1. Holy Land Pilgrimage
June 2013

2. Cana
 Travel to Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle at the
request of His mother (John 2:1-11). We renewed our
wedding vows in the Franciscan chapel.

4.  Renewal of vows ;)

5. Mt. Precipice
 On the way to Nazareth, we stopped at Mt. Precipice which is
believed to be the steep hill from which the townspeople wanted
to throw Jesus down after he spoke at the synagogue. (Luke 4:
14-30).
 At the top of this mountain, you can see a fantastic view of
Nazareth to the North, Samaria, the Jordan valley, and Mount
Tabor, as well as other sights in the distance. Every such site
has a biblical story attached to it. Seeing these from the
perspective of the top of Mt. Precipice offered a great way to
appreciate the patterns of movement from North to South which
would be done regularly during the Jewish holy days. The
quickest way to get from Galilee to Jerusalem (about 100 miles)
was via Samaria — and this fact is plainly visible from the top of
the mountain — but this was seldom the route chosen because
of hostilities between the Jewish and Samaritan people.

6. Mt. Precipice

7. Nazareth
 The old town of Nazareth was located underneath the current
site of the Church of the Annunciation. Nazareth, the site of
Joseph and Mary’s home and the town where Jesus played
as a child, learned a trade, and grew to manhood. We
celebrated Mass in the St. Joseph Church of the
Annunciation in Nazareth.
 Surrounding the church were a collection of mosaic paintings
of Mary gathered from countries around the world.

15.  For fun we had all the Mary’s and Joseph’s in our group
stand together at the Church of Annunciation

16. Peter’s Primacy
 Peter’s Primacy – After His resurrection Jesus met with His
disciples and told Peter to: ―feed my lambs; feed my sheep‖
(John 21:9)
 There was a small chapel right near the shore where we
prayed and sang and then we were invited to spend some
time there at the shore, reflecting on the sacred place we
were privileged to visit, touching the water or wading in
it. There was real beauty to be experienced and
savored, both in the place itself and the moments we had to
be there and appreciate it.

20. Capernaum
 Capernaum – Where Jesus began His Galilean ministry. We
saw the remains of the synagogue that Jesus taught in and
the Apostle Peter’s home. Inside St. Peter Memorial Church
which is constructed over the excavated ruins of Peter’s
house, there is a glass floor that looks down onto the ruins.

24.  The stone looking pots in this picture were surprising to us.
In the Bible it refers to the large stone jars that Jesus used to
turn water into wine. These large excavated stone pots are
what the ―jars‖ actually looked like.

29. Mount of Beatitudes
 Mass was in a garden on the grounds of the Mount of the
Beatitudes. Right before mass, we had the chance to tour
through a chapel built in the 1960’s with mosaic artwork and
unique architecture.

35. Tabgha – Church of the Loaves
and the Fishes
 This church commemorates where Jesus fed the crowd of
5,000.

37.  At lunch we went to a nearby restaurant which kept with the
theme of the loaves and fishes. It offered a full fish — deep-
fried, Peter-style. Laurie wants everyone to know that this
means every bit of the fish, including the tail and fins and
eyeballs, bones, lips. etc. was deep-fried and served up on a
plate. I opted for the filet instead. Laurie had chicken - no
pun intended.

38. Sea of Galilee
 We went on a boat ride on the sea of Galilee, which recalled
the various encounters of Our Lord with His disciples on and
around the body of water. It gave us a sense of what it was
like to be out on the sea for Jesus and the apostles in the first
century.
 The boat itself was a replica of one found in the 1980’s at the
bottom of the Sea of Galilee and believed to be actually from
the first century.

42. The River Jordan
 At the Jordan River we renewed our baptismal vows and had
the opportunity to put our feet in the water. It was fun to see
Father Brendan and Father Joe have a genuinely light-
hearted and fun time with this.
 The way it is set up is that there are successive
amphitheaters that have gated sections where groups go
to be baptized and watch the event. It was amusing to see
people not in our group cutting in line and asking our priests
to baptize them.

47. Mount Tabor
 Mt. Tabor was our last site in Galilee, the site of the
Transfiguration of Jesus before Peter, James, and
John. Jesus took his three top apostles up the mountain
and his face appeared as bright as the sun and his clothes
dazzling white together with Moses and Elijah. Our bus took
us only part way up the mountain where we had to stop to
take smaller vans to get to the top. (Luke 9:28-36)
 At the top, there was a beautiful church where we had
Mass. In the gospel story, Peter was so taken aback by what
he saw, that he didn’t know what to say and blurted out
something about building tents for each of them –
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. I was surprised to find out that the
current church actually has a separate small chapel for
Moses and one for Elijah, so in a sense Peter actually got
what he asked for.

54.  This is where we celebrated Mass. Definitely the most
beautiful church I have ever been inside.

55. Church of John the Baptist
 Our first stop once in Jerusalem was at the Church of John
the Baptist, which contains the site believed to be where he
was born.

61. Church of the Visitation
 We then hiked up a steep, windy cobblestone path to stairs
which led to the church of the Visitation where Mary met her
cousin Elizabeth when she was six months pregnant. The
words Elizabeth spoke to Mary are form the first part of our
Catholic prayer known as the ―Hail Mary‖.

65. Saint Vincent Ain
Karem Home for
Children with
Special Needs
 On the way back down the
cobblestone path, we stopped at the
Saint Vincent Ain Karem Home for
Children with Special Needs. Run by
the Sisters of Charity, this place was
beyond what could be described in
words, other than to say it is the
single most vivid and clear place
where we have experienced Christ’s
work and presence on this trip. The
Sister who greeted us and showed
us the center was overflowing with
the love and compassion of Christ in
a way that came through
immediately, before we even got up
from our chairs to see the facility and
the children themselves. I won’t
attempt to describe the
children. Their needs are basic and
their plight is heavy. This was a
deeply moving experience for both of
us.

66. Bethlehem
 Today’s pilgrimage agenda brought us 8 miles south from
Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. The first
place we visited was Shepherd’s Field, where it is believed
the shepherd’s would likely have been the night Christ was
born. The church was built over top of the cave where we
celebrated Mass. We sang Christmas carols about the
shepherd’s waiting. Afterwards, we entered the main chapel
and sang the Alleluia and the acoustics were beyond
beautiful!

71. Church of the Nativity
 In the afternoon we went to the Church of the Nativity. This is
the oldest church in the Holy Land and dates back to 610
AD. You can still see the faint markings of paintings of the
Saints on each of the pillars which date back to 1100
AD. This holy place is shared by three denominations: the
Greek Orthodox Church has control of the main altar; the
Roman Catholic Church has control of the birth place and
manger; the Armenian Church has control over a worship
space when you leave the birth place. The experience was
unbelievable. We entered through a stone pathway and an
extremely small doorway which surprisingly opened up into
the large main area of the Greek Church. Tons of ornamental
lanterns hung from the ceilings, and there was a huge
decorated altar.

74. Church of the Nativity (Continued)
 We stood in line to enter a cave below the altar. We traveled
down a number of marble steps and there beneath the altar
was the star which revealed to the earth where Jesus was
born. The feeling was indescribable. Tom and I held hands
and knelt together to touch this holy place. Across from this
area, and down a few steps was the manger which was fully
lit with candles. Our whole parish waited until everyone had
the same opportunity. Then, together we prayed and sang
Silent Night. It was extremely moving.

78.  The manger where He layed

79. Chapel of St. Joseph and Chapel
of St. Jerome
 Located inside the Church of the Nativity are two chapels for
St. Joseph and St. Jerome. St. Jerome is known to be the
person who translated the Bible from Ariamaic and Greek to
Latin.

80. Upper Room
 We entered the walls of Jerusalem and walked through the
Zion Gate. The inner city is a maze of high walls and
buildings. We came upon a small metal door which was
opened by a Friar and were invited to celebrate Mass at the
church where the Upper Room was located. The Upper
Room was not only the place of the Last Super but also the
appearance of Jesus after the Resurrection to the
Apostles, including Tom’s favorite, doubting Thomas. The
Upper Room also was where the Holy Spirit came upon the
Apostles at Pentecost. This was a very moving Mass and at
the end of the service our Priests, Father Brendan and
Father Joe renewed their priestly vows.

89. Continued in Part Two