Tuesday, August 14, 2018

#5 - Israel 2018 (Sea of Galailee, Jordan River, Capernaum & Mt. of Beatitudes)

Today was one of the most spiritual and holy days thus far.  We left at 7am for the Jordan River.  We walked down to the river, on a dusty and already hot path, where we read scripture, renewed our Baptismal Covenant, and were sprinkled by Bp. Barry Howe with water from the Jordan River using an olive branch. Many were amazed at how small the width of the river is, compared to its enormity thousands of years ago.  The Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are retreating and shrinking at alarming rates.  We were all shocked at the amount of debris and garbage dumped at a place where we as Christians consider Holy, where some of the homeless may have left moments before, having left behind a fresh watermelon sitting open in plain view.
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From here we left and visited Capurnaum, the home of Peter.  This is the place where 4 men carried the paralytic man, and lowered him through the roof for Jesus to heal him.  We saw the layout of the remnants of the synague and homes in the area, as well as the beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee.  It is so lush and green here, as compared to the rocky and dry land of Jerusalem and the desert areas between.  We also visited Tabgha, the location of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.  From there we made our way to the Mt. of Beatitudes, where we celebrated Eucharist outside under the enormous trees and constant warm breeze.  I offered the homily on the Beatitudes, which was planned well before our arrival.  Such a beautiful site, and had a great lunch.  Many had the St. Peter's fish for lunch, including Marcia, which is the entire fish; head, scales and all.  I knew better, so I chose the chicken schnitzel. 😉  The sisters opened the Chapel for a private tour and time for reflection and meditation.  This sacred space was filled with mosaic pictures, including the entire dome, and an ornante altar in the middle.  The acoustics were amazing, as some hummed, "Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary".

We left for Tiberius, where we all got on a boat and took a ride on the Sea of Galilee.  It was windy, so remembering the stories about the disciples and the challenges of being a fisherman in such a place brought the biblical stories of the sea into reality.  The scripture of Jesus calming the storm was read by Marcia. After about an hour, we returned to the docks and walked to a museum where we saw an excavated boat from the 1st century at Kabbutz Ginosar.  What a story of how such a unique find required so much work to keep the boat entact and preserved for the current display.

After returning to Nazareth, we were shown a very special place, recently discovered under the Sisters of Nazareth Guest House (where we are staying).  We we escorted to a locked door, and then escorted down stairs to what was left of a 1st century home.  Located next to the Church of the Annunciation, this home is said to possibly be the home of the Holy Family, and the burial place of Joseph. We have learned over the past several days that families lived together until the son married and then built his home next door with his new family, and on and on.  What an information overload, spirit-filled and exhausting day.

But wait, not that exhausting.  Dinner was, well, lets just say something I couldn't eat.  So, Fr. Ryan White, Mr. Greg Donham and I decided to make a run for a Dominos Pizza place we saw driving back from Galilee.  It seemed much closer driving than it did us walking the streets of Nazareth at 9:30 at night. We finally found it, with 40 minutes before curfew; yes the nuns have a curfew of 10:30, and she took our keys and reminded us that she meant it.  The worker at Dominos was very polite, especially finding it humorous that half of the pizza must be without cheese. LOL.  We told him we had to be back by 10:30, and it was a 20 minute walk, so he bumped our order to the front of the line and got us out in record time. I'll admit it was odd sitting and waiting for the pizza in the brightest store in Nazareth at  that time of night, especially when people did a double take seeing us sitting at the table as they walked by.  Guess we stuck out a little bit.  We did a speed walk back, and even with Fr. Ryan recovering from a bout of gout, made it back with 3 minutes to spare.  The nun just gave us a grin as she handed back the room keys. The pizza, you ask? Awful! The experience? Priceless!  

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