Most people who blog can’t wait to get on the internet and let the whole world know what they think about anything and everything. I guess I’m not a typical blogger, since I have been in Bethlehem for four weeks and just yesterday started my blog. So here it is, the Pilgrimage Musings of a Catholic Seminarian.

My name is Scott Wallisch (if you haven’t surmised that yet), and I am a seminarian studying for the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas. I am in the third year of theology at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago. As a standard part of our third year, the seminarians spend the winter quarter in the Holy Land. We stay in Bethlehem, Palestine until January 6th. Then we travel through Galilee, a little in Jordan, and finish our time with a few weeks in Jerusalem.

Just being in the seminary is an extraordinary blessing (though I complain as much as any other student.) But it is an unbelievable grace to spend ten weeks in the land where Christ became incarnate, was born of the Virgin, grew up with two amazing parents, worked as a carpenter, preached the Good News, made disciples of all kinds of people, forgave sins, cured the sick, frustrated the religious authorities, was sentenced, endured scourging, carried the instrument of his torture, hung on the cross, died a humiliating death, rose from the dead, and forever changed the course of human events.

In ten weeks you don’t have to be a tourist. You can savor the sites, meditate on the events, and better understand the reality that is the Holy Land. The hope, of course, is that this will bear much fruit for me, but more importantly, for the people God will ask me to serve.

I pray that all of you get to one day experience the land of the Bible, but I know that unfortunately this won’t happen for most of you. So whether you are a relative, a friend, an acquaintance, or someone who typed in the wrong web address, I hope that my sharing of my journey can bring you a better understanding of the Bible, the Holy Land, and its people. Most deeply, though, whatever ramblings of mine you may read or pictures you may view, I pray that Christ uses the experience to draw you closer to His Sacred Heart.

But alas, I’ve already said too much. Let’s get this thing started. By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.