THE FINAL PILGRIMAGE DAY

Hello, my fellow pilgrims!  Are you excited to see where our adventures on day 8 of our Holy Land pilgrimage, our final day, will take us? I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel.  Try to take a few minutes to pause, think about, and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy these final sights of the Holy Land, my dear reader~

 

Our first stop today is to the Old City of Jerusalem which consists of four quarters: the Armenian, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian. Some of the most ancient structures in Jerusalem, the walls, or at least their outlines dating back to Biblical times, are in this area.

 

Location of the Four Quarters in Jerusalem’s Old City

 

The Christian Quarter is where the Holy Sepulchre that we visited two days ago is located. The Muslim Quarter is the largest and most populous of the Quarters. The Armenian Quarter is the smallest of the Quarters.

 

Walking through the Muslim Quarter

 

A major landmark in the Jewish Quarter is the Western Wall where we are now. It is the last remnant of the original retaining wall around the Second Temple, which was built over 2000 years ago. It is considered the holiest of places where the Jewish people can pray. Herod the Great had it built. The left section is where the men go to pray and the ladies go to the right. It was a unique experience to be standing and praying at such a sacred Jewish spot. Continue reading “THE FINAL PILGRIMAGE DAY”

RESURRECTION APPEARANCES

Hello, my fellow pilgrims!  Are you excited to see where our adventures on day 7 of our Holy Land pilgrimage will take us? I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel.  Try to take a few minutes to pause, think about, and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy today’s sights, my dear reader, as we will conclude our pilgrimage next week~

 

We ended last week with hearing Mary Magdalene, the first person who saw the Risen Christ, proclaim:

Come experience a couple more Risen Jesus sightings.

 

Our first stop today is to the Church of the Resurrection in Abu Ghosh, one of four possible sites believed to have been referenced in the Bible story of “On the Road to Emmaus.” The exact location became lost in the early Christian era and was made more difficult from conflicting distance calculations mentioned in Luke’s gospel. This is a 12th century, echo-like sounding church that has wall and ceiling paintings (frescoes) remaining from the Crusaders. Notice that there are no faces on the people in the paintings. The Muslims who took over the region had a strict rule of depicting no images of humans in their art. It was seen as a violation of the commandment to not make any graven images. Continue reading “RESURRECTION APPEARANCES”

HOLY WEEK IN JERUSALEM

Hello, my fellow pilgrims! I am most excited to share day 6 of our Holy Land pilgrimage with you as we commemorate these sacred days leading to Jesus’ death and resurrection, which are the foundation of our Christian faith. I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel. Try to take a few minutes to pause, think about, and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy the specialness of this week, my dear reader~

 

We journey to Jerusalem today as we walk in Jesus’ footsteps of His Passion and death. You can see a view of the city of Jerusalem Jesus saw as he approached the city on the first Palm Sunday. We have a quick stop at the chapel called Dominus Flevit, which means “The Lord Wept” located on the Mount of Olives. The Lord wept over Jerusalem because it failed to recognize the peace that comes from knowing who Jesus was. It was blinded in knowing that God was present with them through the person of Jesus. Continue reading “HOLY WEEK IN JERUSALEM”

LAST DAY IN GALILEE

Hello, my fellow pilgrims!  Are you excited to see where our adventures on day 5 of our Holy Land pilgrimage will take us?  I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel.  Try to take a few minutes to pause, think about, and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy today’s sights which will complete our time in Galilee, my dear reader~

 

Our first stop today is at the Mount of Beatitudes area. These first pictures are from the guesthouse in Galilee where we stayed. Walking the grounds you can also see the beautiful landscape of the area, the Sea of Galilee, and the Mount of Beatitudes church. Continue reading “LAST DAY IN GALILEE”

PUBLIC MINISTRY

Hello, my fellow pilgrims!  Are you excited to see where our adventures on day 4 of our Holy Land pilgrimage will take us?  I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel.  Try to take a few minutes to pause, think about, and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy today’s sights, my dear reader~

Below is the Holy Land map again so you can see the places we have visited. We started at Mount Arbel, not specified on this map, but it is located near Tiberias and the Sea of Galilee. We then traveled to Nazareth, to Bethlehem, to the Jordan River, to the Mount of Temptation, and to the Judean Desert. The desert spans from Jericho through Hebron and along the Dead Sea. Our pilgrimage today takes us to Cana, Capernaum, and a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, which might be a little rough!

 

 

Cana, our first stop, is where Jesus performed His first miracle or sign, as St. John calls them, at a wedding feast. Continue reading “PUBLIC MINISTRY”

DESERT TIMES

Hello, my fellow pilgrims! Today is day 3 of our Holy Land pilgrimage. As we journey along, I continue to pray the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel. A gentle reminder to pause for a few minutes to think about and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy today’s sights, my dear reader~

 

Our first stop today takes us to the Jordan River, where Jesus’ public ministry began when he was 30 years old. Jesus was baptized by His cousin, John the Baptist, whose mission was to call people to repentance in preparation for Jesus’ coming. John baptized people in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins and repented. Continue reading “DESERT TIMES”

JESUS’ HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Day 2 of our Holy Land pilgrimage has arrived. As we journey along, I hope the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel. A gentle reminder to pause for a few minutes to think about and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy today’s sights, my dear reader~

Here is a map of the Holy Land where you can locate some of the places we will visit on our pilgrimage: Nazareth, Bethlehem, Capernaum, Cana, Magdala, Tabgha, Bethsaida, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Jerusalem, Mount of Temptation, Jericho, Masada and Tel-Aviv.

 

Photo courtesy of Jack Steffen under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

While walking in the footsteps of Jesus, it is appropriate to visit the site where it all started. We begin our pilgrimage today in Nazareth, at the house where Mary, who would become the mother of Jesus, lived. Continue reading “JESUS’ HUMBLE BEGINNINGS”

MOUNT ARBEL

We embark on our Holy Land pilgrimage today! Are you relieved you don’t have to take the 9 ½ hour plane ride?  As we journey along, I hope the places and scriptures come alive so you personally experience the fifth gospel. I encourage you to pause for a few minutes to think about and answer the reflection questions you will find along the way. Enjoy the sights, my dear reader~

 

Mount Arbel, the first stop on our pilgrimage, is located in the Lower Galilee region and towers above the Sea of Galilee. I was fascinated to see the caves that are dug into the mountain, which were hideout places for the Jews who fought against the Greeks and Romans. Continue reading “MOUNT ARBEL”

A HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE

I recently returned from a trip of a lifetime to the Holy Land. It was never anything I imagined experiencing but it is another wonderful ripple effect after joining a new church almost three years ago.  I am so grateful!

I am in awe when I think how I walked in some of the very same places Jesus did more than 2000 years ago! Our tour guide and hosts all shared vast knowledge and insights about the places we saw and Jesus’ life. As I have now gone through my pictures and notes from the trip, I am slowly “processing” it and coming to a better understanding of everything we saw. It has given me a lot to reflect on, and I would like to share parts of it with you, my dear reader, in the coming weeks. I want you to be able to join in and experience what St. Jerome said:

“Five gospels record the life of Jesus. Four you will find in books and the one you will find in the land they call Holy. Read the fifth gospel and the world of the four will open to you.”  –St. Jerome (347-420 A.D.)

Continue reading “A HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE”

THE RADIANCE OF GOD

I wrote a few months ago about a unique gift a friend gave me. It was a heart-shaped piece of wood that formed because of two trees growing together. On one side of the heart, there is a heart ingrained in the wood.  You can read about it here. The pictures I posted in the reflection were before I decided to preserve it.

 

Before refining

 

My husband sanded the heart a few times until it seemed perfected, making it smooth as silk,  getting rid of all the rough and dirty areas. He then spray-painted it with clear enamel. The wood kept soaking in the enamel, so several coats were needed to give it the beautiful luster it has now.

Continue reading “THE RADIANCE OF GOD”