Greetings, Pilgrims:

It has been a while since I posted.

I think about all of  you often, and was especially thinking about you as we celebrated Palm Sunday yesterday.  Walking down that Palm Sunday road at that Masses I served yesterday took me back to that day we walked it together.  What a beautiful experience that I will never forget.  Thank you so much for joining me on that journey.

I wanted to share this with you.  A couple of weeks ago, after our Friday night Stations of the Cross, we had a presentation of The Last 7 Words of Christ with a live quintet of strings and commentators offering reflections. If you have some time (just a little under an hour), you might want to listen to this beautiful and powerful presentation.

I have another one I want to post when I can get it edited.  It is "Mary's Way of the Cross."  It is the Stations of the Cross from the perspective of the mother of Jesus as she observed her son along his journey.  It will bring tears to your eyes as we hear our wonderful voice of Mary sharing her emotions.  I will get that done soon, I hope.

In the meantime, I hope you are blessed by this.

The Last 7 Words of Christ

New Post

Howdy, Ya'll...

I just posted an incredible video at Day 6.  Go there and watch "Down the Mountain," as our bus driver and good friend Ahmed takes us on an unbelievable journey down the mountain.  You won't believe the hairpin turns he had to negotiate.

I have a short interview with him that I will post when I can.  In the meantime...go to Day 6 and enjoy.

Blessings to all.

Thank God for Our Freedom

Howdy, Ya'll:

Rather than put this post down at Day 5 where it actually took place, I am going to leave it here for a while.

At a time when our freedom and our liberty are being threatened and trampled upon by those who think they should have the power to do whatever they please, we pilgrims had a unique experience.  It was an experience that we hardly ever do here in our own country.  In the middle of the Sea of Galilee, we stood and sang our National Anthem while our flag was raised.  It was a rather moving experience.

Please continue to pray that we will, as a nation, do the right thing and that we will stand up for our freedom.  Praise be to God for our freedom and thanks be to God for those who have fought and died to protect and preserve that freedom.

I hope you are blessed by this...I know we were:

The 2012 Pilgrims

Howdy, Ya'll:

I mentioned in an earlier post about the miserable weather day we had in the Old City and I promised an update about how our experience during the day was really very profound.  I have not really gotten to that yet...I want to, and I will...but, here is the group picture we took on the steps outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

You can see by our garb how we were affected by the weather.  With that said, I hope you can see in our faces the joy we were experiencing having just walked the Stations of the Cross and realizing how very much Jesus loved us by making that same journey for our sakes.  We were miserable, but we realized that His journey was MUCH more miserable than ours.  And, He did it out of love.

Here is the group photo of the 2012 Pilgrims:

New Post Alert (2/6/12)

Howdy Ya'll:

I have posted some new videos onto Day 7.  It all went under the Sheep Video, so just find the Sheep Video and read what is below it.  It is a report on our visit to the birthplace of Jesus.

Blessings to all.

New Post Alert (2/5/12)

Howdy, Ya'll...

Today is Sunday, and like most of the pilgrims I am trying to recuperate and get back into the groove.  Since I was not assigned at Mass today (I do the schedules,) I had the opportunity to go to Mass and sit with my wife.  It was such a gift to be able to be able to sit with her and worship with her on a Sunday.

When I looked at the Gospel as Mass was about to start and saw that it was about the healing of Peter's mother-in-law and how Jesus had gone away to a deserted place for prayer, I leaned over to my wife and said: "We were there and we saw that and we did that."  That is just one example of how a trip to the Holy Land will enhance a person's experience of Scripture.

I have added some commentary and pictures to Day 5 pertaining to this very topic.  Please scroll down to Day 5 and read the post again to see the new commentary and pictures.

Coming tomorrow: new videos of our visit to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.

Blessings to all.

We Are Home! (2/5/12)

Howdy, Ya'll...

We are home...safe, sound, and real TIRED!  So, be nice to your pilgrim today.  It was a long, long day yesterday.

I will be continuing to post for a while, as I still have a lot of catching up to do now that I have good, solid internet.  I plan to post some more descriptions of our days as well as videos and pictures.  So check in from time to time.

As always, thank you for following us on the blog and praying for us during the trip.