SUN, June 24th

Sun, June 24

My dear friends and family,

I just want to thank you so much for all your prayers and support. Thank you for accompanying me on this journey to the Holy Land, to the home of our faith. This was an amazing birthday gift to me from Jesus. I have learned so much about my faith and I have received so many graces! I pray you have as well. I will continue to pray for your intentions and I ask that you will continue to pray for me and my ability to follow the will of God in my life. Jessica and I were both reflecting on the way home. I have never been to a place that I was not ready to return. I truly loved Israel and if God wills I pray I may return. I truly felt at home there. I have never felt that way in a place before throughout all my beautiful traveling opportunities. It is the same way that I feel when I walk into any catholic church and see the red everlasting flame lit and know that my Lord and my King is present. I encourage you all to continue to seek out the truth and embrace all the beauty and riches of our catholic faith and you will always remain in my heart!

Yours in Him,

Natalie

SAT, June 23rd

Sat, June 23rd

Hello friends and family! This is our final day in Israel! We slept in a little after our long day yesterday. We then made our way to Bethlehem and the site of the Nativity of our Lord. We were able to have mass in a small chapel. After mass we stood in a long line go down into the grotto of our Lord. Once down in the grotto we were able to kneel down and kiss the site of our Savior’s birth. I’m not sure if you have ever paid attention to the lyrics of  O Holy Night. Last year, I was reading the words and one line really got to me... “‘Til  He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” I have meditated on these words often but I truly felt their worth when I knelt down to kiss the site of our Lord’s birth, and I knew, probably still not fully but I know my soul’s worth. 

We left Bethlehem and headed to Bethany, a city right outside of Jerusalem. There is a huge concrete wall that separates the two. We entered to church dedicated to the site where the shepherd's and the Magi saw the star. This is also symbolic that Christ came for everyone. The shepherds were had the humblest job of the time, and the three kings, most likely persian were of royalty, yet they both came together for the birth of our King. There is such rich symbolism in our faith. Everything in the bible and all the customs has such deep meaning and truth to our faith and we only have to seek it out.

We drove back to Jerusalem one last time for our farewell dinner. It was bittersweet. Somehow Fr. Gabriel found out it was my birthday, so we had some kind of strawberry cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me in Arabic. It was beautiful.

FRI, June 22nd

Friday, June 22nd

Hello and friends and family. Today we were blessed with many special graces. Our wake-up call was at 5:15am. We walked through Jerusalem to the Holy Sepulcher church. This church is shared by six denominations within our faith. On a side note, we could not agree who would have the key to the church so it belong with the elder of a Muslim family and they come to open the church every morning and lock it every night. When you enter the church you see many candles hanging over a slab. This is the slab the body of our Lord was laid on after He died to be wrapped known as the Anointing Stone. You can smell the perfumes as you walk in. By God’s grace we were able to celebrate mass in the chapel in the site above the tomb of Christ. It was a small dome, that barely fit our group but one of the most memorable experiences ever! Afterward we were able to walk around the church while it was still pretty empty. It was so beautiful. We walked upstairs to the spot of calvary were Christ was crucified. It is underneath an altar so you have to be on your knees to touch it. How humbling! I really could not even begin to understand what I was touching! We continued to walk around. There were several altars with various pieces of art above depicting the crucifixion and the sufferings of Christ. Then we came to the pillar where our Lord was scourged...I can’t explain the intense sadness that came over me...

The cross of Christ is in Rome, however we were able to walk down below the church to a grotto where they kept all the old crosses and nails. When St. Helen, Constantine’s mother, claimed the church for the christians and restored it, she searched for the cross. In this room there were several crosses and they took a man who was paralyzed or dead( it is the same word in greek) and laid him on different crosses. The tried a few with no result. I think it was the fourth cross the tried healed him and they knew this was the cross of Christ.

We left the church and walked to the church of St. Anne and the birthplace of Mary. It is different to think of her as a child. I have not meditated on this much, but I should. I wonder if Saint Anne was still alive when Jesus was born. It is interesting to think of her as Jesus’ grandma. 

We walked to the pool of Bethseda. This is where Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed for 38 years. Jesus asked him, “ Do you want to be well?” It seems like a obvious question. The pool had healed many people, so why didn’t this man ever go in? Tony explained it to us that he was in short charging people on their way into the pool. Jesus when he was 12 and on his way to and from the temple with His parents would have passed through this town and see this man. Now he returns as a man and sees him still here. So really Jesus is more or less asking him, do you want to live a different life? Are you ready to let go of this and be healed and start anew? When I meditate on this question it doesn’t seem silly at all. I think it is very real for us all the time. Sometimes one of the reasons we continue to live in sin is because it’s comfortable. It is not that we want to sin but that we are afraid of change. This is exactly what Jesus is addressing. Are you ready to change? Do you want to be healed.

Upon leaving the pool we started our walk on the Via Dolorosa, the way or the stations of our Lord. It was hard to absorb all that we were seeing and trying imagine what truly took place here. I hope that I can return to this experience often in meditation. It was very hot out and we were walking all through city streets. We sang, Jesus remember when You come into your kingdom as we walked. The streets are now filled with shops and vendors. Some stations had a small church, some just had a sign that you could easily miss. The final stations are within the Holy Sepulcher. By this time the church was packed. I tried to revisit some of places inside the church. I spent some time reflecting in the room where the cross of Christ was found and at the pillar. Several people are said to have heard whipping sounds from the pillar so many people lay their face on the altar to listen. By the end of our time here I was spiritually exhausted.

We journeyed on foot the church of Dormition. This is the church by tradition where Mama Mary was assumed into heaven. It was beautiful. I found peace here after the sadness I experienced at the Holy Sepulcher. I have a great love for our Lady. She took on the suffering of her Son, but in silence. The silent suffering. I pray and pray that I may have the Fiat of our Mother written upon my heart. She said yes truly and with her whole being to God without every asking what it would entail or even a though of what she would endure. What faith! Such selfless obedience! Let us all ask for her intercession! She will truly lead us closer to her Son.

We continued to the site held by tradition to be the upper room. We ended where the Passion began. At one point this site was converted to a mosque so you can still see the remittance of this. Almost all our holy sites and churches were destroyed or converted to pagan places of worship at one point. It is wonderful to have a picture of a place to go back to when you read about these places. 

This last place we walked today was the western wall or the wailing wall. This is the most sacred place to the Jews. Their is a checkpoint just to get in. Once we were inside Tony said that if we wanted to go up to the wall we would have to cover our crosses. One women patrolling told Fr. Gabriel that his cross (the one hanging from his rosary) was too big. You could sense the tension in this place. I walked down to the wall and I did not cover my cross. People asked if I was going to put an intention in the wall. At one point I was going to, but I prayerfully discerned not. My intentions and my honor will remain with Jesus Christ. By the way, all your intentions went with me on all our travels. They have been blessed and touched to many holy sites. But ultimately my friends and family, it is by our faith that our intentions will be answered. (by God’s grace!) On a side note as were we sitting on some benches waiting for our whole group we heard some shooting sounds. My heart skipped a beat. Apparently it was fireworks for a Muslim wedding...I really think fireworks should be outlawed in tense places like this. :) As we walked out through the check point we were so thankful to see the familiar face of Walid, our bus driver. I’ve never been so happy to be on a bus after the walk of the day. Yet we still had some energy to have a little fiesta on our balcony overlooking Jerusalem.

Thurs., June 21

Thurs., June 21

Good afternoon friends and family! Today we dove deeper into our spiritual journey. We started out on the The Palm Sunday Road. We sang Hosanna on the way down. After maybe a 5 min walk we stopped at the church of Dominus Flevit. The church is on the Mount of Olives and faces the old city of Jerusalem. This is the site where Jesus wept for Jerusalem. (Lk 21:5-8) To this day the temple has not been rebuilt. The church is in the shape of a tear. For me this place just brought to reality how many times God tries to share himself with us and we just do not listen over and over again. 

We also saw some old Jewish graves from the time of King Solomon. Our tour guide is such a well of knowledge because he is also an archeologist. He was sharing with us that they found with all the married Jewish many small glass containing the tears of their wife. Women, once they reached puberty would collect their tears in these containers. When they married they would present them to their husbands as a symbol that they were giving their joys and their sorrows to them, everything and then were buried along with their husbands as well. This is important because if you remember, Mary washed the feet of Christ with her tears. In this instance, instead of giving her tears to Jesus as a romantic symbol, rather she used them, on the dirtiest part of the body (feet) in a way of total gift of self. Our bible is so rich! (It is so important to understand the context and the practices of the times!)

We continued down the path and stopped at a lookout point of Jerusalem. Amazing to see the same city that Jesus looked upon the week before he was to be crucified.

I rode a camel!

We then had mass at in the Garden of Gethsemane called the Basilica of Agony. The mosaics of the wall depict the night in the Garden and the betrayal. Before the altar in the center of the church is the rock agony that Jesus wept upon. This was the most moving mass for me yet. Throughout the mass, the thought that God placed in my mind was, where was Mary during this time? I am sure she felt in her heart that her baby was suffering. And yet our Blessed Mother took on that same suffering in silence. 

After mass we went to the well of Mary on which has was mosque built. This is the site of the Annunciation. The Muslim faith respects Mary and also believes in her virginity. 

We traveled to the Ascension chapel, the site believed to be where Christ ascended which is a tiny oval tower about as big as the living room. It is also cared for by the Muslims and is next to the mosque. Christians are allowed to visit and have mass only on Ascension Sunday. The Muslims also believed in the resurrection of Jesus, just not in His death. (or His divinity) Interesting enough, although it is common knowledge that Muslims pray to the East, did you know that the early Christians prayed to the East and had the east wall in their house usually contained the holy icons and crosses!

We said a rosary on the way to the the church of the Visitation. We hiked part of the way up to the church. The journey was through the hills from Judea into Samaria. Our tour guide said pilgrims hike the journey, and it takes about 17 days. The church was built over the site of the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. In the courtyard and all around the church are tiles containing the Magnificat. “ My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord....” in every language you could possibly imagine. Our tour guide said it for us in Hebrew, one of the spoken languages of Jesus. He would have also known Aramaic (primarily only spoken by Christian Syrians), and Greek. 

To finish up the day, we had a holy hour in the Basilica of Agony. I placed all your intentions on the rock of agony during our holy hour, and we were able to kiss it before we left. This adoration to me gave a whole new meaning to, “ Could you not wait one hour with me?” So many times we are too busy for our Lord and yet during His agony all He wants is our company. How can I deny Him? After adoration we had a chance to walk through the Garden of Gethsemane at night, the way the Jesus would have. You could almost feel the sadness in the Olive Trees. 

I love you all! Sorry this was so long, but we did many things today!

Hello friends and family,

I'm sorry I am a day behind. We only have wi-fi on the bus so I've had to save my entry and then upload. Yesterday we walked everywhere all day so no bus time. Here's is my entry from the 21st. Then I'll update you on the 22nd. Thank you for your comments. 

wed, June 20

Wed, June 20th

Thank God for another beautiful day in his homeland! Today is our last day in Galilee. We headed off to Capernum this morning for mass and adoration at the house of St. Peter. Just to reference, Capernum was one of the three towns cursed by Jesus and to this day is still in ruins, as well as the other two. We had mass in a church on top of the ruins of St. Peter’s house. This was where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law from fever and then she got up and served them. It is also the place Jesus healed someone from their demons. Maybe the most familiar to us though is Capernum is the town the roman centurion asked the Lord to heal his servant, and his response is part of our mass, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word...” Jesus also preached in the temple there, the Bread of Life discourse, John Chapter 6. I am the Bread of Life...My flesh is food indeed...” All His work here, yet it was still not enough for the people. Lord, Blessed be Your name! You are enough for me!

We traveled through the desert a little ways to the Jordan river. It was very small, maybe 10 feet wide, and you could see the soldiers on the other side protecting the Jordan border. Very different than what I expected. It was hard to visualize that this was the spot that God spoke out of the clouds during the baptism of Jesus. We were all able to renew our baptismal vows. That moment was very special. We were also blessed to witness a little peanut being baptized. Lord thank You for these special moments!

We drove a little further to the desert to the Dead Sea. Beautiful! Very different to see a body of water in the middle of desert, but clear water, and no clouds. There are lots of rules about entering the dead sea. It is the lowest point on the surface of the earth. I think about 400 feet below sea level. It was very interesting. You really shouldn’t stay in for more than 15 minutes because the sea is 30% salt (regular ocean is about 0.25%) It will actually pull the water out of your body and dehydrate you! If you get it in your eyes you have  to get out and rinse your face off. Burning is an understatement. And you really do float. You could sit and read a paper if you wanted to! Very different but all apart of God’s wonder!

Then our really journey began toward Jerusalem. We really drove through the desert. If you know anything about what’s going on in the middle east, this is where it’s happening, “the west banks”. Land previously owned by the Palestinian’s that Israel is in possession of and refuses to return. Think of any movie where they show the middle east...Iron Man comes to mind for lack of a better example. You are very aware that this land is a war zone to put it lightly. When we approached Jerusalem there was a line of cars waiting to enter the city. The city is surrounded by huge cement wall and everyone had to go through a check point. They searched each car, and armed soldiers came onto the bus and checked our passports. Please pray for all our christian brothers and sisters suffering over here. Pilgrims may come and go as they please, but Palestinians, especially the Christians can not. They can not even leave their own city without permission. We are so blessed to live freely! 

Hello friends and family. Today we went to Cana. The first miracle of Jesus! It was so amazing to see the old roads and the old jars. To think that Christ and Mary were present and celebrated at this feast! They allow couples to renew their wedding. Ows here as well! How beautiful! We then traveled to the place place where Christ multiplied the loaves. The old christians marked this spot with a huge rock whih is now the enter of the church! and where Jesus installed Peter as the rock of the Church. This church was on the sea of galilee! We all waded in the water. We then went on a boat ride of the sea. It was hard to fathom that this was the same sea Jesus walked on and calmed. Jesus spent most of his time around one lake yet changed the world! Jesus please give me this faith! Love you all! Offering mass and tons of prayers everyday!