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.