Lent in the Holy Land

Ash Wednesday of 2017 fell on March 1.  On March 7, my wife and I were on a plane from Newark, New Jersey to Tel Aviv, Israel to join an eleven-day pilgrimage. From the early 1990s until 2012, I had completely avoided getting on an airplane.  That I was able to endure an eleven-hour flight was a special gift from God to start our trip of a lifetime.

While our pilgrimage went clockwise around the Holy Land, I am organizing my memories chronologically according to Our Savior’s life by the twenty mysteries of the Rosary. While I can offer memories and reflections, the Franciscans of the Holy Land have had unique roles in the Holy Land since the time of St. Francis of Assisi in the 11^th century AD; they offer invaluable resources.

Geographic/political boundaries can be highly confusing in the Holy Land.  All of our travels were within the modern state of Israel or within the Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank of the Jordan River (cf.,USCCB, Holy Land Pilgrimage Guidelines).  While the Palestinian population of Israel is predominantly Muslim, a small part is Christian (cf, Jewish Virtual Library, Latest Population Statistics for Israel).

Annunciation / Nazareth

Though we often fail to speak this way, the Annunciation – not Christmas – marks the very start of Christ’s human life!  While there are indeed differences between Catholic and Orthodox understandings of how the Annunciation took place, both affirm that Nazareth was the place where the Archangel Gabriel announced to young Mary that she would conceive and give birth to the Savior (cf, the Catholic Basilica of the Annunciation and the Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel).

After twice visiting Italy and the Vatican, I was struck by how comparatively modern some church structures were in Nazareth and elsewhere.  To understand this, it is vital to keep in mind that the Holy Land has seen cycles of destruction and re-building (cf, Catholic Encyclopedia , Nazareth). The 1969 Basilica of the Annunciation is actually reminiscent of post-Vatican II architecture in the U.S.

While Nazareth is in Galilee and the northern part of the modern state of Israel. Most of Israel’s Palestinian Christians live in Northern Israel (cf, Jewish Virtual Library, Latest Population Statistics for Israel).

Visitation / Ain Karem

Ain Karem highlights the visit of the Blessed Mother to her cousin Elizabeth, mother of St John the Baptist.  At eighty-eight miles distant from Nazareth, it must have been quite the camel ride for young Mary!  Infinitely better than any future ultrasound could offer, Elizabeth felt pre-born John the Baptist leap for joy to learn of the arrival of his pre-born Cousin and Savior!

Nativity / Bethlehem

While Jerusalem and Bethlehem are less than six miles apart, Jerusalem is in Israel and Bethlehem is in the Israeli-occupied territory of the West Bank.  Between them was a partial “wall” that appeared similar to a sound barrier on a U.S. highway.  No photographs of the wall were permitted. Though there was a security check, locals seemed quite familiar with how to easily drive around it.  As I previously noted,

Before visiting the Shepherds Field and Grotto and the Nativity Church, we learned that the original Bethlehem’s streets could be far less attractive than those in its Pennsylvania namesake (see images: 1, 2, 3, 4)….[Yet] nothing compares to touching the spot where Christ was born, seeing the spot of the manger, or visiting the Grotto of the Innocents, which honors those male infants and toddlers slaughtered by King Herod.

Presentation and Finding of the Child Jesus / The Temple

Reflecting now on the joyfulness of the Presentation (especially as new grandparents) and the Finding of the Child Jesus, it is also sad to recall where both occurred.  All that remains of the Temple of Jesus’ time is the Western Wall (aka, the Wailing Wall), considered the world’s holiest spot by Jews. Atop that great retaining wall is the Temple Mount and the Islamic “Dome of the Rock.”

Baptism of the Lord / Jordan River

What is initially most striking about the site of Christ’s Baptism is the narrowness and shallowness of the Jordan River at the point. Nothing seems majestic. In fact, it is a remarkably humble spot. It recalls Christ humbling Himself to receive Baptism at the hands of His cousin.  As I previously noted,

Some believe that the site of Christ’s Baptism by John was also where the Jews of long ago crossed into Israel after leaving Egypt.  During the so-called ‘Six Day War’ of 1967, this site was laced with landmines (cf, Times of Israel, 12/10/2018)!  When we visited in 2017 (See images 1, 2, 3), efforts were still underway to completely rid the area of explosives.

Wedding at Cana

After His baptism, Christ returned to Galilee.  He traveled to such spots as Cana where He enacted His first miracle.  It was thrilling that my wife and I were able to renew our wedding vows at Cana. Here is what our Catechism says of Cana:

On the threshold of His public life Jesus performs His first sign – at His mother’s request – during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to Jesus’ presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence. (Catechism, 1613)

Preaching of the Kingdom / Galilee, Bethany, Jericho, Mount of Olives

Also in Galilee, Jesus announced His mission in Capharnaum.  By the Sea of Galilee, He called His first apostles, preached the Sermon on the Mount, healed a leper, multiplied loaves and fishes, walked on water, and appeared after His resurrection!

Jesus also conducted His ministry apart from Galilee.  He was pals with three siblings from Bethany, one of whom He raised from the dead. There is a tradition maintaining that the tree which Zacchaeus climbed in Jericho to see Jesus may still exist! Jesus’ teaching of the Our Father is commemorated at a spot on the Mount of Olives.

In Galilee 2017, we had a hotel room with a balcony on the water.  One evening, there was such an incredible storm that I was fearful to even look out the window!  Yet, that thunder and lightning could hardly have compared to the storm that the apostles were experiencing in their boat, when they saw Jesus walking toward them.

Transfiguration / Mt. Tabor

Galilee is the site of Jesus’ Transfiguration, Mount Tabor, is also in Galilee.

During each celebration of the Eucharist, we actually get to go to Heaven.  Somehow, some fail to appreciate – and fail to be in awe – that it is Jesus Himself, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity that we receive in the Eucharist.

Like Peter, James, and John, we must also descend the mountain and go back to our everyday lives after a phenomenal taste of glory.

Institution of the Eucharist / Upper Room

Quite a week was that first Holy Week, starting with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  At His Passover meal with His Apostles in the Upper Room, Jesus instituted the Eucharist for us.  While so many fail to fully understand or seriously underappreciate that the bread and wine at each Mass truly become Jesus’ Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity!

The Sorrowful Mysteries / Jerusalem

With events closest in time to His death, Jesus experienced great agony and betrayal, such as in the Garden of Gethsemane.  “St Peter in Gallicantu (at the cock crow)” recalls the three time denial by Peter, whom Jesus would still make the first pope.

The Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem is the road that actually contains the fourteen “Stations of the Cross”, leading to a fifteenth station, which is the Resurrection.  Stations one through nine recall important moments of Jesus’ carrying the cross through Jerusalem.  Now within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are Stations ten to fifteen.

The Resurrection

Since the first Easter, the  Resurrection Tomb of Christ has been empty!  Incredibly good news! St. Paul notes:

And if Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.  Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.  Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.  But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15: 14 –20)

After His Resurrection, one of Jesus’ appearances was to His apostles at the site of what is now the Church of the Primacy of Peter – even cooking them breakfast!

The Ascension

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be” (John 14:3).  The Ascension means that Jesus has gone and is preparing a place for us!

Descent of the Holy Spirit / Upper Room

In addition to being the site for the first celebration of the Eucharist, and the site of a post-Resurrection appearance to His Apostles, to which we trace the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Upper Room is where the Apostles and Blessed Mother gathered for the Descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The Assumption

Like Jesus’ own tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, “Mary’s Tomb” is also empty

After the Ascension of her Son, the Virgin Mary aided the beginnings of the Church with her prayers. Even after her Assumption into heaven, she continues to intercede for her children, to be a model of faith and charity for all, and to exercise over them a salutary influence deriving from the superabundant merits of Christ. The faithful see in Mary an image and an anticipation of the resurrection that awaits them and they invoke her as advocate, helper, benefactress and mediatrix (Compendium of the Catechism, # 197).

The Crowning of Mary as Queen of Heaven

As a loving Jewish Son of the Holy Land, Jesus chooses to greatly honor His mother:

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death” (from the Catechism, #966).