YESTERDAY:
Having been convinced by Ben into taking a cold swim in the Sea of Galilee I then decided to find the nearby Benedictine monastery so I could pray vespers (Evening Prayer) with the monks. After obtaining the key to a gate and some vague directions from the receptionist I made my way down the drive past the lush vegetation and through some gates into an orchard. Here there was a lantern-lit path which I walked until it ran out of light and came to a fork, at which point I made my decisions of direction based on where angry barking dogs could and could not be heard. Luckily a fit bald man with glasses came out of a house somewhere and I asked him which way to the monastery (it took a few languages on both ends before we realized that both of us spoke english), to which he gave me a warm welcome and a firm handshake and led me up to the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves. There’s a little courtyard there with an olive tree in the middle and a pool filled with colorful fish- and the floor in the church is covered with patchy and warped mosaics of birds and plants.
I sat there and listened to the rain starting to fall again- (it took me a while to realize I was out of dry clothes and didn’t have an umbrella). I just about fell out of my pew when a young monk rang the bell at the back of the church! The monks came in- one of which was the bald man who found me out in the darkness, though now dressed in his habit with sleeves so wide at the opening that they came down to his knees- and a group of German pilgrims came in and they chanted evening prayer- I followed along in English in my own breviary. Their harmonies were incredible and carried me away-! A lot of other things sound more exciting on the pilgrimage, but when they sang the Our Father – I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
That site started to be venerated even a year after the miracle of multiplication took place there! It’s the only miracle written about in all four Gospels. I imagine it is one that would have stuck in the mind of the people. Something they would tell their grandchildren about; “I was there!” Five-thousand men, plus the women and children not mentioned. That must have been about the entire population of the area. I wonder what became of the boy who talked to Andrew and gave his bread and fish away? Look how God took that small gift of the boy and- well, multiplied it! We just never know.
TODAY:
Tonight I walked along the shore with my Texan friend Alejandro until we reached the pebbly grey beach in front of the Church which commemorates the Primacy of Peter (and the happenings of John 21, my favorite chapter in the Bible). Ben and a couple other guys were sitting there on the shore playing drums, and our Kenyan seminarian George was teaching them a song in Swahili. The water looks to be gilded with silver from that spot, and we saw countless fish rising and jumping out of the water- in the very spot where the apostles drew up the net full of 153 fish!
We went to ves
pers with the German monks and pilgrims again at the neighboring Church of the Multiplication again. We all gathered at the back of the Church this time and bowed in turn as the bald priest sprinkled us with Holy Water. Unexpectedly, three young men came in dressed as the Wise Men in celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany starting tonight! We all sang Psalm 117 in Latin together, and it was beautiful to be able to share a common language with the other pilgrims for a brief moment- “Laudate Dominum, omnes gentes…” Which translates, fittingly enough, Praise the Lord, all you nations!” We all walked back through the orchard together, and they were quite happy that I had a key for the gates. Despite the fact that I know about 5 words in German and they knew only broken English, we talked and laughed the whole way back and were fast friends! Their priest invited us all to a Holy Hour with them tomorrow night . What an incredible thing to be part of the Universal Church! Wherever we travel we have a home and we have family. Guttenhaben!
-Mike
6 comments:
Mike I am glad you are experiencing your second time in the Holy Land. These are experiences you will hold and share forever. Not only is it a blessing to meet so many kind and giving people, but these contacts you are having with people in the Holy Land are gifts from God. I wish more peope got the chance to experience the different cultures of the world. In regards to the Holy Land I pray that I someday get the chance to set my feet on the steps that Christ took. How lucky you are. I can only imagine the inspiration, love, sacrifice, humbleness, even fear you may be feeling as you are able to see, touch and absorb what Christ himself saw. Enjoy, cherish, and thank God. Take Care
Peace & Prayers. Kim
What languages do they speak in the Holy Land?
From,
Hannah Christensen, MCC 7th grade
cool story i really liked the places you went. they sound really cool. do they have a lot of lakes there? What are your favorite parts of the trip so far?
Tanner LEmery MCC 8th grade
Hi Mick and Ben,
Hope you are haveing a nice trip. Im glad to hear that your becomeing Deacons. Have a good rest of your trip.
Sincerely,
Haylie
St. Marys School
Hey Everyone, here's my responses to all your comments thus far!
Kim, thanks for reading and leaving a comment! Very much appreciated- I hope you can make it here someday on pilgrimage.
Hannah- they speak Arabic, Hebrew, and English here. Different people know different amounts of the three languages. In places that are now Palestine they speak primarily Arabic (like in Bethlehem). In Israel (in Jerusalem and Galilee for example) they speak primarily Hebrew. And luckily most people speak some English as well! Also, within the past century there have been a lot of Jewish immigrants who bring their native tongue with them (the Russians are the largest of these groups that we've noticed so far)
Tanner- there aren't very many lakes here-! Certainly nothing as grandiose and pristine and beautiful as our own Great Lakes. The Jordan river comes from three different tributaries (that we would think of as streams), and it's smaller than the Menominee River. There are always arguments between countries about who gets how much water- and the Sea of Galilee is shrinking because the population has grown and people are using a lot more water now than they used to. The Sea of Galiles (also called the Lake of Tiberius) empties out on the South end and the Jordan River starts up again until it reaches the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on earth. (The Dead Sea is 26% solid with salt! Ben wrote a post about it a while back)
Haylie- thanks for your support! Please remember to pray for us that we can become holy deacons and then priests, not for our own sake, but for the sake of our Diocese and the Glory of God!
God bless, pilgrims!
Mike
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