This post comes from pilgrims, Susie Reed of Sag Harbor, New York,
and Diana Reed & Mary Adkins of Washington, Pennsylvania.
Today felt like a day that we have been moving inexorably towards on our Holy Land pilgrimage. Our first five days were spent in and around Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and this afternoon we literally "came up" to Nazareth. (This is the Holy Land and the Hilly Land!) Our itinerary followed Him, from Nazareth to the Jordan River to the Sea of Galilee to the Sermon on the Mount, ending at Capernaum.
We descended from the hills of Nazareth, proceeding northeast to the Jordan River. Our guides, Iyad and Mark, pointed out the Valley of the Dove to the west, which is the path Jesus would have taken walking to the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. As our bus left Nazareth, Father Thomas said to us, "You can never tell what will move you on a pilgrimage. Sometimes the things you think are "supposed to" move you don't, and it's the surprising and unexpected things that do. Today, as we spend the day visiting the places of Jesus' ministry, let's try to be quiet. Often it's hard to hear when we're all chattering."
1. The Jordan River. As we approached, Iyad warned, "Don't expect the Mississippi." The Jordan River isn't a creek, but rather a fast-moving stream. Before we arrived, our driver, Mohammed, stopped, and the bus and Iyad jumped out, returning with several olive branches in his hand.
We drove down a quiet dirt road and disembarked at at an isolated bend of the river. It was indeed a fast-moving stream, approximately 10-feet wide A few old wooden boats were pulled up on the bank, and tall cattails lined the river on both sides. It could have been AD 27.
We commenced by singing Shall We Gather at the River. Then, together, we renewed our baptismal vows. Father Tom walked down to the Jordan, dipped the olive branches into the river, and with a big smile, showered us with the waters of the Jordan. We were baptized here, just as Jesus was by John. This was a high point for all of us, especially for Susie, who had never been baptized.
2. Mount of Beatitudes. The Mount of the Beatitudes looks over the Sea of Galilee and many of the sites of Jesus' ministry. We visited the simple octagonal church designed in 1937 by the Italian architect Berluzzi, which reflects Jesus' eight "blessings. Our group walked to a hillside near the church and read the Beatitudes aloud. While we tend to read these today as calm and soothing they were in fact radical, demanding and countercultural.
St. Ignatius of Loyola (founder of the Jesuits) developed something called the Spiritual Exercises in the mid-1500s. They are a compilation of meditations, prayers and contemplative practices that include actively imagining and projecting oneself into scenes of the Gospels in order to help people deepen their relationship with God. To be speaking, and listening to the words of Jesus in the exact locations where he uttered them was deeply spiritual.
We returned to the bus expecting to move on to the next site. Instead we stopped abruptly at the side of the highway. As we disembarked. Iyad asked us to stand along the fence facing the Sea of Galilee. We were then instructed to turn around. Halfway up the hill across the road was a grotto, high enough for a person to stand. There, at the front of the grotto was one of our group, Carol Bellamy. None of us had noticed she'd left the group. Now she began to speak to us. reading the Beatitudes from on high.For that moment, we were the local people, looking up at a spot from which Jesus might very well have addressed the crowd. It was surprising, dramatic, and moving. "When I was reading aloud up on the hill, what struck me was that The Beatitudes are just as true and relevant today," Carol said later.
Our group then ascended to the top of the hill together and shared communion in a small grove underneath an olive tree. The intimacy and beauty of the communion was one of those "surprising and unexpected" things.
3. The Sea of Galilee. Our lunch at a local restaurant fittingly consisted of whole grilled fish from the Sea of Galilee (Tilapia, also called St. Peter's Fish, along with the delicacies we've come to enjoy—(hummus, tabour, salads, and pita). Afterwards, we proceeded to a famous local kibbutz where we viewed a boat from Jesus' time which had been discovered buried in the mud banks of the Galilee. The boat was painstakingly removed and restored. It took scientists nine years to dry the wood, which had been waterlogged for 2000 years. We then walked out onto a dock and boarded a boat, which took us out out onto the Sea of Galilee. The water was calm and magically sunlit as we sang Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.
4. The Church of the First Feeding of the Multitude at Tabgha. Our next stop was this beautiful Byzantine-style modern church built over the rock where Jesus laid the loaves for the feeding of the 5000. This is where it happened, people! (The church also has exquisite mosaics of the kinds of wildlife you would see around Galilee.)
5. Church of Peter's Primacy. We walked a few minutes up the road to this church, where Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" We know the rest of the story. Unlike the white sandstone churches in Jerusalem, this one is built with the black basalt rock common to the area. In the center of the church is a huge raised, felt rock where Jesus made breakfast of bread and grilled fish for the apostles. On his visit here in the mid-1960s, Pope Paul VI climbed the stairs and fell to the ground to hug the rock
6. Capernaum. Our final stop of the day was the ruins of Capernaum—the town Jesus chose as home base for his ministry. About 1500 people lived here during that time, and there are remains of many houses, as well as huge stone mortars for grinding wheat and pressing olive oil. Jesus' father, Joseph, was a "tekton"—a stonemason who might have built these implements, and it is likely that Jesus learned the same trade.
The Galilean town of Capernaum was the center of Jesus' messianic activity. It was strategically located on the Via Maris, a busy Roman road that stretched east to Damascus and west to the Mediterranean. Jesus chose many of his apostles from Capernaum, including the fishermen Peter, Andrew, James and John, as well as the tax collector Matthew. In the center of town is the site of Peter's house (where the paralyzed man was lowered through the roof). The remains are now covered by a modern church. Just a few paces away are the ruins of a 1st century synagogue where Jesus may have taught.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are welcomed!