Author: Ben & Joon

After 2,000 years, all the towns and villages are very much developed. Construction continues healthily as we spied several cranes. Most structures in the Holy Land are either two or three stories high, exception being governmental or military related complexes.

There’s a uniform sandstone coloration as they use local stones and rocks that do NOT need to be painted. The weather is such that it doesn’t seem to cause any discoloration. Very green, and not a market for the paint companies.

Traffic flows as there seems to be a tacit understanding when to give way. While there’s a bit of vehicle horning taking place, it’s the ‘polite’ horning that can be easily differentiated from the ‘angry’ variety.

The food being served in the hotel buffets abound with vegetarian options, prepared Mediterranean style. We had indulged too much in the desserts, leading to a waist stress. It was an easy decision for me to forgo future desserts. I had read somewhere that for some situations, it’s easier to totally abstain than attempting to moderate step by step. I get to also exercise self discipline.

Our guide had been encouraging us to defer any purchases until Bethlehem. He claimed that most of the handicraft in other towns and villages are made in China. In addition, he was bringing us to a shop run as a cooperative where 64 Christian families are handcrafting their works. The olive wood art pieces are truly beautiful. We made some purchases.

Prices in the majority of shops and cafes in touristic locations in the Holy Land are in USD. One time, I over paid in New Israeli Shekels (NIS) for a simple vegetarian falafel. The change was in USD dollars.

Pricing is about and sometimes above USA levels. Perhaps one of the reasons is the appreciation of the NIS. I did wander into two local grocery stores in Bethlehem as latter’s hotel was more centrally located. Things were priced in NIS and much more reasonable.

The number of large tour groups is very high. It seems we are in the peak season in March, as it’s cooler than summer. One option is participating in a small tour group of 6 or less. This allows said smaller group to skip the long lines at the Church of the Nativity (it took us 3 hours from start to end!).

Day 5. This morning was a test of patience as we waited to board shuttle vans to the top of Mt. Tabor, and for the return ride (at least 45 mins wait each time). It seemed that many tours schedules had this in their itinerary today. Isn’t a Pilgrimage, one that sharpens various virtues?

The architect, Antonio Barlucci, designed his first church here, the Church of the Transfiguration. The facade reflects the three tents offered by the disciples, to shelter Jesus, Elijah and Moses.

Facade of the Church of the Transfiguration

The Greek root word for the translation Transfiguration is metamorphor. As in a butterfly’s metamorphosis from a caterpillar. But in Christ’s case, the Transfiguration revealed His inner Divinity. Can we have our own form of transfiguration as the Holy Spirit in-dwells within us?

Inner sanctum and altar

The upper level is flanked by two sanctuaries, dedicated to the Holy Spirit (dove) and the Father (eye).

It is said that the only constant is change. Further, literature abounds with references to the inner beauty within each of us, and releasing our inner child. Matthew 18:3 “And He said, Amen I say to you, unless you change and become like little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Ergo, let’s transfigure from within.

We proceeded to Jericho, rescheduling the visit to the baptismal site on Jordan River due to the delay at Mt. Tabor. Jericho is the lowest city in the world, 250 meters below sea level. The tree that Zachhaeus climbed to see Jesus is still standing!

Zachhaeus tree

Being able to attend Mass daily with fellow parishioners, conducted by our Parish Priest, Father Jim Coyne, has been a blessing. The readings and sermons are relevant to the location.

Father Jim at Church of the Good Shepherd.

We skipped lunch today, as three days and nights of buffet breakfasts and dinners have taken their toll. It’s easy to feel when the physical body is imbalanced. Let’s pray that this Pilgrimage sharpens our sense of spiritual imbalance.

Day 4. The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth was built over the home of the Virgin Mary, where the angel Gabriel appeared. Along an exterior corridor and inside the Basilica, are artwork of the Virgin Mary, donated by churches from various countries. There was a sublime beauty to these artwork. The Virgin Mary plays an important intercessory role in the Catholic Church, given her multiple apparitions, such as at Fatima, Guadalupe, Lourdes, etc.

Donation from USA

Donation from Indonesia

It was unfortunate that access to the lower level was closed today, as we wanted to view the plaque where it’s written in Latin, ‘The Word was made flesh here’.

We adjourned next door to the church of St Joseph. The courtyard had a number of beautiful sculptures and plaques. This modern interpretation of the Annunciation was stunning.

Our Parish Priest re-iterated St Joseph’s obedient role in the caring of Mary and Jesus. And it seemed appropriate to pray for St Joseph and Mary’s intercession to acquire the parental wisdom and patience for our own families.

The highlight of today, made possible because we traveled with our Parish Priest, was renewing our wedding vows at the Church where Jesus performed his first miracle at Cana. This miracle was the changing of water into wine at a wedding celebration. There were 12 couples, with the longest marriage at 51 years. We will celebrate our 35th anniversary in May. Sharing a common faith bonds a couple beyond measure. We are blessed to have found each other.

I noticed the next group that has booked the chapel was conducting a wedding, with the bride in white and the groom in a suit! What a memorable location.

A late afternoon excursion to Hermon Stream (Banias) nature reserve brought us to the area where Peter was divinely inspired to answer Jesus question of who people said He was, with, ‘You are the Messiah, Son of the Living God’. There are great walking trails with waterfalls and a strong flowing river, fed by mountain snow.

Love conquers all things,

Let us too surrender to love.

Roman poet Virgil

Day 3 of our organized tour began in Nazareth. Like all organized tours, Day 1 & 2 is travel day, especially when it involves international flights. We were pleasantly reminded of this as we had made our own travel arrangements and arrived the day the tour was supposed to start based on the itinerary, but it was a day earlier than the rest of the tour group. This serendipitous situation allowed us to spend a day exploring Tel Aviv. Day 2 afternoon/evening was meeting up with the rest of the group at the airport and commuting to Nazareth for the night. As you can tell, this is probably our first tour package in a while (I vaguely recalled we may have taken one 35 years ago). We prefer to travel independently.

Nazareth is where we will spend our first three nights of our Holy Land Pilgrimage tour.

For the modern day pilgrims, there are several ‘risks’ that we must contend with. The first risk is that the crowds and some of their behaviors will likely influence one, as if one was a twig being tumbled along by a bubbling creek. There’s a rush to photograph the attraction. There’s a lot of posing by statues and selfies. There’s the invariable spill over chatter from tour leaders briefing nearby groups (we ourselves are guilty of that). Today’s smartphone camera is yesterday’s grafitti spray can.

The second risk is forgetting to don on the pilgrim’s glasses and hat. Good songs have a catchy beat and tune. Great songs marry meaningful words to the music. Likewise, a Pilgrimage experience marry what we ‘perceive’ with what we feel/sense and how that moves our inner self

My tips for the (Christian) Pilgrim are three fold:

1. Reflect and contemplate the religious significant of the location you are at. Give free reign to your imagination, heart and spirit.

2. Pray from within. Let that location’s significance move your heart. Give birth to that special intention.

3. Carry inside you a special memory-seed of the moments you spent there. It will germinate and flower in our life. In God’s time.

Our first visit was the Mount of Beatitudes (and where we caught our first sight of the Galilee Sea as we stood on terra firma). The church was built over the spot/area where the sermon was delivered. Having the Bible available on my smartphone allowed me to refer to the relevant scripture verses. It’s a lovely spot that one can easily spend an hour and immerse oneself. Imagine hearing Jesus preach those verses and just reflecting where and how these teachings apply to one’s life. My special intention and memory-seed was a specific beatitude that I desired to cultivate. For some, the message will be different. Unfortunately, as in all organized tours, the schedule dictates our ability to linger as our soul would like to.

The Church of the Multiplication of Loaves & Fishes was built over the rock where this miracle was performed. It really shouldn’t surprise any of us that we have all been multiplying our talents as we grew up and earned a living. The physical miracle should not be discounted. Perhaps the question to ourselves is where the largesse of our efforts have landed. Again, my specific prayer intention and memory-seed centered on this multiplication.

There is much symbolism that we might have easily overlooked if our guide, George had not mentioned. This church has a mosaic representation of four bread loaves and two fishes. But scripture refers to five loaves and two fishes. Did the artist make a mistake? No, he/she did not. The fifth loaf is represented by the hosts offered during Eucharist.

Magdala was a highlight. It’s an area found serendipitously as someone was building a resort. They found the runs of the oldest synagogue excavated in Galilee, one of seven first century synagogues. They found an intact stone base where the Torah would rest on. On the sides and top of the stone are intricate religious carvings.

Mary Magdalene came from this village, and Jesus very likely preached in the synagogue as it was located along the Via Maris, a major thoroughfare. Visualizing Jesus in the synagogue preaching and reading some scripture would be a powerful experience.

We celebrated Mass at a modern chapel with an altar designed like a fishing boat. This chapel was surrounded by a water moat, and the reflecting sunshine truly added special effects. I love the basement chapel with its original flooring and the painting. Below is just the central portion of said painting (only feet are depicted).

Faith heals.

Perhaps through Faith, one should seek self healing first, in all aspects, realized, hidden and spiritual. This is not selfish but recognition that one’s brokenness can only be truly healed by God.

I am excited as I see the construction taking place here as I can visualize how this center can lead to many fruits.

The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee was where Jesus prepared breakfast for the disciples after His Resurrection. The Church altar is built over the rocks where the fire was. It’s here where Jesus asks Peter three times whether Peter loves Jesus. Has God asked me three times or more on some specific Will of His?

We ended a packed day with a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Since the River Jordan flows through the Sea of Galilee onto the Dead Sea where it ends, our guide astutely noted the Sea of Galilee would be there widest part of the River.

The Sea had a thin layer of brownish algae one tree pollen. It was extremely calm. During one stage, birds that were floating on the Sea suddenly flew around our boat, circling our moving boat multiple times. I had a surreal sensation that we were being greeted on the Sea.

The boat crew played some Israeli music and let us in a group dance. Oolah lah.

Thus, the day ended. Mind and spirit renewed.