four hours, wake up full of adrenaline, turn on the Internet to check your bank balance, run to the donut shop for breakfast, come home, swallow your "breakfast", check your bags, make the bed, take a shower, get dressed, put the bags in the driveway ready for pick-up and you're ready to go. Whoa, not so fast there, big boy, where are your eye-glasses? Eye-glasses? Oh, right. Wow, that's why everything is so fuzzy. You run into the house and announce to the "Voice-in-the-Kitchen" that you can't find your glasses. "They're right there on the table." You go to the table. No eye-glasses. You go to every nook and cranny of the dwelling and you can't locate your glasses. You check the car, no glasses. Back to the house you go. Wife is now also frantic and turning every which way looking for those glasses. Prayers start to fly, beginning with, "God, what time is it?" "Ouch, only 45 more minutes before pick-up." "St. Anthony, I know it's early, but wake up, Holy Man." "Jesus lost and found, don't let him go to Jerusalem without his glasses!" "Mother Mary, calm me down. You do some of the looking for a minute or two while I take a sip of coffee." Now some important details are starting to set off bells in your head. Turn off the main water valve; pull all the small appliance plugs; lock the windows; check for the passports, the tickets, your wallet...Oh, where are your glasses. 15 more minutes to go. As you come into the house from turning off the water valve, there she is, glowing and saying "Thank you, Jesus Lost and Found" as she extends her dainty hand with your glasses in them. "Where did you get them?""In the hamper.""No, impossible""Possible" she says, "they must have fallen in when you threw something into the hamper and the clothes caught the glasses and dragged them into the laundry basket."
So off you go to the rendezvous point, glasses and all. You attend the Mass for the group. You receive the blessing of the priest and the congregation, gather around for a final send-off picture taking session and make your way to the waiting airporter shuttles. Picture taking? Camera? Pictures? Oh, no, don't tell me that I forgot my camera. HHHmmmmm, where oh where? Ah, I have a mental image now. This is not the disaster that I thought, it's in the carry-on bag in the trunk of the car. Phew! I'll exchange that bad feeling for the one I would have had if I had forgotten it at home.
Once seated, the conversation begins. One story after the other along the lines of the one above. The lost passports that were placed in a safe place that could not be forgotten, but could not be found because the "safe place" was the family Bible. The final itinerary with notes and comments that was laying on the floor at the threshhold of the wrong door.
Pilgrimages are holy travels, but they all start out about the same. The stories are all true, and at the time of the telling they are all humorous. They are like the opening prayer. Because the endings are all happy ones and because God's intervention was palpable, they tend to make everyone happy. They are like public confessions where human weakness is not an enemy because God and His Army are there to overcome it.Such was the beginning of our day, 9/13/2008, a day when Friday the 13th came on Wednesday, but it didn't really cause any harm because all of us were already in God's Land in spirit.
I am writing this on the airplane. A blessed airplane it is, too. It has God's name written in two languages on it's skin, EL AL. We are halfway to our destination. When we get there, with God's help, I'll tap into the mystery of the Internet and let you in on some of the excitement of the last few hours of preparation that are a part of every life just before a big adventure.

PRAY WITH US IN THE LAND OF JESUS

Here is your chance to visit the Holy Land through the magic of the Internet. A small band of Pilgrims from Southern California will be spending some 6 days in Jerusalem and surrounding areas. They will then move north to the Home of Jesus in Galilee where He did the greater part of His preaching and teaching. We will be there for 3 days. We will share our prayers, reflections and other thoughts with you. You can find them all here. We welcome you and wish you blessings from Jesus during this special time for us and for you.

KINAPPED BY BIBLE CAMP -- IT'S YOUR TURN NOW

Yes, the Sea of Galilee is real. It still provides fish and recreation to those who live close enough to it to profit from its beauty and bounty.

I was away for quite a while. As is usual in human affairs, there are pretexts, excuses and reasons. I had all three, so I am here begging your pardon for my absence.
We are getting closer to our departure time. We have created a community of 25 pilgrims and the ones that I see most of the time are really quite elated by the prospect of being in the Holy Land for two weeks. This is a really inportant message, and it will be short. There will be more in the very near future, but for today, I have to be sure that you get this one.

Item 1. Good news. The exchange rate is 3.25 NIS (shekels) to $ 1.00.
Item 2. Community pre-departure meeting to be held in Moreno Valley, California on Saturday, July 26 beginning at 1:00 PM. Address and Agenda will follow in a couple of days. Finger snacks will be available. All documents for ground travel and directions and suggestions will be given to you at this meeting. Tickets will follow by mail.
3. I have sent you maps and agendas by snail mail.
4. Orientation and introduction to culture will be provided.
5. Focus of the trip will be explained.

Many have asked what kind of clothes to bring to the Holy Land at this time of the year. My computer tells me that Jerusalem should be between 67 and 82 degrees. Galilee would be about the same, but remembering that the temperatures on the shores of the Lake of Galilee will be slghtly higher. This is because Jerusalem is at 2,500 feet above sea level and the sea of Galilee is about 500 or more feet below sea level. Bringing a sweater and a wind-breaker would be prudent, but bringing heavy coats would be over-kill.

That's it for now. Get back to you in a couple days.

GONE FISHIN'

It's a good thing that we will not have any time to go fishing. We will spend some time on the Sea of Galilee, but there isn't much of a chance that Ol' Moses will come along.

On a more serious side, I want to suggest that it would be a good idea for us to read a part of the Old Testament that is rich in the stories of the Kings like Saul and David and the early prophets like Elijah, Elia and Nathan. I am talking about the books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings (Chronicles) and 2 Kings (Chronicles). In these books you will also be introduced to some interesting places that we will be visiting and you will read some exciting stories about the relationship between the ancient prophets and God Himself. These books are fairly long, so it would be a good idea to start in on them early, because you may not be able to digest them all on the plane ride. That makes me think, do not bring a huge bible along with you. A small purse sized one would be better. No one will laugh if you need a loupe to follow along.

Let me also suggest that you check out the maps that are usually tucked into bibles somewhere. As you go through your bible, don't ignore the place names. You will be traveling in and through these places and they will mean more to you if you can identify them with something that you have read. A wise monk once called the Holy Land, the Fifth Gospel. For those whose Bible has no New Testament, I guarantee that being in the places where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob thrived, Where Elijah, Amos and Hosea and Jeremiah fought the Baals, and where David and Saul chased one another, your trip will perhaps turn out to be the new edition of the Talmud.

Finally, please put aside Saturday, July 12th as the day of our first group meeting. The place and the agenda will be announced by next Friday.
By next Friday, I will also have a suggested schedule when you can submit payments to cover the entire trip.

BIBLE PLACE NAMES -- TRY IT --

THIS IS BET SHEAN

Short Tour of Place Names
South to North Old Testament (TaNaKh) to New Testament

You're going there, so you had better know where you are when you get there!

The time is quickly arriving when we will be almost able to smell the air of Israel in our imaginations. Here we are picturing the ElAl jet sitting there waiting to engorge us for the great ride to the Holy Land. We are going to be like Jonah in reverse. He was in the belly of a whale for three days before being spewed out onto the shores of his destination. He was running away when the whale caught him. We are convinced that we are running in the right direction, toward the land of God and His people. I some ways we are also like the Israelites leaving Egypt and going to the land of milk and honey. We are going to reach it in the opposite direction than the way that Joshua brought them in...we will coming in from the west and Joshua took them in through Jericho, southeast of Jerusalem. No matter, our whale will disgorge us in Tel Aviv and we will have two glorious weeks of intellectual, emotional and spiritual discovery. I'd like to have some fun with you now, just to let you have some fun to. I'll throw some place names out and you will either recognize them as familiar to you, or not. Ready?

Jerusalem Familiar
Bethlehem Familiar
Ein Gedi HHmmm?
Bethany Familiar
Gethsemane Familiar
Hinnom Valley HHmmm?
Abu Gosch HHmmm?
Qumran Familiar ??
Jericho Familiar
Bet Shean HHmmm?
Tiberias HHmmm?
Capharnaum Familiar
Caesarea Philippi Familiar
Cana Familiar
Nazareth Familiar
Caesarea Maritima HHmmm?

Since you have the Internet and you are familiar with Google, you might want to have a little preparatory fun and see what you can turn up about the places that did not ring a very clear bell with you. You can add a little spice to the game by asking yourself what biblical character(s) are associated with it and how, before you go to Google, of course.
We are preparing two orientation meetings before departure. The first one to get to know one another more than we do now...that should be easy. The second one will be a solid, down to earth orientation to the region itself. The date of the first meeting will be in early July (time, date and place TBD) and the second will be two weeks before departure.

If you have forgotten what the exchange rate between the dollar and the New Israeli Shekel is, you may click here for a quick report. I'll be getting back to you soon.

PS Your friends and neighbors only have three more weeks to register and get on board.

The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem

1 Hallelujah! How good to celebrate our God in song; how sweet to give fitting praise.
2 The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the dispersed of Israel,
3 Heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds,
4 Numbers all the stars, calls each of them by name.
The rebuilding of Jerusalem started here, on the Mount of Olives where Jesus spent a lot of time praying and where He was ultimately captured and brought to trial and finally, death.

It is time to start doing some serious thinking about joining David in his song of praise to God and to God's favorite city, Jerusalem. So often do we hear about Jerusalem. It's in the news almost every day. Some of us remember when Tel Aviv was the capital of Israel. It just wasn't the same. Then, not too many years ago the capital was moved to Jerusalem. It makes more sense when we think of the literal meaning of each of these two words, "Israel" and "Jerusalem". "Israel"means God perserveres; "Jerusalem" means foundation of peace. So in our day, God perserveres at His seat of governance over His land in the place named the
foundation of peace.
Most of us have this driving desire to go to Israel and to Jerusalem in particular. Most of us do not go because no one invited us. This year, someone is inviting you, so it means that God is also putting the "bug" in your ear. Who knows why He is doing this. Is it just for you to satisfy your life-long desire? Is it because you have to get closer to Him to remind Him to take care of your family by keeping them close to Him? Is it because you just have to see for yourself where He walked while He was carrying His cross? Is it because you dream to see what the Temple must have been like? Have you ever yearned to see how it would feel to be in a boat on the Sea of Galilee? In a storm? Or maybe even in placid waters? Maybe you are convinced that if you could bathe your invalid relative, your husband or your child with water from the Jordan river
that a healing would take place? Now these are all valid reasons. Allow me one more.

What about thinking that your presence in a community of peace loving people, praying in the City of Peace in the country whose name reminds us that God perserveres would help towards the search for lasting peace in God's chosen country? It's not that far-fetched an idea. There are those whose hearts yearn for that to happen. There are those who know that it will not happen without the intervention of God Himself.
There are those who plead for our Pilgrim prayers of intercession so that Jerusalem will indeed be the foundation of peace in the Middle East. I know this, because I have heard it, from Jews, Christians and Palestinians alike. God is inviting us. What are we waiting for?

There are some of you in the network of this message who have been turning the thought of joining this pilgrimage over and over in your minds. It is time to tell you that June 23, 2008 is the deadline for submitting your $300.00 seat reservation for the September 3 departure. Don't be left behind.
Here's a way to keep yourself thinking about it. Start getting yourself in shape for the walking part of the pilgrimage. Walk a mile or so every day. Tell yourself that you are doing it to make yourself ready to meet God in His hometown. Believe me, that will work.

Finally, I assure you that if you join us on this pilgrimage, you will not be the least bit tempted to dry at my funeral.

How Long has it been?

You have no doubt seen the television ads reminding the world that this the 60th anniversary of Israel. Of course, that takes a
little explaining. It is the 60th anniversary of the modern state of Israel. On this, the second night of Passover, I checked the
date of the Jewish calendar and found at that it is the 15 Nissan, 5768. This is 6 millennia with 232 more years before the 7th.
I've just been doing some simple arithmetic. It tell me that Jesus was born somewhere around the Jewish year 3660.

You and I will not be around to greet the 7th millennium of the Promised Land. THEREFORE, we better go celebrate this 60th. It's got to be a good time. Israel will be all decked out, and there is bound to be a lot of security to be sure that the flood of outsiders will get the best possible adventure from their visit.
I has been a while since I last dropped you a line. We were busy early this year because Easter came before the end of March.

But this is our chance to take advantage of a festive time to go to Israel. It is a good time to visit the Land of the Lord in order to get to know more about Him and to give Him a change to massage our personal lives. Everything we know about him we have been absording for some 2100 years. But those 2100 years have been and are still being fed from those 3660 years previous. There is one way that we can go to verify the impact of the accumulation of the 5768 years...We go feel the 6000 year old geography crunching under our feet. We go float on the 6000 year old water that supported Jesus and his forebears for over 36 centuries. We feel the influence of the Persians, the Syrians, the Greeks and the Romans while we are breathing the air of the Holy Land.

The beauty of being in the Holy Land is not only that we learn a lot, but that we feel a lot. Once we get out of the airport, we start getting the message. It is evident that from that point on, life as we know it will change, and for the better.

So come join us. Come listen to God and to His Land. Click here for more details. Read the form, print our the back page and send your commitment in to the agent. You are guaranteed to start feeling God steering your boat to Lake Tiberias.

If you want live information, you can call Paul Dion at (925) 784-0079 or the agent whose telephone number appears on the back page of the form.

Jerusalem is preparing for Easter

Live the Holy Week day by day with us here before you join us in September. You can always contact us by submitting a comment.

Hallelujah! How good to celebrate our God in song; how sweet to give fitting praise.
The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers the dispersed of Israel,
Heals the brokenhearted, binds up their wounds,
Numbers all the stars, calls each of them by name.

Great is our Lord, vast in power, with wisdom beyond measure.
The Lord sustains the poor, but casts the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; with the lyre celebrate our God,
Who covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, Who makes grass sprout on the mountains,
Who gives animals their food and ravens what they cry for.

God takes no delight in the strength of horses, no pleasure in the runner's stride.
Rather the Lord takes pleasure in the devout, those who await his faithful care.
(Psalm 147, 1-12)

Our group is growing slowly but surely. More and more are registering with their down payment. We are almost to the Sunday when we will remember the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Even in these times, thousands of pilgrims will gather at the outskirts of Bethany and prepare for their entry into the Sacred City from the Mount of Olives and across the Kidron Valley. This is a happy time and there is no distinction between the people who move slowly, shoulder to shoulder, first downhill fr about 1.5 miles and then up for about 1 mile before entering St. Stephen's gate to work their way to the church that marks The Blessed Virgin's birthplace. It is renowned for its acoustics. Isabel tried them out and when she stopped singing, people standing around applauded. We hope that Mary was applauding too.

You can find out more about how to prepare your Jerusalem adventure by clicking here.

JERUSALEM, INSIDE AND OUT

The pool of Siloam just outside the walled city of Jerusalem

It has been a while since we have communicated to you. We know that you are dreaming about the day when you will board the plane for the Sacred city of Jerusalem. There is no Catholic or Jew who doesn't dream of going to Israel some day. It is the ultimate Pilgrimage. It is the home town to so many people around the world. It is a gift that we all wish would come to us at least once during our stay on earth.

Buying mint at the bus-stop

The interesting thing about this is that the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the rest of Israel know how we feel and they try their best to make it as pleasant as possible for us while we are there. It is a marvelous feeling to get into a friendly conversation with people who respect us for who we are and the reasons why we visit their country. The religious dimension of the visit touches everyone, Christian, Muslim and Jew alike.

Come along; be not afraid; you will never be the same person after experiencing the Holy Land.
We hope that you will join us. Click here for more information.

THE LAND ITSELF SPEAKS

This photograph depicts children accompanied by their teachers on a field trip in the Hinnom Valley, Jerusalem.

Jesus was born some 8 miles from here. Could there be any doubt that this wonderfully green ground was around when Jesus was about this age? Not really since this valley has been mentioned in tghe Bible several times. Its history is not always very pretty, but its existence as a community gathering place cannot be disputed. Since Jesus was no doubt living in Nazareth at the age of these youngsters, He would perhaps have visited this valley during the annual pilgrimage that the Holy Family made to Jerusalem to pray at the Temple.

The picture on the left shows some of what is left of the main street in Bethsaida, the home town of Peter, just 7 or 8 kilometers from Nazareth. Bethsaida, 2,000 years ago was on the shore of Lake Galilee. Now it is removed from the Lake by 3 kilometers. If you want to listen to Jesus talking to you through the very stones upon which He set foot, this is the place. It is impossible to remain objective in this holy place. The Spirit is powerful here and He has a message for everyone.

The words that we hear in church at every Mass come to us as a habit and we don't often pay deep attention. In Bethsaida, our habits don't get in the way. Here, the power of Jesus takes over and the stones themselves shout out His glory.

Stretch your US Dollar here

We are preparing to go to the Holy Land in September of this year, It promises to be a very nice trip and a very uplifting one. There are so many reasons why many Christians hold a dream of visiting the land of Jesus. Isabel and I can assure you that once you have been there, your life will be changed for good.


Many people dream of going to Rome. It is the one place that seems to be so much within our reach. The Middle East seems to be so far away, both physically and emotionally. We feel so much more comfortable in Rome. I must say that I know the feeling well. I did not ever lose my desire to go to Israel, but I must admit that I had many second throughts about going there through the ages. Once I went and lived there for a month, took the buses and went where I wanted to go, I am a changed person.


Today, I was looking at the exchange rate for the euro as compared to the US dollar. Wow! It takes $1,48 to buy 1 Euro. That is not a good deal. Whereas in Israel, it takes 3.74 shekels to buy $1.00. Now, that is a better deal. You mighht want to keep this non-religious reason for choosing Israel over other destinations that might be tempting you. Here is a way that you can keep track of the exchange rate, just click here.



May God bless you. You can find the original notice and the information that you need to sign up for this great pilgrimage by clicking here