Here's the other half of the team checking out as well.
I've got a blog at
http://fatherisidore.blogspot.com/
It's the Internet version of a Q&A column I have in the U.P. Catholic.
Too bad Ben and I didn't keep this one going! It would've been fun to have his posts from Alaska and mine from Tacoma WA, and then our last year of seminary and adventures since being ordained priests!
Officially signing out- Goodbye Pilgrims, see you in the New Jerusalem-
Fr. Mike Chenier
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Officially wrapped up...
So, although there haven't been any posts for a long time, this is an official signing off of this blog. 1/2 of the team, I'm going to move to Snowshoe Tracks.
God Bless,
Fr. Ben
God Bless,
Fr. Ben
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Back in the ol' U.P.!
Greetings, Pilgrims! After almost two days of continuous travel, Mike and I are back in the glorious Upper Peninsula! We celebrated our return as we crossed over the bridge from Marinette to Menominee this morning!
I've got more pictures to post, and we've each got a few more blogs, so don't go away. I hope to have the pictures up tomorrow. If you have any lingering questions about the Holy Land, Jordan, our travels, etc, don't hesitate to post a comment, but do it soon!
Thank you each and every one of you for sharing this pilgrimage with us, and especially for your prayers. It has been a gift and blessing to try to share this journey via the blog and the pictures. This process has enriched the experience for me, and challenged me to think about the meaning and value of different events and places!
Of course, the pilgrimage continues, as our life here is itself a pilgrimage, a holy journey, a journey to the Lord and with the Lord. Please continue to keep Mike and I in your prayers as we continue to prepare for, God-willing, ordination to the diaconate on October 17th, and to the priesthood the following June. I will continue to pray for each of you!
God Bless,
Ben Hasse
I've got more pictures to post, and we've each got a few more blogs, so don't go away. I hope to have the pictures up tomorrow. If you have any lingering questions about the Holy Land, Jordan, our travels, etc, don't hesitate to post a comment, but do it soon!
Thank you each and every one of you for sharing this pilgrimage with us, and especially for your prayers. It has been a gift and blessing to try to share this journey via the blog and the pictures. This process has enriched the experience for me, and challenged me to think about the meaning and value of different events and places!
Of course, the pilgrimage continues, as our life here is itself a pilgrimage, a holy journey, a journey to the Lord and with the Lord. Please continue to keep Mike and I in your prayers as we continue to prepare for, God-willing, ordination to the diaconate on October 17th, and to the priesthood the following June. I will continue to pray for each of you!
God Bless,
Ben Hasse
P.S. That's my dad and I getting ready to go for a ski! And then with some of the students at DACS!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Welcome to Jordan!
Greetings, Pilgrims! We've been out of touch for some days now, enjoying Jordan. We've had several days of snow and rains since we got here, but the warmth of Jordanian hospitality have more than made up for it! Mike and I have both commented that, after the way we've been received here, it feels like we've never been hospitable to anyone before!
We've been staying with my friend Amal, her husband Jeries, and their little boy Laith. They're letting us stay in a vacant apartment below them where their grandparents used to live! We've also spent time with my friend Maher and his wife Nisreen. They and their families have treated us like royalty! And it's not just friends - many times we've been told by a taxi driver or someone in a shop as we leave, "Welcome to Jordan!" The overall feeling here is much more relaxed and easy-going than in Israel and the West Bank - obviously, there's nothing here in Jordan like the conflict that dominates life there.
I'd always imagined Jordan as desert, and most of the country is in fact desert. But from Amman north and west, it is actually quite fertile hills, with olive orchard, pine and oak-covered hills, and plenty of other agriculture. Maher was working on his Ph.D. in forestry at Purdue while I was working on my bachelors degree, and now he's the head of his department at the Jordanian University of Science & Technology. He took us on a tour of some forests last weekend ith his wife - it was awesome to be able to ask all the forestry questions I've been wanting to ask all these weeks!
This picture shows Mike and I eating with our hands, the traditional dish of rice, lamb, and a kind of goat's milk/yoghurt sauce! We were actually told to do it this way by Maher's father, and he obliged by modeling the proper method of rolling the rice and lamb into a ball, using the yoghurt sauce to stick it together! I LOVE Jordan!
We've been staying with my friend Amal, her husband Jeries, and their little boy Laith. They're letting us stay in a vacant apartment below them where their grandparents used to live! We've also spent time with my friend Maher and his wife Nisreen. They and their families have treated us like royalty! And it's not just friends - many times we've been told by a taxi driver or someone in a shop as we leave, "Welcome to Jordan!" The overall feeling here is much more relaxed and easy-going than in Israel and the West Bank - obviously, there's nothing here in Jordan like the conflict that dominates life there.
I'd always imagined Jordan as desert, and most of the country is in fact desert. But from Amman north and west, it is actually quite fertile hills, with olive orchard, pine and oak-covered hills, and plenty of other agriculture. Maher was working on his Ph.D. in forestry at Purdue while I was working on my bachelors degree, and now he's the head of his department at the Jordanian University of Science & Technology. He took us on a tour of some forests last weekend ith his wife - it was awesome to be able to ask all the forestry questions I've been wanting to ask all these weeks!
This picture shows Mike and I eating with our hands, the traditional dish of rice, lamb, and a kind of goat's milk/yoghurt sauce! We were actually told to do it this way by Maher's father, and he obliged by modeling the proper method of rolling the rice and lamb into a ball, using the yoghurt sauce to stick it together! I LOVE Jordan!There's lots of new pictures up at Picasa, so check them out!
God Bless,
Ben
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Last Batch of Jerusalem Photos
OK, after 3 hours of reviewing and selecting the photos, Mike and I have put up 5 new albums 
on Picasa (Link in the Left Margin) from the last 10 days or so of the pilgrimage. Fortunately, it's been cold and rainy here in Amman, Jordan, so there's been little excuse to go out and get wet!
We've also been catching up a little on a few blogs we meant to write earlier, so stay tuned!
Hopefully, we'll have some Jordan photos to post soon, but it's been hard to take photos in the rain! Fortunately, Amal and Jeries have welcomed us with extraordinary hospitality, including an entire furnished apartment!
God Bless,
Ben & Mike
P.S. Here's a PICTURE LINK so you can go right there!
P.P.S. And, nearly all the pictures have captions - Mike put most of them up, I've been filling in on some of the older albums. So, if you've looked at the pictures, and wanted to know what was in them, try now! - Ben
on Picasa (Link in the Left Margin) from the last 10 days or so of the pilgrimage. Fortunately, it's been cold and rainy here in Amman, Jordan, so there's been little excuse to go out and get wet!We've also been catching up a little on a few blogs we meant to write earlier, so stay tuned!
Hopefully, we'll have some Jordan photos to post soon, but it's been hard to take photos in the rain! Fortunately, Amal and Jeries have welcomed us with extraordinary hospitality, including an entire furnished apartment!God Bless,
Ben & Mike
P.S. Here's a PICTURE LINK so you can go right there!
P.P.S. And, nearly all the pictures have captions - Mike put most of them up, I've been filling in on some of the older albums. So, if you've looked at the pictures, and wanted to know what was in them, try now! - Ben
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Where are the Holy Places?
Some weeks back, we received a very good question in a comment: How do you know where the Holy Places are?
The easiest sites are the big ones. Examples of this would the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea, the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem and the Temple Mount within Jerusalem. When these are spoken of in Scripture, we know what they are talking about. These sites may look different now, the water level may be higher or lower, but there is no doubt about where they are. It was a very powerful experience to swim in the Sea of Galilee back in early January, knowing that hear the Apostles fished, here they were called.
Next, I would say, we have the key specific spots, like Calvary or the Empty Tomb, or the Church of the Nativity. How do we know they're on the very right spot? It's actually the result of an interesting fillip of history. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, razed to the ground. They expelled the Jews from the area, and destroyed any Jewish or Christian shrines. However, in order to ensure these sites could not be used for worship, on the most important ones they constructed pagan temples to the Roman gods! For some generations, the city of Jerusalem was known only by the new name, Aelia Capitolina, and many forgot the sacred history. However, in the 4th century, the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal. He and his mother, Queen Helena, commenced a building spree and built many important churches. In the Holy Land, they were able to dig up the pagan temples, and find the ruins of early churches beneath them! In the end, the Romans' desire to destroy the faith actually monumented these sites for posterity!
Finally, there are other sites where it is much less certain, and where we have little early record. For instance, there are three possible sites for Emmaus. Many agree that Mount Tabor is the sight of the Transfiguration, while some think it is Mount Hermon. Scripture does not always give us clear or unequivocal directions about where things ocurred. It is important to know that the sites are not perfectly certain. At the same time, this does not diminish the opportunity to venerate the tradition and the event at that site.
Before coming, and in the early days of the trip, this was an issue I thought about quite a bit. After a few weeks, though, seeing the River Jordan, the Mount of Olives, and realizing that I was unequivocally and without doubt in the Land of Jesus, I realized that even in the cases where we're not perfectly sure, I was still SO close! He walked through these hills and valleys, along the shores of this lake. The Gospels are certainly not just pretty stories, they actually happened!
The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us!
God Bless,
Ben
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I thought of heaven
A few days ago we attended mass with a French Religious community somewhere on the Road to Emmaus. The monks and nuns there wore crisp white habits and veils, and when they bowed down double I realized 
how thin many of them were, and their faces gaunt [with fasting?] They sang beautiful resounding harmonies. A nun played this instrument I'd never seen before- it had a set of strings for each hand which were set perpendicular to the neck and drum like a sail (or some suspension bridges). She played this enchanting, driving, sort of sad accompaniment while the priest chanted the Gospel in french. I thought, 'if i make it to heaven, I hope they sing this as I walk up to the gate.' It was a sound which drove me to silence: I realized, "this is what our voices were made for." I stood afterwards facing the walls and studying the frescoes- the images were preserved only piecemeal and the faces of the saints had been sanded off somewhere in the centuries.
We had our morning of reflection yesterday. I can’t believe it’s the end of the pilgrimage! We went to Dominus Flevit for our final, official pilgrimage mass. It is a quiet spot halfway up the Mount of Olives which commemorates the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He sat upon a colt, and people sang Hosanna. I sat picking a guitar in some clovers under a red pine- over the silver green tops of olive trees and the roof of the Church on the terrace below me I could see all of Jerusalem. My mind was mostly blank after ten weeks of travel and experience and intake. I felt like I’d just come out onto a bridge
through a railway tunnel and found that the ground had dropped beneath me, and the train was hundreds of feet above the land. I thought of Revelation 21- the vision of a New Jerusalem coming down: the symbol of heaven. This pilgrimage has just been a compact version, or a microcosm of that larger pilgrimage that we are all on.
People e-mailed me and said that they feel as though they’ve been able to see the sites through our eyes- and I thought of how much all of you have been very much a part of the pilgrimage for me, and I really have carried you with me.
We still have a few more things to say so keep checking back! Thanks for journeying with us-
Mike
how thin many of them were, and their faces gaunt [with fasting?] They sang beautiful resounding harmonies. A nun played this instrument I'd never seen before- it had a set of strings for each hand which were set perpendicular to the neck and drum like a sail (or some suspension bridges). She played this enchanting, driving, sort of sad accompaniment while the priest chanted the Gospel in french. I thought, 'if i make it to heaven, I hope they sing this as I walk up to the gate.' It was a sound which drove me to silence: I realized, "this is what our voices were made for." I stood afterwards facing the walls and studying the frescoes- the images were preserved only piecemeal and the faces of the saints had been sanded off somewhere in the centuries.
We had our morning of reflection yesterday. I can’t believe it’s the end of the pilgrimage! We went to Dominus Flevit for our final, official pilgrimage mass. It is a quiet spot halfway up the Mount of Olives which commemorates the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem as He sat upon a colt, and people sang Hosanna. I sat picking a guitar in some clovers under a red pine- over the silver green tops of olive trees and the roof of the Church on the terrace below me I could see all of Jerusalem. My mind was mostly blank after ten weeks of travel and experience and intake. I felt like I’d just come out onto a bridge
through a railway tunnel and found that the ground had dropped beneath me, and the train was hundreds of feet above the land. I thought of Revelation 21- the vision of a New Jerusalem coming down: the symbol of heaven. This pilgrimage has just been a compact version, or a microcosm of that larger pilgrimage that we are all on. People e-mailed me and said that they feel as though they’ve been able to see the sites through our eyes- and I thought of how much all of you have been very much a part of the pilgrimage for me, and I really have carried you with me.
We still have a few more things to say so keep checking back! Thanks for journeying with us-
Mike
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Snow in the Holy City!
So, it's not so common for there to be snow here in Jerusalem, but a week ago we got two days in a row. It was wet slushy snow, as the ground was nowhere near frozen, but it was beautiful in it's way, and much needed water in a dry land. We had a couple tours canceled as a result, so we also had those days almost off! Snow day in the Holy Land... who would have guessed. After an early morning walk around the city in the slush, I resigned myself to wet feet, and tromped around with abandon! It was nice to see the holy sites with a white crust. Check out the new album on Picasa (link to the left) to see some pictures. There are also a lot more pictures from Petra in Jordan in another album.
While Chris (a brother seminarian from New Hampshire) and I were making a snowman outside the Old City near Damascus Gate, a Polish woman named Danuta walked by. I'd met her the day before at adoration at the Fourth Station in the Armenian Catholic Church. I imagine there's quite a bit of a story behind the three Polish women there who run Adoration here in the Holy Land... how did they come here, what is their precise mission? She was very welcoming at the Adoration, and encouraging to me as a seminarian. Then I ran into her again while making the snow man... you realize this is a small community, particularly the Catholic community. If you were to live here for any significant time, I suspect you'd be networked in pretty quickly!
I hear there's lots of snow in the UP! I hope I get to cross-country ski a little bit when I get home! That's the end of this little ramble!
God Bless,
Ben
While Chris (a brother seminarian from New Hampshire) and I were making a snowman outside the Old City near Damascus Gate, a Polish woman named Danuta walked by. I'd met her the day before at adoration at the Fourth Station in the Armenian Catholic Church. I imagine there's quite a bit of a story behind the three Polish women there who run Adoration here in the Holy Land... how did they come here, what is their precise mission? She was very welcoming at the Adoration, and encouraging to me as a seminarian. Then I ran into her again while making the snow man... you realize this is a small community, particularly the Catholic community. If you were to live here for any significant time, I suspect you'd be networked in pretty quickly!
I hear there's lots of snow in the UP! I hope I get to cross-country ski a little bit when I get home! That's the end of this little ramble!
God Bless,
Ben
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Hello Menominee!
We have been getting GREAT support from Menominee! Th
ank you so much MCC and now Resurrection's religious ed! We wanted to post a blog to answer some of the questions from their classrooms!
We want to challenge and encourage any of our readers (especially students) who would like to comment or ask questions to do so before the end of our pilgrimage (February 11th)! Below we're going to answer the questions SandyB's religious ed class asked in a comment on "What passes through your neighborhood?" below.
Kayla, it's been awesome to walk where Jesus walked! I hope you can make it here someday. It has been challenging and rewarding to be travelling and living as pilgrims for 3 months!
Courtney, (it is cool)- the most amazing thing I've seen so far....hmm.
Mike: the other day I was walking the Via Dolorosa, the way that Jesus was led as he carried his cross. At the Fourth Station, where Jesus saw our Blessed Mother, there was a chapel where they were having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (ask your teacher about the similar chapel in Marinette) I sighed in relief and sat silently in the pew, and was very thankful that the most important things back home are simply the most important things.
Ben: (is thinking about a good answer) Finally - sorry it took me so long... I'm not sure this qualifies as MOST amazing, but definitely amazing... a couple days ago in the afternoon I was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and suddenly there was only a few other people around, so I was able to go into the Empty Tomb, which was actually empty for a change, and pray by myself for maybe 5 or 6 minutes. A quiet little gift!
Hailee, Ben did ride a camel, but just for a few minutes, in Jericho. We'll post a picture. Here it's actually pretty cold right now. It might even snow on Thursday! But rainy cold, not cold like in the UP. Down in the Jordan Valley, and especially by the Dead Sea, it's almost always warm. We sleep in hotels or pilgrim houses.
Deanna, It's a long ways... it took us almost 2 days to get here, a combined total of about 13 hours in the air plus a layover in Zurich, Switzerland. As we mentioned, we've been staying in hotels or pilgrim hostels.
Bryce, we would really like to visit you all, but we're not sure we'll be able to... when we get back we have just a few days break, then the spring quarter, then Mike heads to Tacoma, WA and Ben heads to Anchorage, AK for CPE... which basically means volunteering in a hospital and learning how to be a chaplain. So, it might be tough, but we'll try.
Nick... Jerusalem is basically a big city, but in the old part there are lots of old buildings and churches... most people speak Arabic or Hebrew, and now it's raining!
Hi, Andy!
Breanna, that's a big question! If you read some of the blogs, that will help you see what we've been experiencing.
Sam, we're going to try, but we're not sure we'll be able to visit you all.
Teja Tonn and Madison: right now it's raining and windy, Thursday it might snow, which is pretty unusual here. Most of the time it's been between 45 and 70. What's it like in Menominee right now?
Abby, It would be great to be in Bethlehem again for Christmas, but once Mike and I are priests, we'll probably be very busy in our parishes saying Mass! But, who knows, maybe someday...
Thank you everyone for your questions! Keep them coming.
God Bless,
Mike & Ben
PS Here's a challenge for all the students: Can anyone find out the exact distance from Menominee, MI to Jerusalem? First one with the right answer wins a postcard to your class!
PPS It just started to snow here! I think this stuff follows us around.
ank you so much MCC and now Resurrection's religious ed! We wanted to post a blog to answer some of the questions from their classrooms!We want to challenge and encourage any of our readers (especially students) who would like to comment or ask questions to do so before the end of our pilgrimage (February 11th)! Below we're going to answer the questions SandyB's religious ed class asked in a comment on "What passes through your neighborhood?" below.
Kayla, it's been awesome to walk where Jesus walked! I hope you can make it here someday. It has been challenging and rewarding to be travelling and living as pilgrims for 3 months!
Courtney, (it is cool)- the most amazing thing I've seen so far....hmm.
Mike: the other day I was walking the Via Dolorosa, the way that Jesus was led as he carried his cross. At the Fourth Station, where Jesus saw our Blessed Mother, there was a chapel where they were having Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. (ask your teacher about the similar chapel in Marinette) I sighed in relief and sat silently in the pew, and was very thankful that the most important things back home are simply the most important things.
Ben: (is thinking about a good answer) Finally - sorry it took me so long... I'm not sure this qualifies as MOST amazing, but definitely amazing... a couple days ago in the afternoon I was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and suddenly there was only a few other people around, so I was able to go into the Empty Tomb, which was actually empty for a change, and pray by myself for maybe 5 or 6 minutes. A quiet little gift!
Hailee, Ben did ride a camel, but just for a few minutes, in Jericho. We'll post a picture. Here it's actually pretty cold right now. It might even snow on Thursday! But rainy cold, not cold like in the UP. Down in the Jordan Valley, and especially by the Dead Sea, it's almost always warm. We sleep in hotels or pilgrim houses.
Deanna, It's a long ways... it took us almost 2 days to get here, a combined total of about 13 hours in the air plus a layover in Zurich, Switzerland. As we mentioned, we've been staying in hotels or pilgrim hostels.
Bryce, we would really like to visit you all, but we're not sure we'll be able to... when we get back we have just a few days break, then the spring quarter, then Mike heads to Tacoma, WA and Ben heads to Anchorage, AK for CPE... which basically means volunteering in a hospital and learning how to be a chaplain. So, it might be tough, but we'll try.
Nick... Jerusalem is basically a big city, but in the old part there are lots of old buildings and churches... most people speak Arabic or Hebrew, and now it's raining!
Hi, Andy!
Breanna, that's a big question! If you read some of the blogs, that will help you see what we've been experiencing.
Sam, we're going to try, but we're not sure we'll be able to visit you all.
Teja Tonn and Madison: right now it's raining and windy, Thursday it might snow, which is pretty unusual here. Most of the time it's been between 45 and 70. What's it like in Menominee right now?
Abby, It would be great to be in Bethlehem again for Christmas, but once Mike and I are priests, we'll probably be very busy in our parishes saying Mass! But, who knows, maybe someday...
Thank you everyone for your questions! Keep them coming.
God Bless,
Mike & Ben
PS Here's a challenge for all the students: Can anyone find out the exact distance from Menominee, MI to Jerusalem? First one with the right answer wins a postcard to your class!
PPS It just started to snow here! I think this stuff follows us around.
Monday, January 28, 2008
What all was made for
Just got back from Jordan. During our long trip on back of the bus several of us read out loud from the beginning of Genesis and talked about it. It struck me in a new way how even from the beginning God gave man so many gifts: "I give you every seed-bearing plant...every tree that has fruit...all the beasts of the earth...all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." Everything on earth has been given us to. To aid in our salvation, to bring us closer to heaven. As a place for worship- that's what it was made for.
Last night we inexplicably stayed at an opulent resort. There were gardens and fountains
, a pool overlooking the Dead Sea, really soft mattresses and expensive soaps, antiquated wood doors with brass latches, and a little veranda out the back of every room with low couches where we stayed up late and talked. I definitely felt like an Arabian prince for the night!
I ate the best feast I’ve ever had in my life! Honestly, it put the symbol of the ‘Heavenly Banquet’ into a whole new light for me. Vegetables steamed and some I’d never seen, lamb and wild rice and fancy cheeses, sushi and homemade breads and chocolate mousse for desert (and strawberries and bananas in carmel). You should have seen my face! I enjoyed it all very much, but I have to tell you that I enjoyed it much more than anyone else who stayed at that resort. For me it was an unexpected gift-!
-When we went to Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean a few weeks ago we saw some of the Roman bath-houses there. They were much more luxurious than anything we have now. They had geometrically designed floors out of marble, hot-tubs and saunas, massage tables in the middle of porticoed atriums. There were these vast amphitheatres and hippodromes dedicated to entertainment: dramas and horse-races and such. Caesarea is the city where the centurion Cornelius lived, the first Gentile convert. (Acts 10) Just think of how he gave up that lifestyle when he became a Christian (and later a bishop)! I wonder how St. Peter felt, a poor fisherman, when he went to the extravagent house of that centurion? Or St. Paul, a tent-maker, when he was imprisoned in that city for two years before being sent to Rome? Of course, those people are all in heaven now, and Caesarea is a field of ruins.
It was fun to see the 'other side', but it made me realize how silly it is that some people dedicate and work their whole lives away so that they can live that way. I think I'll give my life to something a bit more important! What is the greater good? What is lasting?
What is your pearl of great price, for which you would give all else? What are you giving your life to?
-Mike
Last night we inexplicably stayed at an opulent resort. There were gardens and fountains
, a pool overlooking the Dead Sea, really soft mattresses and expensive soaps, antiquated wood doors with brass latches, and a little veranda out the back of every room with low couches where we stayed up late and talked. I definitely felt like an Arabian prince for the night!I ate the best feast I’ve ever had in my life! Honestly, it put the symbol of the ‘Heavenly Banquet’ into a whole new light for me. Vegetables steamed and some I’d never seen, lamb and wild rice and fancy cheeses, sushi and homemade breads and chocolate mousse for desert (and strawberries and bananas in carmel). You should have seen my face! I enjoyed it all very much, but I have to tell you that I enjoyed it much more than anyone else who stayed at that resort. For me it was an unexpected gift-!
-When we went to Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean a few weeks ago we saw some of the Roman bath-houses there. They were much more luxurious than anything we have now. They had geometrically designed floors out of marble, hot-tubs and saunas, massage tables in the middle of porticoed atriums. There were these vast amphitheatres and hippodromes dedicated to entertainment: dramas and horse-races and such. Caesarea is the city where the centurion Cornelius lived, the first Gentile convert. (Acts 10) Just think of how he gave up that lifestyle when he became a Christian (and later a bishop)! I wonder how St. Peter felt, a poor fisherman, when he went to the extravagent house of that centurion? Or St. Paul, a tent-maker, when he was imprisoned in that city for two years before being sent to Rome? Of course, those people are all in heaven now, and Caesarea is a field of ruins.
It was fun to see the 'other side', but it made me realize how silly it is that some people dedicate and work their whole lives away so that they can live that way. I think I'll give my life to something a bit more important! What is the greater good? What is lasting?
What is your pearl of great price, for which you would give all else? What are you giving your life to?
-Mike
My Niece
Here's a picture of my niece, Elizabeth Grace, born on Friday! Isn't she beautiful? Congratulations Jim and Michelle! Hope I get to meet her soon!
-Mike
-Mike
From Babel to Pentecost
The other day we went to the Upper Room here in Jerusalem- where the Last Supper took place. They were holding a prayer service there for Christian Unity- it was beautiful to see Christians from all around the world crowding in. Near the end we all prayed the Our Father in our own languages (which were many) and at first I thought it sounded so discordant and messy- (like the Tower of Babel! -see Genesis 11) but as we all ended at about the same time it occurred to me quite powerfully that it sounded something more like Pentecost must have. After the service we climbed some stairs to a small, unheated, unadorned chapel; the Chapel of the H
oly Spirit where the apostles hid for nine days after Jesus rose into heaven. There they heard a rumbling rushing sound which filled the house, fire from heaven came down and rested on them- and they all were given the ability to speak in different languages- so that they could go out and preach to all nations. A crowd gathered outside, wondering what the sound could be, and everyone gathered there heard the apostles speaking in their own language. A tradition holds that the apostles knew where they were being sent to go and evangelize by the language that they were given to speak. St. James went to Spain. St. Thomas went to India. Peter went to Rome. John cared for the Blessed Mother. Philip went to Turkey, Jude to Syria, Andrew to Greece. Simon went to Africa, and maybe Great Britain as well. (all the places had different names then, but of course the Church outlasts countries). Holy Spirit come and fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of thy love!
-Mike
oly Spirit where the apostles hid for nine days after Jesus rose into heaven. There they heard a rumbling rushing sound which filled the house, fire from heaven came down and rested on them- and they all were given the ability to speak in different languages- so that they could go out and preach to all nations. A crowd gathered outside, wondering what the sound could be, and everyone gathered there heard the apostles speaking in their own language. A tradition holds that the apostles knew where they were being sent to go and evangelize by the language that they were given to speak. St. James went to Spain. St. Thomas went to India. Peter went to Rome. John cared for the Blessed Mother. Philip went to Turkey, Jude to Syria, Andrew to Greece. Simon went to Africa, and maybe Great Britain as well. (all the places had different names then, but of course the Church outlasts countries). Holy Spirit come and fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of thy love!-Mike
Friday, January 25, 2008
New Jerusalem Pictures up...
Greetings, Pilgrims. More Jerusalem pictures are now up on Picasa... but not too many captions yet! And we're off to Jordan for some days!
This is Dominus Flevit, "The Lord Wept," a church on the Mount of Olives commemorating the Lord's tears as he looked across at Jerusalem. Luke 19:41
God Bless,
Ben
Congratulations Bishop Sample!
Today, 2 years ago, Bishop Sample was ordained bishop and installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of Marquette! It is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. Oh happy day, at least for us! For him, a new and heavier responsability, to be sure.
Thank you for your enthusiastic, faithful, and courageous service these past years. May God grant you many more years of service.
God Bless,
Ben
Thank you for your enthusiastic, faithful, and courageous service these past years. May God grant you many more years of service.
God Bless,
Ben
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Check our our new header!
What do you think of the new header? Created and designed by Mrs. Jenny Raiche! Jen, that's awesome... thank you very much!
God Bless,
Ben
God Bless,
Ben
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
What am I to do?
I sat on the bus, I sat in the chapel, I sit here in this darkened room at 11:00 pm and think.
What am I to do?
Today, we spent part of the afternoon at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial here in Jerusalem. We spent almost 2 hours there, but it was barely time enough to see one part of it, much less engage or process the hellacious history it tells. In the last minutes of the visit I visited the Children's Memorial, which commemorates the approximately 1.5 million Jewish CHILDREN killed during the Holocaust.
As we drove away, my head was spinning. Not all of what I saw or read was new to me... I spent some days at Auschwitz, including hearing a survivor speak, when I was in Poland in 2001. We were following the footsteps of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died there at the concentration camp. In some ways, the picture at Yad Vashem was bigger, in some ways narrower. It spoke of the situation throughout the Reich. But, it spoke mostly of Jews. I do not necessarily fault it in this regard... that is a big enough story to tell, and certainly the story most central in Jerusalem. It is perhaps the unique horror of the Holocaust and the Third Reich, although certainly not the only one. I struggled not to let a search for perhaps an extreme or inappropriate objectivity dominate my attention. The experience of actually visiting Auschwitz was made real and alive again.
The enormity of what was done is really hard to grasp. By many accounts, 6 million or more lives taken specifically because of the religion/ethnicity of the people involved. Men and women, the old, the young. The healthy and the sick. Shot, starved, beaten, injected, gassed, burned. Each one a human person created in the image and likeness of God, with inestimable dignity. A number that large easily becomes meaningless.
So, the central question in my heart, mind, soul as we pulled away was this. What am I to do? It is necessary to analyze the situation historically, politically, philosphically, theologically. But, if I look primarily at others, other times, other places, I think the key moment is lost. The one over whom I have the most, if not complete or perfect, control, myself, can be ignored. What am I to do?
I must pray. For those who died, for those who killed them, for the tremors and aftershocks that still rock the world we live in. For forgiveness, for strength, for courage.
Here is one moment I think that really matters: I must examine my heart, my words, my conduct. Where do I allow hatred and violence towards others to reside? To look at what the Nazi's did and act as if it is so very far away from my own sin and inhumanity is perhaps disingenous. I could certainly overstate this... but what can be more fruitful and more revolutionary and more truly the good leaven of grace in the world than to allow this moment to be one of conversion in my heart... What am I to do? Who am I to be?
Lord Jesus, I do not understand.... Lord Jesus, I trust in You.
What are you to do? Who are you to be?
-Ben
What am I to do?
Today, we spent part of the afternoon at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial here in Jerusalem. We spent almost 2 hours there, but it was barely time enough to see one part of it, much less engage or process the hellacious history it tells. In the last minutes of the visit I visited the Children's Memorial, which commemorates the approximately 1.5 million Jewish CHILDREN killed during the Holocaust.
As we drove away, my head was spinning. Not all of what I saw or read was new to me... I spent some days at Auschwitz, including hearing a survivor speak, when I was in Poland in 2001. We were following the footsteps of St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died there at the concentration camp. In some ways, the picture at Yad Vashem was bigger, in some ways narrower. It spoke of the situation throughout the Reich. But, it spoke mostly of Jews. I do not necessarily fault it in this regard... that is a big enough story to tell, and certainly the story most central in Jerusalem. It is perhaps the unique horror of the Holocaust and the Third Reich, although certainly not the only one. I struggled not to let a search for perhaps an extreme or inappropriate objectivity dominate my attention. The experience of actually visiting Auschwitz was made real and alive again.
The enormity of what was done is really hard to grasp. By many accounts, 6 million or more lives taken specifically because of the religion/ethnicity of the people involved. Men and women, the old, the young. The healthy and the sick. Shot, starved, beaten, injected, gassed, burned. Each one a human person created in the image and likeness of God, with inestimable dignity. A number that large easily becomes meaningless.
So, the central question in my heart, mind, soul as we pulled away was this. What am I to do? It is necessary to analyze the situation historically, politically, philosphically, theologically. But, if I look primarily at others, other times, other places, I think the key moment is lost. The one over whom I have the most, if not complete or perfect, control, myself, can be ignored. What am I to do?
I must pray. For those who died, for those who killed them, for the tremors and aftershocks that still rock the world we live in. For forgiveness, for strength, for courage.
Here is one moment I think that really matters: I must examine my heart, my words, my conduct. Where do I allow hatred and violence towards others to reside? To look at what the Nazi's did and act as if it is so very far away from my own sin and inhumanity is perhaps disingenous. I could certainly overstate this... but what can be more fruitful and more revolutionary and more truly the good leaven of grace in the world than to allow this moment to be one of conversion in my heart... What am I to do? Who am I to be?
Lord Jesus, I do not understand.... Lord Jesus, I trust in You.
What are you to do? Who are you to be?
-Ben
Thursday, January 17, 2008
What passes through your neighborhood?
I wandered into a Jewish neighborhood today and I saw that the local government had prominently placed a banner above a street corner- it really struck me. It said, “DO NOT PASS THROUGH OUR NEIGHBORHOOD IN IMMODEST CLOTHES…PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB OUR CHILDREN’S EDUCATION”
A note to our Catholic School Students who read this blog: living in a conservative Muslim society in Palestine (Bethlehem) and now in the primarily observant Jewish culture of Jerusalem, I see that you are exposed to so many things that you shouldn’t be. I wish that you were being formed instead by beauty and truth and goodness. In other cultures there are filters to protect youth from seeing and hearing many things. I think m
any people here would be shocked at the crass and inappropriate content of movies targeted at youth in our country, the violence in videogames, clothes sold to you in stores, the lyrics of songs that you hear on the radio... (of course these thing have had their effect on me as well)
any people here would be shocked at the crass and inappropriate content of movies targeted at youth in our country, the violence in videogames, clothes sold to you in stores, the lyrics of songs that you hear on the radio... (of course these thing have had their effect on me as well)
I want to challenge you then, since society isn’t doing it for you, to decide what you allow yourself to be filled with: will this book bring me closer to Christ? Will this TV show? Do these clothes express that I have dignity and self-respect? You aren’t too young to decide what kind of person you are!
If you want to know what you're filled with now, there's an easy test: try and pray silently for three minutes. At the end, write down whatever came into your head- The silence reveals to us our attachments. Are we filled with distraction? With Christ? With movie quotes, the desire for Little Caesar's pizza, thoughts of jealousy or anger?
I challenge you to think about and evaluate what you allow into your life.
SO let’s make this interesting. I want to start something of a debate-! The Harry Potter books are pretty popular- and I imagine many of you have read them. Let's hear in the 'Comments' Section the reasons WHY you think it is, or isn't, a good thing to read those books? Remember that we respond to Comments in the same place where they are left- so be sure to check back. I look forward to your arguments! 
-Mike
Hey... here's my 10 cents... 10 shekels, I mean. If I look at the entertainment, or clothes, or books in my life, the question I have to ask, I try to ask is this: Does this bring me closer to what is most beautiful, most joyful, most true, to the very best? In the language of our Catholic tradition: Holiness! Which isn't boring or drab or out of style... rather it's what is really most authentic, and best, right to the core. In most traditional cultures, this is done for young people to a large degree by their parents, by their tribe. Now, things run pretty unfiltered. So, it's up to YOU! Tell us what you think!
Ben
Joining my fears to Christ.
Greetings fellow pilgrims!This evening we had a holy hour at the Church of All Nations, or the Church of Gethsemane. It is the Catholic Church at the base of the Mount of Olives, where Christ prayed the night before His Passion. We took the bus down the hill from from the Old City, and came to the church. It closes around 5:00 pm, so when we got there at 5:30 pm, one of the Franciscan friars let us in. We walked past the shadowy grove of olive trees, some of which may go back to the time of Christ. We filed quietly into the church and sat around the sanctuary. In the middle is a big rock which was the center of Byzantine church.
Then we just sat there quietly and prayed for an hour. We didn't have a program... just quiet time. It was pretty cold, but I was well bundled in wool from my family. After a little silence, I prayed evening prayer - St. Antony the Abbot today, who was one of the founders of monasticism. I prayed for many people, especially the monks of Holy Transfiguration Skete, in Eagle Harbor.
After mulling over the breviary slowly, I read the Gethsemane passages from all four gospels. Praying over them in light of preparing for priesthood, I was struck by how Jesus struggled and gave Himself over completely to the Father's will. I don't look at the priesthood as a cross or a bitter cup, rather a privilege, a gift, a joy, a pearl of great price. But I also know there will be suffering, as in any vocation, any life. I asked myself in prayer, looking at the mosaic of Christ praying, looking at the stone, what are my fears? What suffering do I fear, what failure, what pain? As things came to mind, I offered them to Christ, putting them in His hands. His grace is sufficient, His measure is filled up, tamped down, flowing over.
Jesus, I trust in you.
Ben
Coal-fire in the Courtyard
I came upon a Church yesterday, “St. Peter in Gallicantu”. It’s built on the place where they believe the house of the high priest Caiaphas to have been. Here it was that Jesus was kept in the dungeon the night before He died- He would have been lowered by ropes through a hole into a deep pit (33 steps down I counted). It’s clean and well-lit now, but would have been dark and thick with fetid stench in the time of Christ. Outside there are slanting and partly covered stairs in the hillside where Jesus would have walked as he was being led by the Temple 
Guard to Caiaphas’ House. There is a smooth-stoned pavement at the top built where they believe the courtyard to have been. This is where Peter would have sat warming himself by the coal-fire when he denied knowing Christ three times (please read Luke 22:54-62 so the rest of this makes sense). Sitting there, I read from a book in my backpack which speaks of the look that Jesus gave Peter after he denied Him and the rooster crowed:
He knows them well, the Savior’s looks. And yet never, never had he seen on the Savior’s face the expression he sees there at this moment, the eyes marked with sadness but without any severity. A look of reproach, without a doubt, but which becomes suppliant at the same time and seems to repeat to him ‘Simon, I have prayed for thee!’ This look only rests on him for an instant, Jesus was violently dragged away by the soldiers, but Peter sees him all the time.
-G. Chevrot
When the rooster crowed Peter fled from the courtyard; he knew if he stayed he might deny Christ again. I realized that Peter later returned to this place- several times he himself was held in those dungeons for preaching Christ. (Acts 4:1-4 and 5:12-32). Peter was allowed to suffer for Christ in the same place he had denied Him! I imagine Peter being led through the courtyard by the soldiers, and seeing the spot where the coal-fire had once burned, saying to himself, “Not this time!” I reflect on what my own ‘coal-fires’ are; the places I seek false comfort and tend to deny the Lord. What courtyards do I need to run from?
What are your coal-fires Pilgrim?
Mike
Guard to Caiaphas’ House. There is a smooth-stoned pavement at the top built where they believe the courtyard to have been. This is where Peter would have sat warming himself by the coal-fire when he denied knowing Christ three times (please read Luke 22:54-62 so the rest of this makes sense). Sitting there, I read from a book in my backpack which speaks of the look that Jesus gave Peter after he denied Him and the rooster crowed:He knows them well, the Savior’s looks. And yet never, never had he seen on the Savior’s face the expression he sees there at this moment, the eyes marked with sadness but without any severity. A look of reproach, without a doubt, but which becomes suppliant at the same time and seems to repeat to him ‘Simon, I have prayed for thee!’ This look only rests on him for an instant, Jesus was violently dragged away by the soldiers, but Peter sees him all the time.
-G. Chevrot
When the rooster crowed Peter fled from the courtyard; he knew if he stayed he might deny Christ again. I realized that Peter later returned to this place- several times he himself was held in those dungeons for preaching Christ. (Acts 4:1-4 and 5:12-32). Peter was allowed to suffer for Christ in the same place he had denied Him! I imagine Peter being led through the courtyard by the soldiers, and seeing the spot where the coal-fire had once burned, saying to himself, “Not this time!” I reflect on what my own ‘coal-fires’ are; the places I seek false comfort and tend to deny the Lord. What courtyards do I need to run from?
What are your coal-fires Pilgrim?
Mike
Sunday, January 13, 2008
YooperPilgrims makes the UP Catholic!
The UP Catholic included our little blog in a recent issue! Check out the article:
"Marquette seminarians are blogging from the Holy Land"
I know a few parishes have also put the address in their bulletins.
If you came to the blog via the UP Catholic, Welcome! Please comment on the blogs or ask us questions if you'd like. The whole reason we're doing this is to share this beautiful and unique opportunity to be here in the Holy Land on pilgrimage with as many people as possible, especially students. If you have the opportunity to share it with others who might find it interesting, please do! Any of the teachers who read this, if you think your students' parents would be interested, please pass it along to them.
As a reminder: We will respond to any comments where they occur with another comment, unless a critical mass of interest builds up on specific topic.
Thank you Joe and Aaron for putting us in the UP Catholic!
God Bless,
Ben
"Marquette seminarians are blogging from the Holy Land"
I know a few parishes have also put the address in their bulletins.
If you came to the blog via the UP Catholic, Welcome! Please comment on the blogs or ask us questions if you'd like. The whole reason we're doing this is to share this beautiful and unique opportunity to be here in the Holy Land on pilgrimage with as many people as possible, especially students. If you have the opportunity to share it with others who might find it interesting, please do! Any of the teachers who read this, if you think your students' parents would be interested, please pass it along to them.
As a reminder: We will respond to any comments where they occur with another comment, unless a critical mass of interest builds up on specific topic.
Thank you Joe and Aaron for putting us in the UP Catholic!
God Bless,
Ben
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