Day 21 - Ascension and Emmaus

Chapel of the Ascension

We returned to the Mount of Olives this morning but this time we went to the peak. Far above the garden of Gethsemane lies the crusader Church of the Ascension. Today it's a mosque but originally it was a small church dedicated to Jesus' Ascension and it was built without a roof. I caught a lot of seminarians starring up into the sky. (For the record so did I but we should have read Acts 1:11.)

The Our Father in different languages

We had mass down the hill in a cave where the apostles may have slept while Jesus prayed. We also visited the cave of the Our Father. I think today we hit our cave limit. In fact the guys are currently having a "what is it about caves?!" conversation at the table next to me.

One of the many caves in the Holy Land

We ended the day traveling to Emmaus/Nicopolis, one of two possible locations for Jesus' appearance at Emmaus. We had a holy hour scheduled but the Church was locked so we spread out and prayed outside. Several guys prayed in a ruined crusader Church on the site.

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Day 20 - Bethlehem

Future shepherds adoring the Christ Child.

Spirits were high this morning as we sang Christmas songs on the way to Bethlehem.  It was only a short drive before we crossed into the West Bank.  It was startling to see the concrete wall that separates Israel from the West Bank.  Bethlehem is right next to the wall and has the largest population of Christians in Palestine.

Our first stop was the Church of the Nativity.  We were able to spend time in prayer at the place where Christ was born.  You had to almost lay down in order to venerate the sacred ground, humbling  yourself before the place where Jesus humbled himself.

The cave at Shepherd's Field

Next we visited the shepherd's field.  We sang the Gloria, the song that opens with the angels message to the shepherds that Christmas night, "Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will".

God bless!

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Day 19 - Pool of Bethesda and Herod's Citadel

Ruins of the Churches built over the Pool of Bethesda

After a week of unseasonably good weather, our luck ran out today. It was windy and overcast, and the threat of cold rain is still imminent. Nonetheless we soldiered out into our comfy, heated bus and drove to the east side of the city. There we visited the Pool of Bethesda (Jn 5:2) where Jesus commanded the lame man to pick up his mat and walk. It was much bigger than any of us expected. Much of it was still underground, but in Jesus' day it was almost the size of football field.

Next we visited the Tower of David, which is the original location of King Herod's palace. There is debate among scholars as to whether Pilate tried Jesus at the Fortress Antonia (next to the temple) or at this ancient fortress (across town from the temple). Either way, Jesus was brought there for his meeting with Herod on Good Friday.

Sweet Micky D's

Sensing the effect the gloomy weather was having on us, Fr. Zilverburg took us to visit the American Embassy... McDonald's! Most of us ordered the Israeli version of the Big Mac, the Big  American.

We ended the day by visiting the famous Dead Sea Scrolls and a giant model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. (I'd be lying if I said we didn't all feel like some sort of Biblical Godzilla looking down at tiny ant people!)

God bless!

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Day 18 - Temple Mount and the Cenacle

Most of our day surrounded the Temple Mount.  Well, for the Jews it is called the Temple Mount; for the Muslims, it is the sanctuary of the Dome of the Rock.  That was just one distinction  we learned about in this religiously and politically tense location. 

It became obvious today that Christians in the Holy Land are caught up in the middle of a very confusing and hurtful conflict.  This was exemplified in our visit to the Cenacle, the place of the Last Supper and Pentecost.  The current building is from the Crusader period. After the crusaders lost the Holy Land, it became a Muslim Mosque.  Now the building is owned by the State of Israel and they refuse to give the building back to the Church.  So, in the upstairs there is the remnants of the Mosque and in the main floor there is now an active Jewish Synagogue. All this in the place where Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Unity.

During our period of prayer at the Western Wall (the last remnant of the Jewish temple), I prayed that all peoples might bend the knee at the name of Jesus and every toungue confess, to the glory of God the Father, that Jesus Christ is Lord!

God bless!

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Day 17 - Ein Karem and the Museum of the Shoa

Today we drove to the Hill Country of Judea (Luke 1:39) to the town of Ein Karem. It was here that Mary made her Visitation to Elizabeth and where John the Baptist was born. I think we were all surprised how green the area was; we can't break the desert stereotype. This rocky green country would have been a beautiful place for these women to live and pray together, and to prepare to give birth to two very special babies.

Marking the place of St. John the Baptist's birth

The church of the Visitation is beautiful, full of powerful paintings of the Blessed Mother. We had mass at a different church, and prayed in the grotto of John the Baptist's birth. Our guide pointed out that a painting in the small cave showed Mary as the God Mother of John.

After mass we visited the Museum of the Shoa, the national Holocaust museum in Israel. We happened to take the tour at the same time as a group Israeli soldiers. Most looked under twenty. Ive been to Auschwitz, but I saw the Holocaust in a new light today.

After something so heavy we ended a little early and spent the afternoon resting, praying, and playing a lot of hacky-sack.

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Day 16 - Retreat Day

Today was a free day.  We were able to get some much needed rest and extra time for prayer.  Nine of our brothers had an amazing opportunity to spend the entire night in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Nick Froehle was one of the nine, and he has this to say about the experience:

As soon as the doors were shut and we were locked in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the night, it sunk in what I had signed up for—9 hours of prayer and no sleep. The most beautiful part of my time was spent in the tomb where Jesus laid and rose from the dead. Because there were so few of us present, each of us had the opportunity to spend an hour in the tomb itself. As I reflected there on how our Lord’s body had laid underneath the marble slabs, and how it was here that he conquered death, I looked up an noticed a Latin inscription on one of the candlesticks: “Resurrexit. Non hic est.” Translated, “He is risen. He is not here.” It is a quotation from the angel in John’s resurrection account, and it struck me how important it is that Jesus is no longer in the tomb, how we are able to encounter our Lord’s passion and death from this side of the Resurrection!

As the night progressed, the periods that I was able to sit and meditate grew shorter as I grew more tired. Eventually taking to walking and praying rosaries, my prayer turned more into an offering of my own small suffering, namely sleep deprivation. The Holy Sepulcre, though shrouded in silence for parts of the night, would periodically come to life as the different churches responsible for its care rang bells, incensed the various altars, and celebrated their liturgies. At least once, the bells ringing to signal a liturgy beginning woke me up from a drowsy reflection, and so I took to walking and praying my rosary once more until the doors opened for us at 4:00. The night was definitely challenging but filled with many graces that I will take with me back home.

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Day 15 - Masada and En Gedi

A view from above of the men hiking up to Masada

Our first stop today was to Masada.  Masada is an impressive hilltop fortress, overlooking the Dead Sea, built by Herod the Great.  It was used by the Jews in their revolt against Rome. Some of our group hiked up and the rest used a convenient cable car.

After Masada, we went to En Gedi, an oasis with a spring in the middle of the desert.  We enjoyed wonderful scenery on a beautiful hike, including seeing some of the local wildlife.  En Gedi is also where  David dwelt when he was trying to evade Saul.

Finally, we got salty by floating in the Dead Sea.  I can now say I that I have drank a beer in the lowest place on Earth. Our Dead Sea swim was an awesome way to end another great day in the Holy Land.

God bless!

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