Holy Land 2018 continued

Our pilgrims begin their day with a buffet breakfast.  They travel by bus to the Damascus Gate where they disembark.  Some take a taxi while others will walk. For sustenance, our guide purchases sesame bread on the street that is mixed with oregano for a refreshing start to the morning.  Walking to the St. Stephen or formerly Sheep Gate, they enter the walled Old City for the first time.  Immediately on the right is the place of the birth of the Virgin Mary and the pools of Bethesda.  We recall the healing miracle of the paralytic in John 5 and then our pilgrims are anointed by Father Peter.  Following this they enter the Crusader Church of Saint Anne, built over the site of the birthplace and childhood home of Our Lady.  Here they not only tour the site, but pray by singing ‘Immaculate Mary’ as well as offering other Marian prayers.
Leaving the church, they take a right and proceed further into the city to the Ecce Homo Convent.  Here the group sits for an orientation to the importance of this site, believed to be the edge of the former Antonia Fortress where Pontius Pilate would have been stationed during the Passover of Holy Week.  Here on the lower level is foud paving stones with grooves to channel rain water to prevent chariot wheels from slipping.  Immediately  next to this are other stones that seem to indicate this was an open courtyard.  many believe this to be the Lithostros or in Hebrew Gabbatha, the site of the praetorian where Pilate condemned Jesus to death.  Standing on the stones, our parish pilgrims wonder if these are the very stones where the Way of the Cross began.  Were these stones once stained by the Precious Blood of Christ as he made his way to Calvary?  After the tour, the group celebrates Mass in the chapel facing the Ecce Home arch. This is not original to the time of Our Lord, but one very similar, perhaps made from these very stones is where Pilate would have condemned Jesus to death, presenting him to the crowd with the Latin words of John’s Gospel, “Behold the Man!” Rendered in Latin, “Ecce Homo!”  Thus the name of the convent.
Once finished here, our pilgrims head up the Via Dolorosa to the next corner where lunch is enjoyed at the Austrian Hospice. Sr. Bernadette, the Sister in charge, is gracious and accommodating as our pilgrims enjoy a perfect day eating outside under the shade of the courtyard trees.  An extended lunch is a great rest before they start their journey to cross the Old City, heading toward the Dung Gate.  Before leaving, they will stop at the Western Wall, the untouched portion of the Temple Mount from the time of Christ.  Out of a fear of trespassing over the Holy of Holies, Jews are not allowed on the Temple Mount, thus the Western or Wailing Wall is the closest they can go to their holiest site.  Many pilgrims place petitions in the wall, beseeching God’s favor.  Passing through the Dung Gate, our pilgrims leave the Holy City for the day.
They travel by bus, to the west and the hills of Judaea to the town of Ein Karem, the site of the birth of Saint John the Baptist and the Visitation between Our Lady and her cousin Elizabeth.  Stopping first at the church built over the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth they recall the gospel passage of the birth of the Baptist and Zechariah’s proclamation of the Benedictus.  Inside the pilgrims descend to the cave beneath the church and venerate the spot tradition claims is the birthplace of the saint.  Leaving here, the group travels across the valley and ascends the facing mount to the church of the visitation, praying the rosary as they make their way.  Here, our pilgrims recall Luke’s story of the Visitation and recite together the Magnificat of Our Lady.  Returning down the mount to the village, there is a stop for gelato, the beginning of reminiscences of the day and then the bus ride back to the hotel.  There a buffet dinner awaits, the chance to visit and discuss the day and prepare to return to the Old City for the Way of the Cross on the next day.

Our pilgrims are treated to a new day beginning with a buffet breakfast.  Their early departure is slowed as they wait 40 minutes at the border crossing.  No real issue, just someone using her power to hold up everyone wanting to cross over.  She steps onto our pilgrim’s bus, is warmly greeted by the Spiritual Leader and the bus is on its way.  They travel to Herod’s Gate where they disembark and walk into the Chapel of the Flagellation.  Here an aide is here to greet them with a wooden cross and to serve as photographer.  The first two stations are prayed inside this place of the Antonia fortress and then our pilgrims head into the street.  Fr. Peter leads the stations, our pilgrims, sing and pray, stopping at various places to commemorate the traditional Stations of the Cross as pilgrims here have done for over a thousand years.

Reaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, they complete their stations in view o Calvary and the Empty Tomb.  Once finished they head to the Blessed Sacrament Chapel where Mass is celebrated.  They are reminded by Fr. Peter of the journey they have made from Nazareth and Bethlehem, through Capernaum, Mount Tabor, the Jordan River, the wilderness, the other side, the Mount of Olives and now to the Via Dolorosa.  This journey has led to this moment as our pilgrims find the tomb as it was that first Easter - empty!  But none of us are without Christ - it is empty because He is Risen!  And lives in the hearts of his disciples and in the mystery we celebrate in the Eucharist.
Following this they wait in line to enter the Edicule and venerate that site where the body of the Lord Jesus lay in death to rise on Easter morning.  They pray, they kiss, they kneel, they weep.  Jesus was here, but now he is RISEN!  They climb the steps to Calvary, another line, this time to reach in and touch the rock where the cross was planted.  Here the rock was soaked with the Precious Blood of our Lord. What grace to touch these precious places and know the grace that fills our hearts because of the events that occurred here.  They descend the stairs, depart from this holiest of Christian churches in the whole world.  Exhausted, overwhelmed, it is time for lunch and conversation.  
 
After lunch our pilgrims take the opportunity for the last of their souvenir shopping while still in the Old City.  Then they trek through the suk and the narrow streets of the Old City as they climb to Jaffa Gate to meet their bus.  An early return to the hotel gives the group a welcome rest after a powerful and inspiring day in the Old City.  After a few hours of leisure, they board the bus to head to a local restaurant near Shepherd’s Field.  Here they are treated to a special dinner of barbecued chicken and lamb kebabs with the traditional appetizers.  During the meal, dancers from a local school join the group to perform traditional folk dances and even get some of our pilgrims to be part of the dance.  They return to the hotel to meet again in the Panorama restaurant for a final night of sharing their insights and impressions.  Most share the profund and overwhelming experience that they have experienced this and been to these places.  The promise is that they will continue to unfold and return to these memories and mysteries throughout the year as they celebrate the Church’s seasons ad read the stories of the Bible.  Almost to a person there is an incredulity that a week has passed and yet the things they have seen and the places they have been seem to be more than a week, even more than two weeks.  The next day has a late start for it is a long journey that will end on a plane and then continue overseas.

The sun rises for the final day that our pilgrims are in the Holy Land.  Looking east from Bethlehem, in the direction of the most famous visitors to this town, they prepare for their journey home.  Their last buffet breakfast at the hotel, to pack their souvenirs and personal items, a last walking tour to Manger Square, and our pilgrims board their bus to the journey toward Tel Aviv.  Their first stop after the noon departure will be a lunch to help their reentry to American culture, a diner exclusively in homage to the one and only Elvis!  Yes, that Elvis!
From Jerusalem they take the highway to one of the presumed sites of the gospel story of Emmaus.  Here they have lunch in an American diner whose owner has collected all kinds of memorabilia for Elvis. Close nearby is the site of Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant.  In the Old Testament, this is where the Ark was kept until the Temple was built and it was brought to Jerusalem to Solomon’s Temple.  The peak of the church has a glorious statue of Our Lady presenting Our Lord to the city of Jerusalem that they face. He is holding a chalice and host as the sign of the new covenant in his blood.  Here the group takes a couple of photos in an olive tree on the site.  Then they journey to Der Rafat for Mass and a visit to the convent of Our Lady of Palestine.  Following the earthquake of 1927, the Latin Patriarch gave this land to build this shrine to Our Lady as patroness of the Holy Land and protectress against natural disasters.  The ceiling is covered with a painting of angels holding scrolls that proclaim ‘Hail Mary’ in over 100 languages.  The Mass is that of the Assumption, a wonderful bridge between our pilgrims in the Holy Land and their returning to our parish as well as a spiritual reminder that all of us are pilgrims to the heavenly Jerusalem where Our Lady reigns in the glory of her Son.  After Mass the sisters share their hospitality under the nearby trees as our pilgrims overlook the valley where ‘David slew Goliath.  Returning to the bus, our pilgrims complete the final leg of their journey as they make their way to Jaffa.  Here in the ancient seaside city where a church commemorates the vision of Saint Peter and his raising of Tabitha from the dead.  The church of Saint Peter is next to the Mediterranean Sea and overlooking the modern city of Tel Aviv.  Our pilgrims walk by the site of the house of Simon the tanner recognizable by the tower in the setting sun as they arrive at Saint George’s Retraurant for their final meal in the Holy Land.
What remains is the bus ride to Ben Gurion airport, check in and the flight home.

Once our pilgrims reach the airport there is the excitement of returning home and the prospect of a long flight ahead.   First the difficult farewell.   For ten days Maher and Anwar have been part of their daily life.  Appreciation and gratitude is expressed in hugs, kisses and the realization that what our pilgrims have shared is now at en end.  The memories will endure, there is the promise of reunions, and the ability to see each other at church, but this intense experience together and living, learning and praying the gospels will not be the same.
Facing long lines and some confusion in Ben Gurion Airport our pilgrims check in, pass through immigration and reach their gate.  There is more confusin at the gate, a wheelchair never arrives but our pilgrims board their flight for the 12hour trip home.  Some miss the dinner on board as sleep comes quickly.   Fortunately, the twelve hour flight doesn’t seem as long since everyone has a chance to nap or sleep and the plane is relatively quiet.  
Arriving in Boston, they pass through immigration and retrieve their luggage.  Another round of farewells as there are two limos to return our pilgrims to their hometowns.  They enter the country, travel home and return to the routine of their lives.  But do not ever think they are the same.  The journey has been profound, inspiring, challenging and enriching, but most of all filled with grace.  They are richer and so are their families and friends, and we their parish!
Lastly a note of thanks to our loving God for a safe journey and the blessings that filled each day as our pilgrims visited where our Lord lived, suffered, died and rose again.  God’s goodness has been evident every day.