There were twelve of us:- Father Yates, Father Humphreys, Mandisa Baleka, Paul Charman,

Nell Decarmo, John Fleck, Len and Ivy Gibbs, Norman Home, Rachael Joseph, Thalia Nettleton,

and Carole Ridley. We arrived at Tel Aviv airport, were joined by Ibrahim, our guide - a Palestinian Arab, Greek Orthodox Christian – and Ali, our Muslim driver. Who drove us to our hotel in Tiberias, the Ron Beach Hotel on Lake Galilee; we arrived  at about midnight and were greeted by a genial night porter.   We found our bedrooms heated and a welcome platter of food provided. 

Cana and Nazareth

Tiberias is a winter resort, the Sea of Galilee lapping the terrace of our hotel - a view guaranteed to get everyone up early!  But we hardly expected the bright sun and blue sky next morning which was typical of the weather until the last day. 

Our first stop was at the Arab town of Cana, to visit the Roman Catholic Church commemorating the first miracle performed by Jesus, at the wedding feast. Here, in the crypt of the Church, John 2:1-12 was read. This was our usual practice during the Pilgrimage. At each of the holy sites we visited, we took it in turn to read the appropriate New Testament verses. This was especially moving at our next stop, at the Church of St Mary’s Well in Nazareth – the Church of St Gabriel – built over the fresh water spring where it is believed that the Archangel Gabriel first appeared to Mary. We stood right beside the spring, the gentle sound of the water flowing out of the rocks, deep inside the Church, as the account of the Annunciation was read from St Luke’s Gospel.

The Basilica of the Annunciation, completed in 1969, above what is claimed to be part of the home of the Virgin Mary, is a splendid construction, containing vast illustrations of the Annunciation contributed by different countries. We eagerly spotted the English one, which includes reference to Walsingham.  We spent some time in the spacious Church before the short walk to St Joseph’s Church, and to the Synagogue standing on the site of the synagogue where Jesus taught.

Lunch was taken at St Margaret’s Hospice in the hills overlooking Nazareth and affording a magnificent view of the town from the terrace. St Peter’s Fish was on the menu – a fish apparently only found in the Sea of Galilee and in a lake in Africa.

Our last journey on this first day was by rickety taxi  (actually small coaches) up the winding road to the summit of Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration. We believed the guidebook, that there were 15 hairpin bends top be navigated to reach the top. Mass was celebrated in the church; this was followed by a period of silence and meditation - an opportunity to “look, listen and pray”  - one of the intentions of the pilgrimage - against the backdrop of the fertile Pain of Jezreel below and the sounds of the birds, the occasional ‘plane’ overhead and church bells. .

The Lakeside Ministry

We spent Friday at sites associated with Jesus’ life around the Sea of Galilee - first, at the ruins of Capernaum, before visiting the Church of the Loaves and Fishes at Tabgha. Mass at Tagba was in an unforgettable setting on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, in beautiful sunshine We sat on felled tree trunks in a clearing in the woods, facing the stone slab altar, with the lake behind it and the distant mountains on the opposite shore visible. The only unexpected sound being a murmur briefly carried across the water to us from a passing fishing boat. Life was going on elsewhere and did not intrude.

Another memorable sight greeted us next, on the Mount of the Beatitudes, a splendid octagonal Church, built in 1937 overlooking the Sea of Galilee. As we stood on the balcony and heard the Beatitudes from St Matthew’s Gospel read by John Fleck, we marvelled again at the beauty of the language and the matchless views that belonged to that reading. The peaceful garden surrounding the Church provided an appropriate place for our daily time of quiet.

Some of us walked – others took our bus – down the side of the Mount of Beatitudes to the Church of the Primacy of St Peter on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. As we walked down, we could appreciate even more what our guide had suggested: that there is a natural  amphitheatre between the summit of the Mount and the Sea, and the  sound of one’s voice carries perfectly from top to the bottom. In this way, one can imagine Jesus preaching on the Mount and his voice being heard by everyone in the crowd.

The Church of St Peter’s Primacy or Mensa Christi at the bottom is built on rocks on the shore of the Lake and marks the place where Jesus appeared to his Disciples after his resurrection and he prepared food for them. There was an opportunity for us to reflect, in the simple Church there, and then, for some of us braving the cold water, to put a toe in the Sea before boarding a boat to take us back to our hotel. Once on board the boat, which we had to ourselves (most of the time we were virtually on our own during the Pilgrimage), we had the surprise of seeing our boatman raise the Union Flag and encourage us to sing the National Anthem as we glided across the calm water.

Len Gibbs read Mark 4:35-41 – the Calming of the Storm! - and we attempted to catch some fish, remembering the events described in John 21.  Despite the boatman’s expert demonstration of casting the net on both sides of the boat, and the presence of our two priests, we caught nothing!

Jericho

After Mass at the hotel early next morning, we left Tiberias and drove along the Jordan Valley, stopping at Yardenit, where the River Jordan joins the Sea of Galilee. Baptisms were being conducted there by total immersion. and we stayed a while, renewed our own baptismal vows and were sprinkled with water from the Jordan.

Overcoming any nervousness we might have felt, on arrival in Jericho we took a cable car up to Monastery of the Temptation which hangs precariously on the side of the Mount. A steep walk up many steps brought us to the monastery itself where, in the chapel of the Temptations we heard and appropriate Gospel reading and prayed.  We then had an opportunity for rest and refreshments in a café just below the Monastery, before the rapid descent. From there we could see the ‘Tell’, the ancient mound which is all that remains of the biblical site of the City of Jericho, the city whose walls “came tumbling down.” In the present day town we saw Elisha’s spring and a huge old sycamore tree, suggested as the Zaccheus climbed to see Jesus more easily(:Luke 19:1-10). Time was available for shopping (in case the reader thinks this was not included!), after lunch in a garden restaurant.

As we drove along the road through the wilderness that lies between Jericho and Jerusalem we were reminded of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. We stopped at a deserted spot for our silence and meditation. From a high ridge we looked across the deep valley of the Wadi Kelt towards the Greek Orthodox Monastery of S.George lying deep in the rift of a bare, inhospitable mountain range. This was the kind of unexpected and remarkable view we had during our Pilgrimage – religious buildings of remarkable construction, in natural settings which were in themselves remarkable. 

Jerusalem

Our Hotel, the Golden Walls, was conveniently near the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City, and so close to the wall surrounding the Old City that we felt we could touch it from our bedroom windows!

Sunday in Jerusalem!  Most of us managed the very early morning walk through the Damascus Gate to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the great Basilica built on the traditional rock of Calvary and Our Lord’s tomb. Steeped in history and religious significance, it was difficult to realise that the present building is the fourth on the site and dates from the 12^th century. The building is shared by five Churches, – Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic or Latins. This was particularly evident while we were there, when full voice was being given to all the different liturgies, sometimes accompanied by a blast of organ music from the Roman Catholic Mass.

Later that morning, the group walked from the Mount of Olives down the winding path to the Church of Dominus Flevit – marking the place where Jesus wept over the City of Jerusalem – to the Garden of Gethsemane. We wondered how many of us knew that this means the garden of the olive press. We celebrated Mass in the Garden in a beautiful open-air marble amphitheatre, constructed for worship, ignoring the distant sounds of occasional knocking by some builders (Sunday is a working day Jews and Moslems) and  a protest march about the walkway constructed next to the Temple Mount. Afterwards we wandered separately in the sunlit garden for our meditation and then went on to visit the adjoining Church of the Agony or the Church of All Nations. In front of the altar is an expanse of exposed rock, said to be where Jesus prayed before his arrest. The building of this Church is a heartening example of what can be achieved, by co-operation between the many countries that contributed towards its cost. It was completed in 1924. A short distance away is the traditional tomb of the Virgin Mary which is approached down a flight of steps into a Byzantine crypt.

 Lunch was outside the Old City, at the Jerusalem Hotel – a charming, unpretentious place despite its grandiose name – before we re-entered the Old City, through the Jaffa Gate, and went to the Armenian Church where we joined the sparse congregation for Vespers. Many of us in the group felt too distant in this form of worship; the clergy and others at the altar had their backs to the rest of us all the time and there was a vast space between them and us, seated as we were against the wall of the church. We also felt somewhat under scrutiny after reading notices outside the church saying we were not allowed to do various things such cross our legs while in church.

In the evening there was a bonus  (as if one were needed!) in the form a coach tour of Jerusalem at night.  We joined a party of Americans and spent nearly two hours on a fascinating excursion into the newer city, including the Knesset building, Rockfeller Museum, and the extensive Orthodox Jewish Quarter. It was a surprise to many of us that orthodox Jews in Israel are privileged, in that they do not work (they study the Torah), are not conscripted for military service and are subsidised by the Government. 

Bethlethem          

Next day was our much anticipated journey to Bethlehem, some five miles from Jerusalem. We were allowed, without any difficulty, through the checkpoint at the high wall built to cut off the West Bank. But we sensed something of the resentment that Palestinian Arabs feel when they are required to submit to scrutiny and interrogation if they wish to go back and forth or have to do so because they work on the ‘wrong’ side of the wall.

We first visited the church marking the Shepherds’ Fields, where we celebrated Mass in a roughly-hewn cave nearby, now consecrated and furnished as a church.  We had to believe that  the guidebook could be right in saying that the ceiling had been blackened by shepherds’ fires since time immemorial! Or, perhaps, by the countless candles that had been lit!

The Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, is regarded as Christendom’s oldest complete Church, and is owned jointly by the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Churches.  A much more modern Roman Catholic Church has been built alongside (we entered it through the main Church) and is the one used for the Midnight Mass broadcast to us on television and radio each year.

The cave of the Nativity is below the church and a silver star marks the traditional place of birth. There we sang “O come, all you faithful” and Carole read from Luke, Chapter 2.  An unforgettable few minutes was unfortunately broken by a rather unceremonious request for us to leave to make way for a procession that was due at midday. But we took it all in our stride and were able sooner than we thought, to wander off and have our usual daily time of silent meditation elsewhere. Some of us found the beautiful cloister dedicated to St Jerome, who had worked in a cave nearby, translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin for some 18 years.  He is buried there.

Our next stop was at Ein Karem, where we had lunch at another oasis of calm and hospitality, the Sisters of Sion Convent.  We walked up the long, winding path to the Church of the Visitation, marking the site of the visit by the Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth. Mosaics and paintings to enjoy there, before we went down into the village and visited the Church built on the site of the birth of St John the Baptist.

The Old City

Our last full day was spent appropriately, walking in the Old City of Jerusalem, starting at the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu (The Cock Crowing), and then to Dormition (Falling Asleep) Abbey marking the site of the death of the Virgin Mary. We continued in the Jewish Quarter, visiting the Upper Room and the Tomb of King David, before going through King David’s Gate  - and the inevitable x-ray of our belongings and body searches – to reach the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock. An impressive site despite the plastic sheeting over the controversial walkway which has given rise to hostile action by Muslims in the City.

The day’s Mass was at the Ecce Homo (Behold the Man!) Convent, built over the Lithostrotos, or pavement, dating from the Roman occupation. Etched into a flagstone can clearly be distinguished the outline of a dice-game (the King’s Game) played by Roman soldiers; occasionally the solider who won would be given the robe of the prisoner to be crucified. After lunch at the convent we walked along the Way of the Cross, following the route Jesus took to Calvary.  Nine of the stations are along the Via Dolorosa, six within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We stopped at each Station and felt the rain gently fall on us – the only time during our Pilgrimage – as Norman Home read the relevant Bible passages..

So, we ended our Pilgrimage in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with our daily period of silence. Most of us took this special, further opportunity to join the small queue of people to enter the Tomb; and we all walked around inside the Basilica just as wished.

Our Farewell

On our last day we made an early start to reach the airport for our flight home. Such a memorable and enjoyable journey - a Pilgrimage that owed everything to Father Yates and Father Humphreys, who should be nominated and given awards for their organising ability, their patience and good humour, not to mention their judicious chivvying whenever it was needed – not too often we hope! And thanks, too, to McCabe Travel, and to our Guide and Driver for everything they did for us, so smoothly and without any problems as far as we could see.

The Pilgrims  -  February 2007