Welcome to Israel
Greetings
We arrived here in Tel Aviv today around 4:00 PM local time (7 hours ahead of Indianapolis). We took the new non stop flight from Indy to Paris which was fantastic; no more stopping and waiting in NYC, Newark, Charlotte, Philly, etc. We then flew from Paris to Tel Aviv.
For the first part of this pilgrimage we are on eight day tour of the Holy Land that is specifically for Catholics. We are in a group of 35 others. There was a very nice welcoming reception this evening at which we were able to meet 10-12 of the other folks on the tour. Seems like it will be a wonderful group to spend the week with.
Tomorrow the actual tour starts as we visit Jaffa, Caesarea Phillippi, Megiddo, Mt. Carmel, and Haifa before ending our day in Nazareth, site of Christ's boyhood home.
In my readings on the life of St. John XXIII (Angelo Cardinal Roncalli) I am aware that he came to the Holy Land on at least one occasion. It was relatively early on in his life as a priest as he came with his friend, mentor and bishop of Bergamo, Bishop Radini-Tedeschi, while he was serving as secretary for the bishop. While not remembering clearly from my readings I do believe he made other visits to the Holy Land during his time of ministry in Turkey and Greece.
So what a powerful "double-dip" as we will be literally walking in the footsteps of both Jesus and Angelo Cardinal Roncalli during our time here in the Holy Land.
My plan is to have one specific intention for each day of our pilgrimage. Tomorrow one of our visits will be to Megiddo, an age old fortress and one of the most important biblical sites. According to the New Testament, this is where the Battle of Armageddon will take place, the final struggle between good and evil, which will prompt the return of Jesus to defeat the AntiChrist. I will be praying for all people in the world who harbor hatred and evil in their hearts and souls. That much like Paul, who traversed these areas and who had such a dramatic conversation, these people also will have a conversion and move away from their feelings of hatred and evil! Please join me in praying for this intention.
We give thanks to God for a safe start to our pilgrimage and we are very excited to begin walking in the footsteps of our Savior tomorrow!
God bless you!
We arrived here in Tel Aviv today around 4:00 PM local time (7 hours ahead of Indianapolis). We took the new non stop flight from Indy to Paris which was fantastic; no more stopping and waiting in NYC, Newark, Charlotte, Philly, etc. We then flew from Paris to Tel Aviv.
For the first part of this pilgrimage we are on eight day tour of the Holy Land that is specifically for Catholics. We are in a group of 35 others. There was a very nice welcoming reception this evening at which we were able to meet 10-12 of the other folks on the tour. Seems like it will be a wonderful group to spend the week with.
Tomorrow the actual tour starts as we visit Jaffa, Caesarea Phillippi, Megiddo, Mt. Carmel, and Haifa before ending our day in Nazareth, site of Christ's boyhood home.
In my readings on the life of St. John XXIII (Angelo Cardinal Roncalli) I am aware that he came to the Holy Land on at least one occasion. It was relatively early on in his life as a priest as he came with his friend, mentor and bishop of Bergamo, Bishop Radini-Tedeschi, while he was serving as secretary for the bishop. While not remembering clearly from my readings I do believe he made other visits to the Holy Land during his time of ministry in Turkey and Greece.
So what a powerful "double-dip" as we will be literally walking in the footsteps of both Jesus and Angelo Cardinal Roncalli during our time here in the Holy Land.
My plan is to have one specific intention for each day of our pilgrimage. Tomorrow one of our visits will be to Megiddo, an age old fortress and one of the most important biblical sites. According to the New Testament, this is where the Battle of Armageddon will take place, the final struggle between good and evil, which will prompt the return of Jesus to defeat the AntiChrist. I will be praying for all people in the world who harbor hatred and evil in their hearts and souls. That much like Paul, who traversed these areas and who had such a dramatic conversation, these people also will have a conversion and move away from their feelings of hatred and evil! Please join me in praying for this intention.
We give thanks to God for a safe start to our pilgrimage and we are very excited to begin walking in the footsteps of our Savior tomorrow!
God bless you!
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