The 10 Year Challenge
There is something on social media called the 10 year challenge. It is ridiculously simple. You put a picture of yourself from now with a picture of
yourself from 10 years ago. For me, I would be a bit more gray, a few new wrinkles (hey, it happens), my weight is ap- proximately the same. The big- gest difference is that now I am in
Webster Groves. Ten years ago, I was in the Holy Land.
I was supposed to go again in October of 2020, and you can take a wild guess what happened there. But my trip to Israel and Rome in 2012 really was a trip of a lifetime. Here are some highlights.
Nazareth. The first place we went was Galilee. We stayed in a magnificent place called the Scot’s Hotel, an old hospital that was converted into a hotel. After making a stop in Cana (a sad little tourist trap that attempts to sell you Jesus’ wine), we headed to Mass at the Church of the Annunci- ation. In the lower church, there is an altar with the Latin inscription Verbum caro factum est, which translates to “The Word was Made Flesh.” However, in Nazareth they are able to add a sin- gle word and it is the only place in the entire world where it can be added. The word is HIC. So now the translations reads: The Word was Made Flesh … Here. It gave me goosebumps the first time I saw it. Other Galilee highlights were the Church of the Beatitudes and a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.
The Judean Desert, the River Jordan and the Dead Sea. After Nazareth, we headed south for the Judean desert. There we saw the caves at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. I had taught about the Essenes who lived there and the teenaged shepherd who had wandered into one of the caves in the late 1940’s and made one of the great archeological discoveries of all time. Standing at that place was stunning. We then had a prayer service along the Jordan River near the site (sorta) where Jesus was baptized.
Then we went to one of the lowest places on earth, the salty Dead Sea. I was one of four pil- grims who went swimming in the Sea. We could only stay for a couple of minutes because the sea was rough (and a bit cold) and if you got a big gulp of that stuff in your mouth, you could die.
Nevertheless, after I got out, I felt magnificent. It was an awesome experience.
Bethlehem. The Church of the Nativity was an- other place that gave me goosebumps. The cool thing about it is that the door is very low, you have to bow down in order to enter. It was phys- ically and spiritually humbling. No matter how poorly you sing (we did OK), there is nothing like singing Silent Night near the traditional spot where Jesus was born (sorta). We then celebrat- ed Mass in the Shepherd’s Cave and you had the distinct feeling that you were in a particularly holy place. We then traveled to Bethlehem University and the Chapel of the Divine Child. In my office at Holy, there is a picture I took of the young Je- sus, an image of him that you rarely see, alt- hough traditionally it is one of the most ancient.
Because it is the West Bank area, Bethlehem has had its troubles, but we had an amazing visit there.
Jerusalem. Let’s get this out of the way: the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is, in my humble opinion, one of the strangest places on earth.
The traditional place of Jesus’ death and resurrec- tion should be stunning. Instead, it is a bit odd. Exhibit A: the “immoveable ladder.” There is a ladder leaning on a ledge up to a window that has been there (more or less) since 1757. That’s be- fore the American Revolution. It is the “status quo ladder,” that no one wants to change. Go ahead, google it. We did have Mass at the site of the Resurrection, that was pretty cool. It was after I stayed up all night watching the Super Bowl, which started at 2:30 in the morning. (We only had one little sample bottle of scotch to share among four of us. We called it the worst Super Bowl Party of All Time.) My favorite places in Jerusalem were the Church of All Nations (Gethsemene), the Church of St. Peter in Galli- cantu (Caiaphas’ palace, where the cock crowed), the Abbey of the Dormition (where Mary is said to have died and was assumed into heaven), and a Armenian restaurant where we had an awesome meal.
I could go on and on. I’ve only scratched the surface of the good times we had. (Didn’t even get to talk about Rome.) I am hoping to go in October of 2023, we will see. That year is the 10 year anniversary of my first time in Scotland, so…
Fr. Kevin