Category: Travels
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Epilogue: Take the Slow Lane
I can honesty admit to a handful of moving violations through the years. Nothing worse than speeding really. But I’m not one to live in the fast lane. And more than anything this pilgrimage has taught me one thing. Take the slow lane. Listen. Watch. Ponder. And ponder some more. And as I look back…
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Abu Gosh & Notre Dame de l’Arche d’Alliance
Abu Gosh is the Emmaus of the gospel, where we headed this morning for Mass at the Benedictine St. Mary of the Resurrection Monastery built on the site of a 12th century crusader church. The destination of two disciples, one of whom was named Cleopas, on the morning of the resurrection, with troubled hearts and…
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Via Dolorosa & Holy Sepulchre
Since we were heading out earlier today, I decided to pray the Liturgy of the Hours before breakfast walking the area outside the Jaffa Gate. Sunrise was not for another half hour but there was sufficient light for a little stroll. The yellow and white flag flies over the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s residence and…
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Western Wall, Galicantu, & Yad Vashem
The day started with a visit to the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site. Our bus retraced our path from yesterday all around the northeast corner of the old city toward the southeast corner. We entered through a minor gate that led us quickly to the site in the Jewish Quarter bordering the Temple Mount complex…
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Day Six & Gethsemane
I took an early morning walk outside the city walls before breakfast. Well, ten minutes till 7:00 AM isn’t that early really. But the usual crowds had not yet emerged for the day. I came out the Jaffa Gate and spent time in prayer walking the wide spaces above the streets and shops. The sun…
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Bethlehem & Church of the Nativity
After breakfast we walked out the Jaffa Gate (tour buses are not allowed in the old city) and caught our bus to Bethlehem. We crossed a security check point from Israel into the West Bank. Our first stop was the Shepherds’ Field, a shrine administered by the Franciscans, built over caves or grottoes where shepherds…
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Day Four & Travel to Jerusalem
Today was our last day in Galilee. Our travel schedule didn’t allow me to post this morning. And it’s past midnight so technically I didn’t post anything all day. Nonetheless it was quite an eventful day. I finally did walk along the shore of the Sea of Galilee this morning before we boarded the bus.…
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Banias & Migdal
I guess disappointment only comes when you don’t meet your own expectations. So it’s best to have no expectations. We headed north along the shore of the Sea of Galilee into disputed territory, the Golan Heights, that Israel annexed in 1981, toward ancient Caesarea Philippi, now in ruins. The present town is Banias, almost to…
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Day Three
We visit two major places today. This morning we head to where the Jordan River feeds the Sea of Galilee, then up to Banias (ancient Caesarea Philippi) to Bethsaida, hometown of Peter, Andrew, James, and John … and Nathaniel? In the afternoon we head south to Migdal and celebrate mass at the Magdalene Center. Come…
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