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!!!