If It Is Easy, It's Not for Us

Wow! What a remarkable experience to travel to Israel and see the Holy Land with Father Jerry, Father Bob and the rest of the Sacred Heart Pilgrims. At the conclusion of our trip we discussed our favorite “top five” moments that will live forever in our memories.

Joanne's Favorite five are:

• Mass on a boat on the gorgeous Sea of Galilee
• Riding camels to dinner at Abraham's Tent tent in the Judean desert
• Lathering with mud and bobbing in the waters of the Dead Sea
• Everyone singing on the bus as we excitedly entered the ancient city of Jerusalem
• Looking at Richard's gorgeous blue eyes as we renewed our Wedding Vows at the Church Peter-in-Gallicantu.

Richard's Favorite five are:

• Witnessing pilgrims from all over the world attending the religious sites we visited especially the Romanians singing at the site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem and the Ethiopians struggling up the Mount of Temptation outside Jericho – These pilgrims make the sites holy. 
• Riding the camels to Abraham's Tent and feeling the evening breeze in the Judean desert. The English words Wind, Breath and Spirit merge into one word in Hebrew: Ruach. Let's all say that word together, now.
• Experiencing the geography of the Galilee, Golan Heights and the Judean Desert. I can follow the Jesus' route from Galilee to Jerusalem in my mind. I understand the importance of the Golan Heights watershed for the Sea of Galilee, the water supply for Israel. In the Middle East, water is everything.
• Driving a Tom Car ATV to the Syrian border. Here one can witness how peaceful this part of the world could be.
• Being baptized in the Jordan River. Last in line, as I watched almost everyone ahead of me grimace as they anticipated a dunking in the chilly water, I decided to be happy. And I was! When I listened to the old spiritual, Michael, Row the Boat Ashore, many many years ago, the Jordan River formed deep and wide in my mind. In reality, it is not the wide Mississippii. In the song, the Jordan is a metaphore for life that we must cross in good fashion to reach the other side. The song is still as beautiful as ever. 

 

The Babylonians destroyed the first temple in 586 BCE; the Romans burned down the second temple on the very same day in 70 CE. The Muslims built a mosque called the Dome of the Rock at the exact location of the temple in 691 CE. Some believe the third temple will come down from heaven. When it does - talk about a collision of religions! A merger, although it could happen, is not likely in the Middle East. Marian, our guide said Israelis have a saying “If it's easy, it's not for us.”

 

It was very easy for us, riding along in an air conditioned bus, staying at two five star hotels and eating at wonderful restaurants. Religious sites although sometimes crowded were made holy by the presence of pilgrims from all over the world. The pastoral border with Syria was peaceful. The roads were smooth and well marked. From our isolated tour bus, everything was as normal as suburban America. I know it isn't but I would have no fears planning a second trip with a Lonely Planet guide or a Friendship Force exchange.

We are so grateful we could experience the Holy Land - What a blessing!  Remembering Marian now, "Take what you need, leave the rest. Let's go!"

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

May 10 -  Entering the Old City of Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate, we passed a Falun Gong demonstration, adherents of which have been persecuted and tortured in China.   After a short walk along narrow streets lined with shops, we arrived at the  Church of the Holy Sepulcher located where Jesus was crucified and buried. The church having had a tumultuous history is now adminstered by the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and two other organizations.  A decree by the sultan in 1853 fixed responsiblities for various parts of the church among the various communities. Everything was fixed!  A short wooden ladder below a second floor window hasn't moved since!

Inside, we climbed up a short flight of stairs to a small room. A Catholic chapel, the XI Station of the Cross, lies on the right and the Greek Orthodox chapel, the XII Station of the Cross, on the left. The XIII Station, A wooden bust, Our Lady of Sorrows, stands between the chapels' altars.  We also viewed a huge rock that was split when Christ was crucified.

The church is really a complex of chapels and holy sites.  I was much confused as the crucifixion occurred on Calvary, a small hill just outside the city's gate.  A lot has changed in two thousand years -the city's walls moved and the hill is now inside the walls but the second floor is Calvary?   Future pilgrims might profit by study before visiting. See also:

Church of the Holy Sepulcher - Website
Church of the Holy Sepulcher -Bible Places   

Of course, the holy sites are packed with pilgrims. We returned to the ground floor to stand in line to see the Coptic church's altar placed where Christ's feet were in the burial chamber.  Another long line leads to a Greek Orthodox chapel at the place where Christ's head lay; we missed this one.

Before leaving the church we assembled in the church within a church, the Catholicon, for a short devotional service.

After an hour or so in the Christian Quarter for lunch and shopping, we bussed over to the Garden Tomb for Mass, our last one for the trip. 

We enjoyed a fine dinner at the American Colony. Our guide, Marian and our bus driver, Gabby, received presents from us and in turn, Marian had presents for Fathers Jerry and Bob.

We were up early for what seemed like a short bus ride to the airport for our ride back home.  The plane was late taking off so we missed our connection in Newark. After a short stay in a Newark hotel, we flew to Fort Myers early the next morning.   No complaints from me - In the year 330, a pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem exchanged donkeys 230 times on the first leg of his trip from Bordeaux to Constantinople!  No donkey exhanges for us - we are so blessed.

Jerusalem - May 9

This morning we returned to the Mount of Olives to the Church of Pater Noster .  A cave below the church is celebrated as the place where Jesus taught the disciples the Lord's Prayer.  Large stone scrolls of the prayer of the Our Father written in dozens of different languages line the walls around the church.  They were just amazing!

Next, we bussed over to Mount Zion.   In a courtyard outside King David's Tomb, Father Jerry "high-fived" with a group of Israeli school children on lunch break. Above King David's Tomb on the first floor of a building facing the courtyard is the Cenacle, the site celebrated as the location of the Last Supper.  Actually, the upper floor was a mosque. In Jerusalem, buildings come and go depending on who is in charge - a synagogue, numerous churches, and a mosque stood at this site. So, I found it a little more than difficult to connect the room with the Last Supper of Judean 1st century, the  Italian renaissance of the 15th century, or anything else.  Looking at the wall (see pictures), the big stone bricks at the bottom were laid down by Jewish people, the medium sized bricks in the middle by the Crusaders and the little bricks at the top by the Muslims.

Next up was Mass at the nearby church of  Saint-Peter-in-Gallicantu where we renewed our wedding vows.  The church is located where Peter is believed to have denied Christ three times at the house of a high priest, Caiaphas.  Below the church are caves one of which may have imprisoned Jesus before his trial.  The website linked above shows a number of excellent photos of the church.

After lunch we walked into the old city through the Lions' Gate to the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed a crippled man.  The road through the Lion's Gate becomes the Via Dolorosa. We bypassed the First Station of the Cross and entered the Convent of the Sisters of Zion. Stone slabs making up the floor of the basement were once the floor of a forum and before that the pavement of the Antonia Fortress where Jesus was condemned by Ponitus Pilate. So this was our First Station of the Cross.

We continued to follow the Via Delarosa to the Fifth Station of the Cross and turned to make our way to the Western Wall. The wall is no longer called the Wailing Wall because the Jewish people have no reason to weep at the wall anymore.

The men and women pray at separate sections of the wall. Soon a third section will be added for couples, a development that the ultra orthodox are not happy about.   The men pray at the wall closest to place where the Temple stood on the other side. The Romans burned down the temple in 66 AD and the Muslims built a mosque at the exact same spot in the 7th century.  Jews and Christians are not allowed in the mosque called the Dome of the Rock so the wall has to do.

We slipped prayers for relatives into crevices the wall, mine in the men's section and Joanne's in the woman's section.

Security gates guard each entrance to the Western Wall area. Notice in the pictures that one of the young girls in uniform carries an automatic weapon.  

We exited the area, found our bus and returned to the hotel for dinner and bed.

 

Jerusalem - May 7

May 7, Our 19th Wedding Anniversary - Father Bob talked about "accepting not fixing" at our Mass held on the Mount of Olives across a narrow street from the Garden of Gethsemane.   The honking taxis that clogged the street could not be heard in the peaceful grove walled off from the outside world.


Father Bob asked Joanne & I to say a few words about "How We Met"  and "What Makes our Marriage Work." After Joanne gave a complete accounting of our meeting day and other reflections , I just said, "I was lucky!" 

Joanne really enjoyed visiting the Church of All Nations, which was a gorgeous holy place.  All the windows were created in different hues of purple to reflect the ranges of Christ's suffering.    Then, we walked down the Kidron Valley that lies between the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount.  Jesus walked this very way after his arrest in Gethsemane. 

The hillside was once covered by thousands of Jewish graves dating back thousands of years but many of them are now destroyed. Marian described the Jewish burial practice of the time of the crucifixion of Jesus.

At the end of our walk, we entered an archaelogical site where excavation well below street level has uncovered the ancient Pool of Siloam.  An aquaduct that brought water to the City of David and a stepped path that led up to the Temple Mount have also been discovered.

After lunch at the lovely Kibbutz Ramon Rachel
hotel, we went to the Israeli Museum where we viewed a large model of 1st century Jerusalem and the Dead Sea Scrolls.  Just fascinating!

We began and ended our day at the Hotel Dan that features a very attractive multi tiered lobby.

Jerusalem     Jerusalem 3 D       Jerusalem History

Abraham's Tent



Father Jerry in the Judean Wilderness

Riding camels back three thousand six hundred years, we arrive at Abraham's Tent. His overwhelming hospitality satisfies us.

Below us, the wilderness tumbles eastward down to the Jericho oasis and on to the Jordan River where John baptized Jesus. Throughout the centuries, travelers crossed the Jordan here to trek upward thirty-four hundred feet and forty-five miles through the Judean wilderness to Jerusalem.

On the near barren hillsides, scattered bands of goats graze.  As the sun sets behind us, a soft and warm desert wind dissolves time and space; the hills disappear in darkness. Far below us, the lights of Abraham, of Joshua, of John and Jesus glisten. There too are our lights.

In Hebrew, the word ruach means wind, breath and spirit.

Tomorrow in Jerusalem. 



Judean Desert  Genesis Land (Abraham's Tent)

Qumran, Masada & Dead Sea

Masada stands as a symbol of Jewish resistance to foreign rule.  Herod the Great, hated by the Jewish population, built a fortress atop an isolated mesa overlooking the Dead Sea. The fortress even included two palaces for Herod. The fortress was essentially a back-up plan if he were forced to flee Jerusalem.  Masada was also strategically located to block an invasion route crossing a shallow bank in the Dead Sea. Herod never had need of the fortress.  

 

During the revolt against Roman rule in 66 AD, about one thousand Jewish extremists held out in Masada for three years. The Romans used slave labor to build a ramp upon which they could move a siege engine against the walls.  When the Romans arrived at the top, they found the inhabitants had committed suicide rather than be carried away into slavery.

 

In modern times, Israeli soldiers are sworn into the army at Masada. They climb the snake path to reach the top. We took a cable car!

 

We carried our water with us, toured the ruins on top and breathed in the fabulous views of the Dead Sea. Upon our return to below sea level, we applied mineral rich Dead Sea mud to our bodies and floated effortlessly in the briny water!

 

Qumran was a pottery manufacturing site in the first century.  When the revolt failed, the temple priests carried their scrolls here, placed them in clay jars and hid them in caves in the cliffs above.  The scrolls are the famous Dead Sea Scrolls.  

 

 

 

 

Masada    Masada  Qumran  Qumran  Dead Sea
Dead Sea

Bethlehem

Indians pressed in behind us as we pressed on the

Birthplace of Jesus from atlastours.net

Romanians ahead of us. Hundreds of Pilgrims packed like sardines in the airless corridor inched forward taking small steps toward the birthplace of Jesus.  As we converged on a circular set of steps leading to the grotto below, forward motion stopped; the Romanians had prostrated themselves in front of the birthplace.  One couple opened a music sheet and started singing.  Despite the heat and the sweat of so many bodies packed together, this was a holy moment. Their music filled the grotto.  We were in the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. 

Like Jericho, Bethlehem lies within a Palestinian Autonomous Zone.  As our bus passed through a security check point and a walled barrier, Marian again moved to the middle of the bus and pocketed her Israeli ID. After rolling by a Kentucky Fried Chicken sign with a peace message, we stopped to pick up a Christian guide who was born in Bethlehem.  The city once eighty-five percent Christian is now about eighty percent Muslim.

After lunch at a cafeteria style restaurant, we assembled for Mass in St Jerome's Grotto hidden below St Catherine's Church. St Jerome, Father Jerry's patron saint, translated the Bible here from Greek and Hebrew into Latin in the fourth century.   

Listen as he expresses mixed sentiments about the visiting pilgrims in his time: 

 They come here from all over the world, the city regurgitates every type of human being; and there is an awful crush of persons of both sexes who in other places you should avoid at least in part but here you have to stomach them to the full. 

Maybe he was hot, tired, crushed and sweaty when he penned the words above. He also wrote:

 The very best of the Christian community comes to the Holy Land; they speak different tongues,  but the devotion is one and the same. There is no sign of conflict or arrogance, no differentiation whatsoever, except in the mode of dress. No one censures another, no one criticises or judges his neighbour.”  (Copied from See The Holy Land website.)

He could say the same today.

After our visit to the churches, we stopped at a Christian souvenir store. I thought the prices on the olive wood carvings must have been a mistake. They weren't - the lowest price, $350 negotiable, but there's only so much one can negotiate! We bought some less expensive stuff as did most everyone else.

As we were leaving, the shop owner thanked us for coming and recited the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke.
 
Eastward toward the Judean wilderness, the earth appeared to drop away at the edge of Bethlehem. The blue sky disappeared into a dusty tan haze.

As we exited Bethlehem, Israeli security guards armed with automatic rifles bordered the bus requesting us to hold up our passports and then blew us off and waved us through. We had dinner and slept in Jerusalem's elegant Dan Hotel.