Today we made our way over to the Temple Mount to visit the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Dome of the Rock is the golden dome most people associate with the image of Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, the rock is the site where God first gathered dust to create Adam and later where Abraham attempted to sacrifice his son. According to Islamic tradition, the rock is where Muhammad began his night journey to heaven. The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque sit o

Jerusalem, our destiny! After a week and a half of traveling, we finally made it and began our journey at the Mount of Olives with one of the Church of the Ascensions. We saw a rock where supposedly Jesus stood before ascending into heaven. We then went to the Church of the Pater Noster, where we found the Our Father written in every language. We prayed the Our Father together and then walked down the path Jesus rode on Palm Sunday. We sang Hosanna as we descended down the mo

We began our day with a trip over to a nearby Settlement, Efrat, to meet with an American settler from Chicago named Ardie. Ardie toured us around his settlement and very passionately talked to us about why he believed he should live in a settlement. The group was happy to ask questions and learn from Ardie, but were left wondering if there was any hope for a resolution to the conflict after our conversation. Left feeling a little discouraged, we made our way over to Lazarus'

We began our day with Mass in a chapel off the Church of the Nativity. We sang Christmas hymns, read the Christmas Eve readings, and Father Kelly delivered a beautiful homily which prepared us well for what we would see today. It was important to the group that we travel here as pilgrims, not just as tourists. One aspect of a pilgrimage is making sure that we respect and honor the local communities, seeing Jesus not only in the land, but also in the people we encounter. Becau

Today we left Jericho and drove along the Dead Sea coast to Masada, an ancient Jewish fortress and the site of Herod the Great’s palaces. It is also the site of of a mass suite by 960 Jewish rebels and their families when the Roman troops were overtaking the city. The Jewish rebels chose death instead of slavery to the Romans. Masada is an important symbolic site for Jews and the State of Israel. It should also be mentioned on behalf of the group that it was HOT. We were red

Today we departed Amman and descended down the mountains to the Jordan River. Our archaeologist tour guide, Waleed, was able to explain how recent excavations prove the Jordan River was once flowing in what is now Jordan. A church was excavated there by his professor (pillars pictured here). We saw the original location of the Jordan River at the time of Jesus and renewed our baptismal rites at that location. Then we walked down a path to the location of the current Jordan Ri

As a group we decided to wake up before the rest of the tourists so that we could have Petra to ourselves. It was the smartest decision we made! Our hotel was at the entrance of the park so no need for buses; we just walked on down to the entrance! Well... some of us walked on down. The others decided to jump on horses and gallop down! Petra was BEAUTIFUL and quickly became everyone's favorite location. At one point, our guide asked us to pull off to the right side in a singl

We said goodbye to Nazareth bright and ... no, wait... dark and early. To beat Nazareth traffic (oh, there is such a thing!) we needed to leave the Sisters' guesthouse around 6am. A long bus ride brought us to the Sheikh Hussein Border between Israel and Jordan. We unloaded our bags, crossed through Israeli passport control, walked to a station, loaded our bags onto a shuttle, unloaded our bags from the shuttle, walked through Jordanian baggage check, sat in Jordanian passpor

Before we left the United States, our group read the book "Blood Brothers" by Father Elias Chacour. As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. He was proud of his ancient Christian heritage and lived at peace with his Jewish neighbors. But early in 1947, his idyllic lifestyle was swept away as he became among the thousands of Palestinians who were exiled from their villages and watched as their village was destroyed to create the modern State o

We started our very busy day off with Mass at 9am in an outdoor chapel in Tabgha, the location of Jesus' appearance to his disciples after his resurrection, forgiving Peter for his denial and asking three times, "Do you love me? Feed my sheep." Steps lead up to a church with a rock, on which tradition tells us Jesus cooked breakfast for his disciples. We also saw the rock on which Jesus performed his miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes and spent some time wadin