Pilgrimage in the Holy Land

Fulfilling a lifelong dream to visit those places where Jesus lived, taught, suffered, died and rose again

By Fr. Alex McDonald, S.F.M.
July/August 2008

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At three o’clock on the morning of April 10, 2008, Scarboro Father John Carten and I landed at the airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. There we met 22 Japanese pilgrims from Fr. Carten’s former parish in Yokohama, Japan. Thus began the fulfillment of my lifelong dream of visiting those places where Jesus lived, taught, suffered, died, and rose again.

Scarboro Fathers Carten and McDonald (2nd and 4th from right, back row) accompany 22 Japanese pilgrims to the Holy Land. At the centre of the city of Jerusalem is the golden dome of the rock, built on the foundation of the ancient temple where Jesus frequently taught the people. The group prayed at the Western Wall of the ancient temple, Judaism’s holiest site.

Our journey began in Galilee where Jesus spent most of his life. I was struck by the beauty of Galilee, the lush green fields, the scenic hills, the clusters of palm trees, and the sparkling waters of the Sea of Galilee where fishermen still plied their trade as in the days of Jesus. What a wonderful feeling it was for Fr. John and I to celebrate mass on the Mount of the Beatitudes, the mount from which Jesus preached His most famous sermon.

As we held the consecrated host in our hands, it was great knowing that Jesus is not merely an historical figure from the distant past, but that He is with us here and now, body and soul, in His humanity and divinity.

After the mass we got into a boat as Jesus often did and crossed the Sea of Galilee to the country of the Gerasenes. This is the place where Jesus drove a legion of devils out of the possessed man and permitted the demons to enter a herd of swine feeding on the mountainside. The entire herd then rushed headlong down the mountain into the sea. Sure enough, there was the mountain and some of us climbed it despite the 38 degree heat.

The next day as we walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee on our way to Capernaum, I recalled that this was the spot where Jesus chose His first priests, Peter and Andrew, James and John, and a few days later the other eight. Why did He choose them instead of some of the other fishermen who were there that day? That I don’t know. And I began to think, Why did Jesus choose me to be a priest? I never doubted that He chose me, but why? That’s a question I plan to ask when I meet Jesus face to face.

In Capernaum after visiting the ruins of the synagogue where Jesus often taught, we went to the house of Peter, the house where Jesus frequently stayed during His ministry in Galilee. A Church now stands on the original foundation of Peter’s home and our mass was scheduled there for nine o’clock that morning. At that mass, as I held Jesus in my hands and received Him into my body, I imagined that Jesus was present and talking to me. Pointing at the ceiling above the entrance Jesus was saying that He was relieved to see that someone had fixed the hole in the roof made by the four men who had lowered the paralytic whose sins He had forgiven and whom He had cured. “Right over there,” Jesus said, pointing to the centre of the Church, “was the bedroom of Peter’s mother-in-law whose fever I cured. I’m also pleased to see that the entrance is still crowded with people trying to get near me just as they did 2,000 years ago.”

At six o’clock in the morning, Frs. Alex MacDonald and John Carten offer the Sacrifice of the mass on the altar at the foot of the Cross. Jerusalem.

Before our mass the church was filled with pilgrims from Korea and after the mass, we had to push our way through 400 pilgrims from Brazil and this has been the case daily for centuries. The other highlights of our sojourn in Galilee were Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle of changing the water into wine and Nazareth where Jesus lived for 30 years with Mary and Joseph. In Nazareth we celebrated mass at the site of the Annunciation and visited the well where Mary came daily to draw water.

Our first stop after leaving Galilee was the ancient city of Jericho now in Palestinian territory. Here we had lunch at a restaurant called The Temptation Restaurant. A mere stone’s throw away is the most barren desert that anyone could imagine—a mountain of sand and rocks. It was here that Jesus spent 40 days, praying and fasting and being tempted by Satan. Hence the name Temptation Restaurant. I did feel a bit guilty eating lunch here only a few yards from where Jesus had fasted for 40 days and told Satan that man does not live on bread alone.

Upon leaving Jericho we entered Israel again and traveled by bus through the desert for a couple of hours to a hotel by the Dead Sea where we spent the night.

The following day we arrived in Jerusalem and stayed for four wonderful days. The centre of the city is the golden dome of the rock, built on the foundation of the ancient temple where Jesus frequently taught the people. In the temple area is the Western Wall where we went to pray alongside our Jewish brethren. When the Romans destroyed the city in 70 A.D., they left this wall intact which is the original wall of the temple at the time of Jesus.

At the conclusion of our mass in the garden of Gethsemane while making my thanksgiving, I heard my name being called in Japanese. And there beside me was Mr. and Mrs. Asai, parishioners of my former parish of Ichinomiya, Japan, whose marriage I had assisted at 48 years ago. They were in Israel with another tour group. What a small world. While in Jerusalem we went to Bethlehem only seven kilometers away and offered mass in the manger. The Christmas Carol, “O little town of Bethlehem”, is out of date as Bethlehem is now a city of 200,000 people.

The highlight of my stay in Jerusalem was descending the Mount of Olives as Jesus had done on Palm Sunday, then making the Way of the Cross through the narrow cobblestone streets to the hill of Calvary and the tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. At six o’clock the following morning, Fr. John and I had the great privilege of offering the Sacrifice of the Mass on the altar at the foot of the Cross. At the site of the crucifixion there is a life-size figure of Jesus on the Cross, but during our mass, I felt as though it was not a statue but the living Jesus offering Himself along with us to God.

In the Scriptures we read that on Easter morning Peter and John entered the tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid. What a great feeling it was to enter that same tomb, kneel there and pray that I, too, might rise someday to be with my risen Lord forever.

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