Well, we’ve finally reached the end of the road for this pilgrimage. Hopefully the next one will be soon. Maybe you’ll join me (or I’ll join you.) I wasn’t sure that I would be able to write a final blog entry, but I am sitting in the Zurich airport waiting to fly to Vienna, so I thought I’d try to get one more out while I can. Let me just say that I have thoroughly enjoyed writing for you. I actually have despised writing all my life (perhaps it was the writing punishments I received as a kid), but I’m glad that I was able to chronicle this pilgrimage for you (and me.)

Dominus Flavit

I actually visited this church twice in the last few days. It is at the spot where Jesus is believed to have cried over the impending destruction of Jerusalem. It is on the Mount of Olives, just a little way up from the Church of Gethsemane. Barluzzi (remember him, one of my new favorite architects) designed it in the shape of a teardrop. The altar used to face east, but now it faces west, with a clear window behind it so that you can look out onto the Old City of Jerusalem. It definitely has one of the best views of any churches in the Holy Land.

Old City Walls

As you may know, the city of Jerusalem is famous for its walls. They have had such a storied history, being built and rebuilt countless times (well, someone’s probably counted.) Now, one can walk the top of the wall. I did it yesterday, trying to get it in before the end of my time in Jerusalem. You enter at the Jaffa Gate, which is on the west side of the Old City. You can then go south around the city or go north around the city. I hoped to go all the way around, starting north, but eventually, after an hour, I got to the Temple Mount and could go no farther. I went back to the Jaffa Gate, stopping at 4:55 to make a quick sketch. This meant I got to the gate at 5:04, right after the exit was locked. I eventually made it off the wall, but I had to go another 10 minutes back to find an exit only.

Being on top of the wall gives one a good view of the city, but most of the high profile churches and other buildings in the Old City are not near the walls. It was worth the trip, but I would not recommend doing it one the last afternoon when you are short for time.

Pater Noster

This is a church further up from Dominus Flavit. It is at the spot some believe to be where Jesus taught the Our Father to His disciples. It is a nice, simple church and complex, with the Our Father in scores of languages on big mosaic tile displays.

The Lutheran Church

There is a Lutheran church and hospital that sits on the highest point in Jerusalem. It was a trek, but my friend John and I made it up there. Then we scaled the bell tower and were treated to an amazing view for miles and miles in every direction. You’ll just have to believe, since I have not really been posting pictures.

Russian Orthodox Mary Magdalene Church

This church is also near Dominus Flavit (see a pattern?) It has gorgeous painting and icons inside and is only open for four hours a week. We made it to get in and see. It was very nice. It is called the Onion Church because it has five or six gold onion shaped domes.

Well, I am running out of time on my internet connection, so I’ll send this off. Again, I have really enjoyed writing this blog and I am so very thankful that you were willing to take the time to read some of it. I hope you learned a lot and that you too will one day be blessed to visit this (I mean that) wonderful Land.

Stay close to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Pray for Christ’s peace to reign in the Holy Land. Pray for vocations. And let us pray for each other. May God bless us all. Bye.

I am having trouble believing this, but we only have four days left here in the Holy Land. Four days. To quote my friend Pam, “Sad times.” After spending nearly 70 days here, we are down to our last four. For certain, there is a part of me that is ready to go home (“come home” from your perspective), but I have no idea when I will make it back here. I hope to make the most of the next few days here, which unfortunately includes finishing a 15 page paper and taking an oral final.

In case you didn’t know, I am not going to be coming straight home. Next Monday we leave from Tel Aviv and stop in Zurich. About half of the guys will go back to Chicago, and the other half will take advantage of our break before school to travel to other places. Most are going to Italy, but I am flying to Vienna. Austria has always been on my list of places to visit, so I thought I’d take advantage of this trip and make the stop. I will begin the time in Austria with a 5 day diaconate retreat at a Cistercian monastery south of Vienna. The place is called Heiligenkreuz. You should look it up online: www.stift-heiligenkreuz.org . After my retreat, I will spend another four days in Vienna, seeing the sites.

But you didn’t come to this blog to hear about Austria. I know that I promised you Zionism in my last entry, but it will have to wait. Here are a handful of experiences from this last week.

Alone in the Tomb

There is an interesting tradition at the Holy Sepulcher. If you get the permission of one of the many different Orthodox/Catholic church groups that “co-own” the Holy Sepulcher, you can actually spend the night locked inside. On most nights they lock up at 7pm and don’t open the doors again until 4am. If you are in, you’re in. Saturday night is the only exception in that the doors open again at 11pm. This was the night that I chose to “spend the night.” There was one other seminarian and a very tall, pious, nun-like woman that got locked in as well. There were some construction workers and some monks who passed through a little, but for the most part the three of us had the whole place to ourselves.

The two spots of interest are the spot of the crucifixion and the tomb. So, in an unspoken coordination, we rotated between the two spots. This meant that I got to spend a good half an hour in the tomb by myself. I had been in once before, when I served a Mass in the tomb, but this was really the first time when I could go in with nothing else on my mind. As soon as I walked in, my whole body was overcome. I know I can fabricate such an experience, but this one hit me without my help. It was brief, but powerful. I then proceeded to kneel at the stone and pray there for awhile, including praying for all of you.

It was an amazing experience. I have not found any other place so far that drew my spirit so. I didn’t want to leave. It was very similar to the experience I had when I first walked into St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. There, I immediately felt like I was at home, and others have shared with me that they felt the same way at St. Peter’s. I ended up spending four hours there the first time I went. I wish I had four hours at the tomb, but the night would not be long.

At 11 the doors were opened and people starting pouring into the various chapels. Most people that came in were Orthodox. Then, every different group had night prayer, which many of them started by incensing every one of the altars in the church. It was quite a sight, especially so late. I ended up leaving at 12:30 because I was sick, but the time I did get to spend will always be cherished as a rare spiritual treat.

The Election

Moving to more mundane subjects, the Israelis just had their election. Yesterday, armed with a big box of olive wood items for people back home, I walked the mile down to the post office, only to find out that they close their post offices on Election Day. My fellow seminarian and I had to bring it all back to the hotel and go back today. Oh well, the exercise was good.

Israel has a parliamentary system of government. There are 120 members (12 tribes times 10) from about 16 different political groups (another 20 groups don’t get enough votes.) There are several different ministries (like Education, Interior, Agricultural), and the groups divvy these up based on how many members they have in the parliament. Some of the smaller groups don’t worry so much about the big stuff, but want to have control of some of the other key ministries, like Interior or Education. The biggest group chooses a prime minister, and then they try to team up with other groups to form a coalition government. The current parliament couldn’t form a coalition, so they called for these elections last year. The timing of the Gaza strikes was probably not coincidental with this election. The result was that the groups that are more hard line (in favor of a hard stance against Gaza and the West Bank) gained more seats and more power. The largest group is in favor of working with the Palestinians to find a real solution, but they probably will not be able to get enough other groups to join them in a coalition, especially since the hardliners gained seats.

Well, even with the result, hopefully the new government can bring about a peaceful, viable solution. Keep praying.

Architectural Walk

This afternoon, after a day-and-a-half of much needed rain, the skies cleared and I decided to go walking to see some of the architecture in the New City. Now, the New City is huge, so I was just scraping the surface, but it was still fun. I took a ton of pictures. The best find was a Waldorf Historia under construction (note that construction actually happens in Jerusalem, where people can get permits, unlike in Palestine.) This hotel is being built in a spot where there was a 18 or 19th century hotel (I think.) They have decided to maintain the façade of the original building, but have a completely new building besides. What makes this even more complicated is that they dug down forty feet to add, I presume, some parking. This meant that they had to not only brace the façade, but also support it forty feet in the air. I was able to find a hole in the fencing to see into what they were doing at the foundation level. I was like an engineering kid in a foundation candy store. It was great.

Well, I hope to send a few more of these before I leave on Monday. On the off chance that I don’t, though, please know that you have been in my daily prayers. Interceding for others is a passion of mine, so I certainly tried to bring all of you with me here in my prayers. Till next time, be good.

Things are beginning to wind down for us now. There still have been some points of interest beyond me washing my black socks in the bathroom because I didn’t want to go to see the Latin Patriarch with black shoes and white socks. So, now that I’ve piqued your interest, let’s begin:

St. Anne’s

We obviously are not told in the Bible where the Virgin Mary was born. In fact, the canonical gospels don’t even tell us the names of her parents. We get the names of Joachim and Anne from the Gospel of James, one of the apocrypha gospels. Regardless, there is a tradition dating back to at least the 4th century that Mary was born in Jerusalem. The location, near the present day Lion’s Gate on the east side of the Old City, was originally commemorated by the Byzantines with a large cathedral dedicated to St. Anne.

Like all of the Byzantine churches (save the Church of the Nativity – see the posting for January 2nd) this one was destroyed. The ruins were impressive. Apses and some arches were still standing. The foundation walls were enormous and deep.

The real treat was the Crusader church that is still in use today. It is the typical Romanesque style that was typical of most Crusader churches, but the interior is nothing but bare stone. It was a Crusader church that was “Modern” 700 years before Modern architecture infected the world. The blank walls and simple geometric windows create pretty much all negative space, which lets the cross, tabernacle, and two statues really stand out in contrast.

There were two highlights of the church. First, to the left of the entrance, there is a statue of Anne teaching Mary. It reminded me of my goddaughter Mary Ann, showing her two patron saints. The other highlight was the acoustics. They were excellent for singing (but a challenge for speakers.) The reverberation of a simple chant lasted 6 seconds. That’s a long time in reverb terms. It would have been nice to have done some more singing there, but it gave the Mass we had there a definitely beautiful, solemn tone.

Western Wall (Wailing Wall)

For those of you keeping score at home, you’re probably pressing the red buzzer right now and screaming, “Hey, you’ve already talked about the Wailing Wall.” Well, congrats for paying attention, but ease off the buzzer as I add some more stuff. A quick recap, though, for anyone who missed it: the Western Wall (preferred name for Jews, though Wailing Wall is what we know it as) is just the foundation wall of the Temple Mount built by King Herod. Though the Temple and upper Temple Mount walls were completely destroyed by the Romans, the foundation walls, including this wall, still remain. The Jews pray there often, with many praying for the restoration of the Temple.

Today we went to the wall at sundown. As you know, Sabbath (Shabbat) starts at sundown on Friday. Most Jews in Israel, but especially the Orthodox, do not do any work on Sabbath. Many will quit their business a half hour before sundown to make certain they don’t accidentally work on the Sabbath. They then make their way to the Western Wall to begin the holy day by praying the Psalms. As it slowly got darker this afternoon, the area around the Wall began to swarm. Before it got heavy, though, I went to the wall with my Bible to pray a few of the Psalms. The first one I prayed was Psalm 122, which says in reference to the Temple: “For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will say, ‘Peace be within you’.” That seems so appropriate now that I have lived in the land for 9 weeks, growing in “brethren and companions” who long for a real peace.

There were different groups that came in masse to the area. Young Reformed Jews came in a big swarm. They divided into men and women and spent about fifteen minutes dancing and singing. It was like watching a Christian Youth Rally. They then made there way to the Wall. The Orthodox did the same thing, though with fewer numbers. At the Wall itself, though, the Orthodox Jews comprise well over 3/4th of the crowd. It was very interesting to watch their ritual of prayer on the holiest day of the week. (Actually, Shabbat is the only day that has a name in Hebrew. The other days are the first, second, etc. This is because they are named after pagan gods in other cultures, so they rejected any possible honor to these false gods.)

Latin Patriarch

As I said earlier, we visited with the Latin Patriarch this morning. The Patriarchate here includes Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Cyprus. So, this is what Patriarch Fuoad (pronounced Fu-odd) is in charge of now. There are certain issues that weigh on his mind that are so much different from our US bishops. For instance, yesterday he and many of the other bishops in the area went to visit the Christians in Gaza. Israel knew that they were making this journey, and yet they still were delayed for two hours going in and another three hours coming out. The dogs even sniffed his car, which is a designated diplomat car. Two Protestant bishops were rejected. Anyway, he shared with us some of the challenges he faced here. The most striking thing he said, though, was that the Christians here touch the Cross every day in the struggles they face. Though things need to change, he acknowledged that we are all called to carry our cross and not to flee from it. So, pray that the Christians here will have the grace and courage to stay and witness to Christ’s peace.

Not much else has been going on. I am trying to get to the Holy Sepulcher each morning for Mass. Today it was at the Golgotha altar and it was sung completely in Latin. It was very nice.

We had some talks this week by Jewish intellectuals. Both work for peace in the area in their own ways. After hearing from them, I figured it would be good to give you all a primer on Zionism. We’ll try to do that in one of the next posts. Till then, shalom.

To the four people who still read this blog, I am again sorry that it has taken me a while to add an entry. There are two reasons, neither of which you care about, but both of which I will hide behind right now. First, the remaining period here is getting short and I am finding that I need to spend an increasing amount of time working on papers and other school-related items. Second, we haven’t visited too much that is new. I don’t want to discourage you from reading my subsequent entries, but they will probably focus less and less on sites. Instead I probably will be discussing primarily both the people I’ve met and the subjects that have been broached by teachers and guest lecturers. To be certain, the people and lectures have helped to make this pilgrimage extremely eye-opening for me, but they may not be as exciting for you as the holy sites.

Recently, the focus has been on the group of donors who have joined us on the pilgrimage. As you may know, every year we have a large banquet in downtown Chicago called the Evening of Tribute, which is the main fundraiser for this pilgrimage. Every few years the donors have the opportunity to join the seminarians for a small portion of the ten week pilgrimage. This, I believe, is the first time that the donors have gotten to visit the seminarians in the Holy Land. Before 2006-07, the pilgrimage quarter was in Turkey, Greece, and Rome (the “Footsteps of Peter and Paul”) instead of the Holy Land, thanks to the second intifada. The donors visited a few groups in Rome during those years.

So we have had a few days to spend with them. On Friday we had a little reception for them with reflections and entertainment. I served as emcee for the evening. It was fun, and I think they enjoyed themselves. On Saturday we did make a site visit.

Bethany

The town of Bethany is not too far away from the city of Jerusalem. In fact, it is here that Jesus apparently stays for the first few days of the week of His Passover. His good friends Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived in Bethany, which perhaps is why He decided to spend some of His last evenings alive there (my speculation.)

The town now has a church dedicated to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. It is shaped like a Greek Cross, with a big dome and mosaics portraying some of the documented encounters that Jesus had with these three folks. There is also a tomb up the street believed to be Lazarus’ tomb. You can climb down stairs and crouch your way into the inner chamber of the tomb. It’s so tight that I don’t know which was a bigger miracle: that Jesus raised him from the day or that he was actually able to get out of the space. Perhaps four days without food helped.

I wasn’t really in the right spiritual disposition to truly meditate on the location. It would be nice to contemplate the true wonder it would have been to be a close friend of Jesus, as they were.

Obviously, I don’t need to be in Bethany to meditate on this. This brings up a point worth mentioning. If for some reason the Spirit strikes (or struck) you in reading any of the descriptions of locations in this blog, I encourage to follow His promptings and spend time meditating on the site, on the scene, on the passage. There will undoubtedly be spiritual fruit waiting for you to pick.

We did very little with the donors on Sunday, but on Monday morning, we accompanied them through the Via Dolorosa. It was nice to go through the Stations of the Cross again. The Stations are something that has to be experienced over and over. I know that when I do them back in the states in a chapel or along an outdoor path, I find something new to chew on each time. They are an endless source of spiritual inspiration.

On Monday night we had a reception and dinner with the donors, and I had a nice long discussion with a female donor from Chicago by the name of Monica. We talked about Gaza, the Church in America, getting Catholics back to Mass, and all the other problems of the world.

On Tuesday morning, I joined the donors for Mass at the Holy Sepulcher at 6:30am. This is the high, sung Mass with the Franciscans, who sing much of the liturgy. I ended up being the reader, which I thought was pretty cool. I can now say I have served and read at the Holy Sepulcher and sung in St. Peter’s in Rome. Problem is, the donors were supposed to be the readers and I just absent-mindedly stepped on their toes. We are so used to filling all of the ministries that I spaced the fact that they too had been fulfilling ministries in their own Masses. Nice job, kiddo.

Alright, I’m going to try to see them off at 3:30 tomorrow morning, so I need to get to bed. I pray that you are all doing well.

As of today, I have been in the Holy Land for eight weeks. Of course, it has flown past, just like everything else in life (except my future homilies.) We just have two weeks left, but there is still more to see, so don’t tune out just yet.

Tuesday was a free day to work on homework. Wednesday we had classes, but we started with Mass at the Church of Gethsemane. Then Thursday we had a full day of adventure around the Old City. Today, we celebrated Mass in the Church of Ecce Homo. I’m sure you’re very excited, so let’s get started, shall we?

Church of Gethsemane

I know I talked about this a little in a previous posting, but there were a few more things to discuss. Gethsemane is on the lower part of the Mount of Olives, which is east of the Old City, facing the city from across the Kidron Valley. It is here, of course, that Jesus took His disciples to pray after the Last Supper.

The church is one of the many here in the Holy Land designed by Antonio Barluzzi (the newest addition to my list of favorite architects) back after World War I when the British had control The altar is situated behind the rock believed to be where Christ prayed and sweat blood. The church’s structure is composed in a 3×3 square, with a dome over each of the nine parts. The domes were each dedicated to a different country that helped to pay for the cost of the church. The church is also called by the name Church of the Nations. Instead of glass in the windows, Barluzzi used thin sheets of purple alabaster marble. This helps to keep the church darker, even during the day, in order to enhance the sense that Christ was in some of His darkest hours at this spot.

To the north of the church, there is a garden that has about 15 olive trees. I don’t know how old the oldest are, but some of them were massive. I could have a tea party inside some of them. They were at least several centuries old. Anyway, this was a great spot to try to prayerfully enter the interaction between Jesus and his tired disciples, who perhaps were just not aware of the urgency of the moment.

To the south of the church, as well as across the Kidron Valley, there are countless graves. The Jews believe that the messiah will come from the east, entering the old city through the Golden Gate (which is sealed now, waiting to be opened.) The Jews want to be there when it happens, so they have themselves buried in the area. Many Christians are buried here as well.

Tour of the Old City of Jerusalem

When I say “Old City,” I am referring to the historical city, which has a history from the Canaanites to the Turks. The new city is the ever expanding modern Jerusalem. There were no new buildings outside the walls until 1860. Now the city is quite large.

The classic city of Jerusalem slopes from north to south. To the west and east, meeting at the southeast corner of the city, are two valleys. The Kidron Valley is to the east and to the west is the Hinnon Valley (known in the Scriptures as Gehenna, where the city trash was constantly burning.) The city was easily defended along these edges, especially since they built massive walls above the valleys. Jerusalem’s weak side was in the north, where the terrain doesn’t drop off. Nearly all of the conquerors of Jerusalem came from the north.

The city was significant to Israel before it was conquered by David around 1000BC. Abraham had stopped here for the blessing and offering of Melchizedek. Abraham also was here when the angel stopped him from sacrificing Isaac. (The present Dome of the Rock, the golden domed Islamic structure in the center of the temple mount, is where the Muslims believe that Abraham almost sacrificed his other son, Ishmael, of whom they believe they are descendents.)

The city David found here was very small and just south of the temple mount. Joab, one of David’s generals, helped David conquer the Jebusite city of Jerusalem by sneaking into the city through the water supply tunnel. We walked through this tunnel. We also saw the tunnel that King Hezekiah built from the same Gihon spring, which was outside the walls, to a pool inside the city walls he had built. The king did this because he knew the Assyrians, who had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel, were on their way to conquer Jerusalem and the southern kingdom. His new walls and water system worked and the city was saved.

Temple Mount

There were two temple periods in Jerusalem. The first temple, built by Solomon in the 900s BC, lasted until the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC. The second temple was built around 530 BC, but it was small and a huge disappointment to any who remembered the first temple. Herod the Great enlarged the temple and created a whole temple platform that could host the 100,000 Jewish pilgrims coming to Jerusalem every Passover. The Romans, when they put down the Jewish revolt in the late 60s AD, wanted to completely crush the spirit of the Jews. Therefore, they proceeded to destroy the temple, the upper walls, and the Roman stoa. The platform, though, still remains, along with the foundation walls. The temple mount area, this platform, is now under the charge of the Muslims. Their Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque are on the mount. Jews are forbidden to go up there for fear of possible conflict. No Bibles are allowed on the mount, because some have tried to read from the Bible there before in hopes of bringing on the Second (or first, if you’re a Jew) Coming. We actually got to go up on the mount, which was great, because it gave us a sense of just how enormous the complex was.

Wailing Wall

The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall as it is known, is the western foundation wall of the temple mount. The place of Jewish prayer is the central section of this wall, with both an interior and exterior area for prayer. This section is closest to what would have been the temple’s Holy of Holies 2000 years ago. They pray at the wall by orienting themselves toward the former location of the Holy of Holies, praying with the psalms, and bobbing their upper body back and forth, being moved by the Spirit. There are also groups that dance and sing. We happened to arrive on a day dedicated to Bar Mitzvahs. There were several young teenage men there, becoming “sons of God’s Law.” The women prayed and observed in a smaller section just south of the men’s section.

The wall is called the Wailing Wall because of the mourning for the loss of the temple. In the daily prayers of a Jew they say: “May the temple be built speedily and in our time.”

It was incredible to actually be there. I hope to go back with more time to pray some more. I’m told that at sundown on Friday nights, there are tons of people there, beginning the Sabbath with prayer.

South Wall

We went through temple mount ruins at the southwest corner and along the south wall. They have uncovered the first century paved road that runs along the western wall. One did not enter the temple complex at this level, but rather through bridges and elevated walkways twenty five feet above this level. It was neat to be walking on stones that Jesus and His disciples certainly walked on 2000 years ago. At this corner, way up above on the walls that were pushed off the temple mount by the Romans, there was the pinnacle. This was where the high priest would blow the horn. It is thought that this is the pinnacle referred to when the devil tempts Jesus in the desert.

We also went to sit on the south wall steps. Inside the mount, on the other side of these steps, there was the Roman stoa. Below this stoa was the area of the Sanhedrin. Surrounding the steps were excavations from first century and Byzantine ruins.

Pool of Siloam

I was talking before about the tunnels of Hezekiah. The water would empty into a pool, which was known as the pool of Siloam. It was rather simple until Herod developed it. This is where Jesus told the blind man to go bath after He healed him. It has just been uncovered in the last twenty years or so.

Ecce Homo

Jesus was probably condemned by Pilate in the Antonio Fortress. This fortress, which overlooked the northwestern edge of the temple complex, was where the procurator would stay during feast days. Its location gave him and his soldiers the best view of the crowds in order to maintain order (now the Israelis use small blimps to oversee the Muslims during prayers on Fridays.)

There really aren’t any ruins of the fortress to speak of, at least not ones that have been uncovered, except under the Ecce Homo church. Down below the church, where we had Mass today, are the temple mount cistern pools, which were adjacent to the fortress. There is also a first century road which Jesus possibly took once He accepted His cross. There are also the remnants of a game board etched in pavement. They have found this game at several Roman barracks throughout the land. The game, they think, has a theme of one person becoming a king for awhile and then being killed at the end of his reign. Could they have been playing this when Jesus was robed and mocked? Who knows?

Well, this ride was intense, but it is finally over. I hope you learned some things. I sure did.

Tonight we have a reception with entertainment for the donors who have helped to make this pilgrimage happen. It should be fun. Till next time, God bless y’all.

If you told me five years ago that I would visit Jordan, I would have bet you ten bucks that you were crazy. It’s a shame you didn’t take me up on the bet, because you’d be 3 happy meals richer. Well, we just got back from three days in Jordan, and it was pretty awesome. So, let’s get started:

Shroud of Turin

Sorry, before we talk about Jordan, I wanted to quickly tell you about an exhibit on the Shroud of Turin that we toured at the Notre Dame Center (NDC), our place of lodging in Jerusalem. As you probably know, the Shroud was discredited for about twenty years when scientists tested a piece and claimed it wasn’t even half the age claimed. But, a couple years ago, this test was checked and found to be wanting, so the scientific community rejected the findings.

At the NDC, they have an exhibit that goes through all of the research that has been done on the shroud. The claim against the authenticity has always been that it was created by an artist in the middle ages. I can’t even begin to describe all of the evidence, but, for instance, they found pollen on the shroud from three different flowers that can only be found in a five mile radius around Jerusalem. The proportions would work for an adult male, the type of lashings match the instruments that the Romans used, and the wounds in the head match the type of crown of thorns they probably used (whole head and not just ring like we usually see.) Anyway, there is no way I can describe it all for you, but I have to say that the evidence for authenticity is quite vast. I don’t want to make a claim either way, but if you ever go to Jerusalem, I think this exhibit is really worth your visit. The surprise at the end is also pretty awesome.

Mount Nebo

Okay, now let’s talk about the trip to Jordan. We started by driving to Mount Nebo. This is the mountain that Moses climbed to see the Promised Land. He, of course, was not able to actually enter the Promised Land, because he had struck the rock twice when God asked him to strike it once to bring forth a spring. We had to imagine what it was he saw, because dust was making it too hazy to see much more than the bottom of the mountain. It did make me contemplate, though, what it might be like to be a good priest who didn’t persevere to the end. May God never let me, or any of us, give up the fight until we find eternal happiness with Him.

Madaba

Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize the name. I had never heard of it either. It probably wouldn’t have been a stop for us if it wasn’t for a mosaic in the floor of one Byzantine church. The mosaic was a map of the Holy Land, listing over a hundred and fifty holy sites, with pretty accurate scale in spacing between the sites. They have actually been able to use the map to find sites that were lost due to earthquakes and hundreds of years of sand deposits. Unfortunately the map had been severely damaged due to earthquakes, but it still is an amazing historical tool.

Petra

Have you ever seen the third Indiana Jones movie, The Holy Grail? In that movie the Grail is found in a temple carved in the face of a cliff in Petra. After walking for an hour and a half through a cavern, I actually saw the temple. It is just one in a series of elaborate graves carved out of the cliff walls. The Nabatines were a people who dwelled in the caves and plains of the area of Petra for hundreds of years before Christ. It was these Nabatines who carved these graves, and like so many civilizations, it is these monuments to their dead that have survived and tell us so much about their culture.

Petra is along the King’s Highway, which connects Mesopotamia and Egypt, so it was constantly being visited by traders and merchants making their way along this route. Eventually the Romans took over the area in the second century AD, but the Nabatines were able to peacefully coexist with the Romans. At the exit of the Romans, the Byzantines came in and occupied the area, building churches and living in the graves (no, that’s not morbid at all.) The route of the King’s Highway eventually changed during the Byzantine period and the city was essentially abandoned and forgotten until the late 19th century. There were cave-dwellers who remained throughout, though, and it wasn’t until the last 15 years or so that the Jordanian government moved them to new housing an hour away. They still come back every day, though, in order to sell their wares to tourists.

The temple from The Holy Grail, built over a 100-year span, was carved around the time of Jesus. It is even more impressive in person. Thanks to the trade route, the Nabatines were influenced by so many other civilizations. This is apparent in a study of the temple (or treasury, which was what people originally thought it was,) which has statues of Greek gods, a Phoenician goddess of fertility, the Egyptian god Isis, an Amazonite goddess, and Assyrian mythical eagles. Eventually the Romans turned it into a Roman pagan temple. Talk about a confusing place to worship. Unlike the movie, the inside is merely just large, empty rooms, but it was still a memorable visit.

Bethany across the Jordan

This is the spot where it is believed that Jesus was baptized by St. John the Baptist in the river Jordan. It is also the spot believed to be the point where the prophet Elijah was taken to heaven on a chariot. I don’t think there’s any coincidence that John, the new Elijah, performed his ministry as “a voice crying the desert” preparing “the way of the Lord” near the spot where the old Elijah finished his prophetic ministry centuries before.

There have been churches in this location throughout the centuries, but it really has not been rediscovered and built up until the last few decades. This is partially because there are about four different spots that could possibly be the baptism spot, though this one has the strongest case for authenticity. Though a spiritually significant spot, there wasn’t much there. The best building was a new Russian Orthodox church, whose walls were covered with iconic paintings. They were perhaps the most exquisite church paintings I’ve seen in a new church. The colors were so vibrant and the figures were so well done.

Paradise

The night before we had Mass at Bethany, we stayed at a five star Marriot on the Dead Sea. I have never been to a hotel this nice. There were eight pools, a developed beach on the sea, at least six different restaurants, beautiful landscaping, and architectural elegance everywhere you turned. It was unbelievable. I know that we don’t deserve such treatment, and hopefully, for my soul, this is the last time I get such spoiling. But it did make me contemplate the lavish paradise that God longs to give us all in the life to come.

This is where I need to make a long overdue thank you to all of the donors who have made this trip possible. It has been funded both by the people of the Archdiocese of Kansas City and the donors of Mundelein seminary. Thanks to all of them and to all of you who have prayed or made this whole thing possible. May God bless you in your generosity and bring unimaginable fruit to our future ministry.

Before I begin today, I want to let you know that I am praying in solidarity with you on this sad day in U.S. history, when our Constitution was used to justify protection of the slaughter of millions of innocent children and the exploitation of their mothers. Let us all pray together that the Lord may convert the hearts of Americans, including most importantly the heart of our new leader.

Well, we had a midterm this week in our Reading the Scriptures in the Holy Land class, which focuses on the psalms. Due to my diligent studying (no comments from the peanut gallery,) I took a few days off from blogging. One of these days I’ll realize that it is easier for you and me if I do this daily.

Nebi Samwil

As you know, this land is considered holy by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Many of the Old Testament prophets and leaders are revered by all three faiths, and where there is a birthplace or grave of one of these men, there will probably be clamoring as everyone tries to claim the spot. Nebi Samwil is one of those spots, as it is the tomb of Samuel, the last of the Old Testament judges who anointed Saul as the first king of Israel. There was a crusader church, but now there is building over it, with one side as a mosque and the other side as a synagogue. I’m sure it can be very contentious there at times.

The city itself is on the highest point in all of the Jerusalem area. On a clear day, which we didn’t have, you can see Jordan, the mountains of Galilee, and the Mediterranean Sea. Not a bad view when you get up in the morning, I would say.

Abu Ghosh (possible Emmaus)

This is the modern name of a town that is proposed as the first century location of Emmaus. There are about four towns that people claim are Emmaus, but this one, being about seven miles from Jerusalem, is the most likely. The crusaders believed this to be the case and built a simple, yet beautiful Romanesque church there. The interior surfaces were covered in paintings at one time, but now much has been worn off, and for some reason, many of the faces of the figures that remain have been removed. Anyway, we went there for Sunday morning chanted Mass with the French Benedictine nuns and monks that now live there. The acoustics of the space are really good (unlike the carpeted-wall monstrosities we built in the 50s and 60s,) and their chant sounded heavenly. It was a beautiful Mass.

Bet Guvrin-Maresha

These two ancient cities really have no historical significance that you would care about, and I wasn’t quite sure why we were there to begin with. As we were there, we were told that the highway from Tel Aviv (major airport) to Jerusalem (can’t land planes on hills) was going to be closed soon for the European Union delegates coming to do Gaza ceasefire talks with Israel. So, we had to move quickly, and our guide said we should go see the caves where they got chalk for concrete. I rolled my eyes and thought, what a pointless waste of time. Well, he knew what he was doing because there were enormous caverns of chalk. They were quite impressive.

Holy Sepulcher

On the 19th, we had Mass at 6am at the chapel in the Holy Sepulcher where Christ was crucified. It was a little early to fully appreciate the connection between what was being re-presented on the altar and what happened there 2000 years ago, but it was still a great prayer experience. After Mass, we did the Stations of the Cross through the Old City, with the tour guide giving explanations at a few points. Then he gave us a tour of the Sepulcher. It is the church, of course, that commemorates both the spot of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb where Jesus was laid and where He rose was not far away from Golgotha, so they could enclose both in the same crusader church. That church used to be bigger than it is, but much has been torn down. So much has been added on over the years with different styles that is now has a very unorganized, confused sense to it, but the circular nave around the sepulcher chapel is quite impressive with a massive dome. The church is now shared by six different Catholic and Orthodox churches, which as usual leads to problems. A few months ago monks from two different churches got into fisticuffs in the church, and someone of course video taped it and put it on Youtube. Nice.

The next day we went back to the Holy Sepulcher for 6am Mass in the sepulcher chapel, which is over the tomb of Christ. I had not been in this chapel yet, and I was scheduled to be the server for this Mass. Needless to say, I was so excited that my first time inside the chapel that commemorates the most important event in history was to serve a servant of THE Servant of God. It was a spiritually powerful experience.

Now, I did have a little gaffe. My mom had told me several times over the years that people always walk backwards out of the chapel, not wanting to turn their back on Christ. I thought this was universal, so as Mass ended I led the priest out, walking backwards. Even though I’m short, I still smacked the back of my head against the low marble doorway. Thanks Mom.

Yad Vashem

This is the holocaust museum in Israel, part of an enormous complex dedicated to keeping alive the memory of the six million Jews who lost their lives in the holocaust. I had been to the museum in Washington DC and to one of the concentration camps in Poland, but this was still a powerful experience. This museum had a lot of information about the ghettos, which was enlightening for me.

The controversial part was right at the beginning. There was a whole little movie about how the Christians were responsible for 1800 years of persecution of the Jews. There were also anti-Jewish quotes from St. Augustine in big letters as you enter the exhibit. I was a little defensive at first, but eventually I didn’t think it was too biased. The really controversial part was something I somehow missed. It was a picture of Pius XII with a quote about how he did nothing to help the Jews during the Holocaust. Though one might be able to say that he could have done more (though the complexity of the situation is unmistakable,) this description completely ignores the hundreds of thousands of Jews saved by Pius and other Catholics throughout Europe. Pope Benedict XVI, in negotiating his upcoming visit to Israel, made it a condition of his visit that Israel remove the picture and description. Israel rejected that and the other conditions he made, but he’s still coming. There are obviously bigger things in Israel that this government needs to change right now, and hopefully he can use his clout to get them to make some of those necessary changes, but it looks like the picture and description will stay.

The architecture of the museum was very effective, though I was skeptical when I saw the site model at the complex entrance. The museum is a long channel-like structure that cuts through a hill. The main side walls are large bare concrete walls that dramatically lean inwards. The main hall closes in on you as you walk through, and then forces you back and forth to view exhibits off of the hall. Then, after going through the exhibits and seeing an enormous circular space that houses thousands of binders containing the names and information of victims, you reach the exit. You walk out the glass doors and the walls that had been closing in on you dramatically widen, and you find yourself on a deck with an incredible view of Israel hillside. The building took you through the heavy burden of the holocaust in order to deliver you to this view which so clearly says, “This is Israel. This is Zion. This exists so that the Holocaust will never happen again.” Perhaps a little propaganda-ish, but it was very effective. I was impressed.

First Century Jerusalem Model

In the early 1960s, the owner of the Holy Land Hotel in Jerusalem hired an architect and archeologist to make a 1:50 scale model of what Jerusalem would have looked like in the first century, just before it was destroyed by the Romans in 70AD. It included the entire city within the walls, most impressively the temple that Herod the Great built before the turn of the millennia. It was an extraordinary model, which effectively gave you a visual sense of the make up of Jerusalem and the trajectory of the Holy Week events. I was in architecture school heaven. Of course, being me, I was down to my last two batteries, so I took about a third of the pictures that I would have with more batteries.

We didn’t see the model in the hotel, but rather it has been moved outside a few years ago to the Jerusalem Museum. In the same complex, there is an exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Essene community that produced the scrolls in the first century AD. For those of you who might not know, these scrolls were discovered in 1947 in caves in near the Dead Sea. They contain information about the Essenes, but most importantly they contain full texts of nearly all of the Old Testament books. These texts were 1000 years older than any other full Old Testament codex.

Church of the Visitation and St. John’s Church

It isn’t stated in the Bible where Mary’s cousin Elizabeth and Zachariah lived, except that they were in the Judean hill country. The present city of Ain Karem is the place believed to be their home. Here they have two churches, one up a hill for the Visitation. The other is at the bottom of the hill, dedicated to the birthplace of St. John the Baptist. We are all a little curious why it is believed that the Visitation and the birth happened so far apart from each other, but when you consider that we don’t even know the town is certain, why worry about a detail like that.

I know you are sick of me saying this, but St. John is another one of my favorite saints. It was nice to pray in the church dedicated to his birth. The church wasn’t visually that stunning, and was covered with blue and white stenciled tile, like you’d find in a kitchen from the 1920s. The Church of the Visitation had some very impressive paintings.

I have to admit, embarrassingly, that the real highlight for me that afternoon was getting delicious gelato on the way out of the town.

Gethsemane

On our way back from the Church of the Visitation, we stopped on the Mount of Olives and had a holy hour at the Church of Gethsemane. This, of course, is where Jesus prayed to the Father that, despite His distress about enduring the Passion, He would endure it if it was the Father’s will. It is a profound place to meditate on Christ’s humanity. I hope to go back again at some point to spend more time in prayer.

Peter in Gallicantu

After Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas and the temple guard came and arrested Him. They took him to the house of Caiaphas, where He was kept until the next morning, when He was taken before Pontius Pilate. It was in the courtyard of this house that Peter denied Jesus three times. Gallicantu refers to the cock crowing after the denials.

There are a series of caves under the lower church here. It is believed that these were where Jesus was held overnight. It would have been a completely dark dungeon-like experience, probably matching well the sense of abandonment Christ must have felt. His Father was allowing Him to be tortured and killed. His friends abandoned Him. His closest friend denied even knowing Him. And now He was forced to contemplate all of this by Himself in a pitch dark cave. This too I hope to go back to for meditation.

I know this entry was long. Sorry, but thanks for enduring to the end.

The last few days have been very nice, though there haven’t been a ton of new sites. We are now finally in Jerusalem. I really did not want to leave Galilee, because it is so beautiful there. I can understand why Peter tried to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem. It wasn’t so much about avoiding the cross. He just didn’t want to leave the beauty of his home. (I’d be an awesome revisionist historian.)

Before I tell you about the sites, I wanted to share some realizations I had this week. First, it dawned on me that when I bring pilgrims back here years from now, it will not be like it is now. It is such a blessing to be able to go back to sites over and over again, by myself, for leisurely prayer. Pilgrimages are so rushed that deep prayer rarely gets to happen. Second, I had thought for the first half of this pilgrimage that I would be able to bring people here and show them the sites myself. I will have been here for ten weeks, which would make me a quasi-expert, right? Well, eventually I realized the stupidity of that thought. The local guides we’ve had are invaluable. No foreigner, even with Holy Land experience, could ever give what they give. Finally, related to this last realization, I have come to appreciate the fact that this land and its history and its present problems can never be “figured out.” It is complex beyond belief, and I’m not going to understand it better than anyone else. All I know is that this place needs Christ’s peace, and therefore it needs Christ’s disciples here to spread His message. We need to support Christians in the Holy Land (and pray that they stop arguing with each other.)

Capernaum

We had Mass here on the 12th. For some reason this was one of the places I was most excited about visiting. This is primarily because it was the home of St. Peter, who has always been one of my favorite saints. (I can sympathize with his mistakes, and I hope that I can ultimately respond to Christ’s calling for my life the way he did.)

Capernaum was located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, placed along the Via Maris, an important international trade route in Galilee. The town was located right on the border between the tetrachies of two of Herod the Great’s sons, Philip and Antipas. This meant that tolls were collected there for travel along the Via Maris. This would explain why Levi (or Matthew,) the tax collector, was called by Jesus here. It also meant that the plethora of foreigners that passed through were able to see Jesus’ miracles and spread the stories throughout the Middle East.

Like many places in Israel and all along the Syrian/African Rift, the city was destroyed in the 749 earthquake. Jesus did say that things wouldn’t go so well for Capernaum because they saw His works but did not believe. So, moral of the story: if you’re planning on not believing God’s miraculous actions in your life, make sure you design your buildings for a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

Presently, the excavations have exposed several buildings, including a fourth or fifth century octagonal Byzantine church over the spot of Peter’s house. In 1989, after waiting eleven years for a permit, they built a modern church over the spot. It is not attractive, but it is an engineering marvel, suspended over the ruins on only 8 piers and designed to withstand another large earthquake. There is also a synagogue from the fifth century. It had to compete with the popular church over Peter’s house, so they built it in the elaborate basilica style, even though it was a gentile style. You could throw a rock from Peter’s house to the synagogue, which is where it would have been at Jesus’ time. Jesus performed a lot of miracles in Capernaum, in and out of the synagogue, and as His following grew, His enemies in the synagogue leadership probably also grew. So, Jesus was probably in hot water well before He made His way to Jerusalem.

Tel Dan

In case you are not familiar with the term “tel,” it is a site where several civilizations built on top of the previous ones. It creates a big mound, which archeologists uncover level by level, starting with a shaft through them all that helps establish layers and the periods they represent. This particular tel goes back to the 9th millenium BC (note, I really mean 9000 years before Christ!!!!) It still had exterior city walls that went all the way back to several millenia BC. Some of them were 20 feet tall and still in good condition. I’m sure all the retaining walls I designed in Kansas City will last that long.

The tribe of Dan took over the area in northern Galilee near the Golan Heights well over 1000 BC. This town was built up by the tribe, but its real significance came in the 9th century BC. Jeroboam, a northern kingdom leader, tried to turn this area into a significant place of worship and sacrifice so that his people wouldn’t go to Jerusalem to worship, giving their allegiance to the southern kingdom of Judah. He didn’t even care if the sacrifice was pagan, which led to all sorts of problems, obviously, ending with the Assyrian defeat of the northern kingdom in the 8th century BC. Moral of the story: don’t go sacrificing to other gods because you’re kingdom (or its modern equivalent) will be destroyed by the Assyrians (or their modern equivalent) and you’ll be bummed (or a modern equivalent.)

Church of the Beatitudes

They aren’t exactly sure where the Sermon on the Mount took place. The church at the top of a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee is from the 19th or early 20th century. They have found ruins of a much older church, but it is in a slightly different location. I personally don’t really care whether the present church is at the exact spot or not, but our guide made an interesting note. He said that locals will go to pray at the church at night, sometimes, and they can actually hear the fisherman talking out on the water, over a quarter mile away. So, the location has great acoustics, but the key is that the speaker has to be at the bottom of the hill. So, perhaps, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was at the bottom with followers sitting comfortable sitting up the hill, easily hearing everything He had to say. Who knows? Well, I guess some people do, but they’re too busy singing God’s heavenly praises to worry about it.

Jericho

There really wasn’t much to see here. They have done some excavating, but there wasn’t enough for us to bother going into the site. So, instead, we ate lunch next to the oldest city in the world.

From Jericho we could see the Mount of Temptation, where it is thought that Jesus was tempted while He fasted in the desert. There is a monastery about 2/3rds of the way up the cliff. We didn’t go. It’s run by the Orthodox, so we’d probably be shoed away anyway.

Notre Dame Center

Okay, so we have been in Jerusalem for a few days. I haven’t quite wrapped my mind around the fact that I am sitting just a few football fields from the spot where Christ died and rose, saving us from our sins. I actually didn’t go to the Holy Sepulcher for the first couple days because I didn’t feel spiritually ready to go there. Eventually, yesterday, I did the Stations of the Cross with the Franciscans. The last five or six stations, of course, happen inside the Holy Sepulcher, so I finally got inside, though I have yet to make a visit inside the tomb. All in due time, I’m sure.

The place we are staying at is called the Notre Dame Center. Right across from the New Gate, it was built over a hundred years ago and has mostly served as a spot for pilgrims. It is now run by the Legionnaires of Christ and it is very nice. The director, Fr. Kelly from Ireland, gave us an introduction the other day, which included going to the roof, which overlooks the Old City. We could see so much, and he did a great job of orienting us to the area, including walking us through Jesus’ Holy Week. Then we all sang Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. I happened to be looking up at the stars when we reached the line: “Infinite Thy Vast Domain.” Yes, all those stars were created through the same Person of the Holy Trinity Who, just yards away, suffered and died for little old you and me. Incredible! Praise God!!

We woke up today to the falling of rain, which is greatly needed in the country. Some spots went nine months without rain, and the Sea of Galilee is very low. This is an issue, given that it is the water source for 70% of Israel. But because of the rain, we only made a few stops today.

Caesarea Philippi

The tribe of Dan took over this part of the Golan Heights, entering the land of the Canaanites much further north than the other Israelite tribes. Part of the area of their conquest was Banias, which is one of the three sources of the Jordan River. It is a spring at the bottom of a basalt rock cliff with a large cave.

When the Greeks took over in the fourth century BC, a myth developed here related to the god Pan. The cave was supposedly his dwelling, into which worshippers would throw their sacrificed animals to appease the god. Over the years there were three different temples built here, to Pan, to Nemesis, and to the emperor Augustus (built by Herod the Great.) When Herod’s son Philip inherited the tetrarch here, he built up the city and called it Caesarea Philippi, a nod to Caesar with a little self glorification.

It was here that Christ, the source of living water, took His disciples to ask the question, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” Of course, it is Peter who replies that He is Christ, the Son of the Living God. Christ then gives him the keys to the kingdom.

There are the remains of a fifth century church here, but the real neat parts are the cave and the spring. Seeing the source of the famous Jordan River is pretty powerful. I had to give my second and last reflection here today. It wasn’t too bad, especially considering that I forgot I had to give it and came up with what I’d say on the ride over. The Holy Spirit will even work with slobs like me, for some reason.

Drews

We stopped in a town run by the Drews. They are a sect that broke from the Muslims in the 1000s. They profess all of the monotheistic religions, but hold their founder as a god. It is strange religion. The only point of the story is that we stopped here to get trademark drew sandwiches. They use really thin bread, thinner than a tortilla.

Syria

The Golan Heights, as you know, were occupied by Syria until the 1967 war. Now the separation between Syria and Israel is a no-man’s land, patrolled by the UN. We stopped to see the UN base and look out across the valley to see Syria in the distance. Israel has not really built much in the Golan Heights, perhaps because they sense that eventually the land may have to be returned to Syria. One of the reasons they want the land is the only Israeli ski resort, which is on Mount Hermon, the highest point in the land. (By the way, the Sea of Galilee is 600 feet BELOW sea level.) One of the other reasons for wanting the land is the fact that one of the Jordan sources is in the area, and they don’t like the idea of the source being controlled by Syria.

Magdala

This was only a small town excavated by the Franciscans. We couldn’t even walk around it due to a fence, but here was the home of Mary Magdalene. It is right on the Sea of Galilee, and it is believed that it was a very active fishing town, at one point containing a couple hundred boats.

Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes

Our German lodging while at the Sea of Galilee is just a short walk from Tabgha, which is one of the locations where Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes. There is a simple but beautiful church there owned by German Benedictines. A few of us went there for evening prayer, which revealed to me that my German is pretty bad. No surprises here.

Gergesa (the Gedarene Demoniac)

At the base of a steep hill are the ruins of a 5th century church. It is a neat little spot, which was only discovered in the last decade or two when the highway department was widening the road. There has always been debate about whether the town was Jewish, because it is odd that swine would be raised there if it was. But a record of temple collections found in a nearby town lists Gergesa, indicating that indeed it was a Jewish town. It wasn’t hard to imagine the pigs running down the steep hill into the water. The Israelites, and most ancient people, thought that water contained darkness and evil, so it is no wonder that the newly possessed pigs would run into the water and drown.

Korazim (Corazin)

This town is only mentioned once, I believe, by Christ when He speaks of the people there seeing miracles and still not believing. There are the remains of a 5th century synagogue there.

Primacy of Peter

This is the spot where the Risen Jesus asked Peter the three questions about his love for Jesus. These questions, of course, were posed to Peter in order to give him a chance to atone for his three denials of Christ on the night before the Crucifixion. Jesus then tells Peter to feed His sheep. Christ had already given Peter the keys to the kingdom, and even though Peter tried to stop Jesus from going to His death, and even though he denied Jesus, Christ wanted to emphasize that Peter was still the one to lead His Church.

It was very peaceful to sit on the rocks and look out at the water, imagining Peter jumping from the boat and running to shore to see the Risen Jesus cooking fish. I felt connected with Peter there, who is one of my favorite saints. It was a “favorite saints” day for me, starting with St. Joseph in Nazareth and stopping here with St. Peter.