Notes from the Holy Land Feb 23, Monday
This morning’s breakfast was a little more leisurely, we left the hotel around 9:30 AM to go to the nearby village of Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle.
Here at the wedding church we met, Fr. Martin from Oaxaca, Mexico, who is now pastor and director of the shrine. He spoke to us about the number of groups that are beginning to come back to Cana, and about the number of locals and increasing number of foreigners requesting permission to get married in the church.
While we were in the courtyard 2 groups passed, one from Indonesia, and the other from Bucharest.
He invited American pilgrims to return to the Holy Land, and to renew their wedding vows while in Cana.
After leaving Cana we travelled through the Jordan Valley passing many beautiful Palm Tree Groves along the way. As we descended to lower elevations, the temperature began to rise accordingly.
Eventually we arrived at the baptismal site where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. It is a very narrow section of the Jordan River before it flows into the Dead Sea.
The baptismal site can be reached both on the Israeli and Jordanian sides, with only about 20 feet between the two banks of the river.
After leaving here we continued down toward the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth and stopped at Qumran, the location in the Judean Dessert where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1948 and 1956.
Written by ancient Essenes, these manuscripts contain the oldest copies of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament.
These scolls are now displayed in the Shrine of the Book, at the Isreal Museum in Jerusalem.
After having lunch here overlooking the Dead Sea, we traveled to Jericho to meet Fr. Gustavo, of the Good Shepherd Church located right next to Terra Sancta School.
He spoke with us about the plight of the Christians in the Holy Land, noting that there are fewer than 500 now living in the area, with less than half of that consisting of Catholics.
The church and the school fall under the custody of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and relies heavily on the donations of visiting pilgrims and donors from the United States and around the world.
Catholic Journeys made a donation today, and promised to spread the word about their plight.
Finally, we left for Bethlehem, where we will spend the night, and we look forward to exploring the place of Our Lord‘s birth.
Shalom,
Jimmy
