“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3-10
Today, we got to see another sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. It was amazing.
We sat with Father Willie for breakfast and we had an awesome conversation. We discussed the fact that the churches in Europe are empty, but we told him that to our surprise, in Budapest, the church that we attended on the Sunday we were there was packed. His theory is that when the church is being persecuted, it makes people go to the church even more. He said that in Cuba, the churches are also packed. And in Miami, the churches are also pretty full because according to him, we are an exile community. When people leave their countries, the mass brings them comfort because it’s the same mass that they attended in their home countries, even if it’s in a different language. But things are changing now because the next generation, our children, is becoming complacent. They don’t go to the church because they feel they don’t need to. He shared something that he had heard from Father Vallee. He said that today we don’t have a lack of faith, what we have is a lack of imagination. Today, children have everything at the touch of a bottom. If they need an answer to a question, they just take out their phones and they google it. They are exposed to computers and television since they are born. They don’t play made-up games. They don’t create imaginary friends. So it’s very difficult for this generation to believe in something that can’t be explained by science. They cannot imagine that there could be something beyond what they cannot see. So many are questioning whether God truly does exist, even if they have grown up in Catholic schools, and within a family that goes to church every Sunday. We are hopeful, though, that the seeds that we have planted, will sprout and give fruit some day. We just have to continue being patient, and trust it’s all in God’s time, not ours.
After breakfast, we headed to the Mount of the Beatitudes, and on our way we passed the site of a synagogue that was discovered in 2009, and it dates to the times of Jesus. Amazing. There is so much history in this Holy Land.
The Mount of the Beatitudes is not very tall. It was so peaceful up there. It’s run by Carmelite nuns. They are adorable.
We were supposed to have mass up there, but we had a last minute change of plans. We will have mass in Cana. We took up a collection for the nuns, though, and we bought rosaries and other little things from the nuns to help them out.
The church is built in the shape of an octagon. Each side represents one of the eight Beatitudes. Also, on our way up the path, there was a sign with each of the Beatitudes in English.
There are also beautiful gardens around the church. We heard the reading of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5:1-12 while sitting on steps made of stone in the peaceful gardens. Father Willie did a comparison of the reading in Matthew and the same reading in Luke. He said that probably Jesus mentioned the Beatitudes on various occasions, just like he, Father Willie, repeats some of his stories over and over again, to the point that when he performs weddings, the alumni tell him: “I hope you have new material.” In Matthew it says that he gave the Beatitudes from a mount while in Luke it says that He gave them on the plain. Matthew was writing to the Jews. For the Jews, the mountain was very significant. Moses received the Ten Commandments on a mountain. Luke was writing to the pagans for whom it was hard to believe that God had come down from heaven to earth, therefore when talking about the Beatitudes, he places Jesus on the plain. Luke brings it down to their level. Father Willie also compared the Annunciation in both gospels. Matthew emphasizes Joseph, who was from the line of David, to convince the Jews that Jesus was the messiah because it had been prophesied by the prophets that the messiah would come from the line of David. Luke emphasizes Mary, who represents the humanity of Jesus. It was interesting to understand both perspectives.
From the Mount of Beatitudes we went to Cana, where Jesus’ first miracle took place. We celebrated mass and renewed our wedding vows in the church that is built where it’s believed that the wedding took place. The readings for the mass were from Genesis, when God created Adam and Eve; from 1 Corinthians 13 which is Paul’s discourse about love, and the gospel, of course, was the miracle at Cana from John 2:1-11. Father Willie said a story about one of his trips to the Dominican Republic, Arroyo Grande. When he was scouting the place where they would work that summer, he arrived at Arroyo Grande, and he asked the campesinos what they needed most. The elder of the town said that they needed a chapel. He asked them: “Are you sure? We can build a bridge so you can cross the river, or an aqueduct so you can have running water or poles so you can have electricity.” The elder said that even though they needed all that, they needed God more. “If we have God,” he said, “we will be able to take care of everything else by ourselves.” Father Willie said that the campesino taught him much more than he could have imagined. So they built the chapel.
Years later, Father Willie returned to the Dominican Republic, and he was close to Arroyo Grande. He asked the driver to take him there because he would love to celebrate mass in the chapel. When he got there, there was a bridge. He arrived at the elder’s house, and he had passed away a few years earlier. The daughter offered him coffee, and she had running water and electricity. She asked Father Willie: “Do you remember what my father said to you? He was right. After God became our center, we were empowered to take care of everything else.”
Father Willie tied this story to marriage. He said that with Jesus at the center of our marriage, we are empowered to overcome any obstacles that we may find in our path. The enemy is constantly attacking marriage and the priesthood because he knows that if he destroys the foundation, the church will crumble. He also mentioned the importance of also having Mary in our lives. She was present at the wedding in Cana, and because she was there, that marriage was successful, so successful in fact that we are still talking about it 2,000 years later.
Afterwards, we renewed our wedding vows. He asked all the married couples to approach the altar and stand around it. It was a lot of us. Out of the 73 that are on this tour, almost 60 of us are married. The renewal of the vows was so special that most of us ladies were in tears because it was so emotional. After the communion, Manny and Helin began to sing “there is love, there is love...” It was a beyond special celebration.
We then went to see one of the jars that it’s believed was one of the six jars that were part of the miracle. It’s not a clay jar as most of us imagined it to be. It was more like a cement jar that weighed tons. One of the best things about this trip is that what we have been imagining all this time is completely different from reality. Now, when we read the Bible, we will have a completely different image in our minds.
Our next stop was Jericho. Jericho is the place where Joshua recaptured the Promised Land for the Israelites by going around the wall seven time with bullhorns, and the walls just crumbled (Joshua 6:1-21). Jericho is also the place where Jesus met Zacchaeus, the tax collector who had climbed in top of a sycamore tree (Luke 19:1-10).
The place we had lunch was a resort so it was pretty nice, like an oasis in the middle of a dessert. It was buffet style so we had a few choices. We are pretty sick of buffet meals already because they are all pretty much the same, but at least we are eating and for that we are thankful. We then stopped in an observatory where we saw a camel, and a view of the Mount of the Temptations. It was dry, ugly, and smelled pretty bad. Thank God we didn’t stay there too long.
We then headed towards Jerusalem which was an hour away. We drove through the desert and very close to the border with Jordan. Literally, we drove next to the electric fence that separates the two countries. Shuki explained to us that if anyone touches the fence, they will make a judgement call based on the level of impact. If it’s an animal, it won’t give too much of a shock, but if it’s a human, they will know. The fence is numbered so they will know exactly where it happened, and within minutes, the Israeli soldiers will be there. It made me think of the wall that Trump wants to build on our borders. It’s pretty much the same thing. No wonder the Israelites and Trump get along so well.
Our arrival to Jerusalem was very exciting. We could see the walls that separate the old city, and of course, it has grown so much that the city has expanded beyond the city walls. I have been watching a series back home on Spanish television called “El Rico y Lazaro” (The Rich and Lazarus) from the parable found in Luke 16:19-31. It portrays the invasion of Babylonia to Jerusalem based on the book of Jeremiah. I could picture what Jerusalem looked like back then. And we stood on the top of a mount looking down at the city, so I imagined that was the view that the Babylonians had when they invaded. It was mind blowing.
Shuki and Ana brought a bottle of wine, and small wooden cups for us to make a toast on top of the mount, which was an observatory filled with people. We did our toast, and then began singing “Que alegria cuando me dijeron, vamos a la casa del señor, ya van cruzando nuestros pies, tus umbrales Jerusalen.” It was pretty special and very emotional. Each day this pilgrimage just gets better and better.
We then arrived to our hotel, the Dan Panorama, which will be our base for the next six nights.
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