Wednesday, March 4, 2020

As the sun rose over Jerusalem this morning, the Heights boys made their way through the narrow streets of the ancient city to what many consider the most holy place of the Catholic faith: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is the site where Jesus Christ was crucified at Calgary, Golgatha, and the Tomb where He rose from the dead.

Upon their arrival, Father Diego concelebrated The Solemn High Mass in the tomb of Christ with some Franciscan priests, a rare opportunity, indeed. Afterwards, the boys processed into the tomb to venerate the place where Our Lord lay before rising again on the third day.

After witnessing the inside of the Tomb, the boys were permitted to venerate the Stone of Unction, or anointing, where Our Lord’s body was prepared for burial. These were experiences of a lifetime for these young Catholic men, experiences they shall look upon with fondness in their later days…

The boys then returned to the Franciscan Casa for breakfast and departed by bus shortly thereafter for the Israel Museum. Here, the boys visited the Shrine of the Book, viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls, and studied the 1/15th scale model of the City of Jerusalem. This model helps the boys envision the proximity of the Tomb to Calgary—and all the places in between—at the time of Christ’s passion and death. And though these young men bestrode this narrow model like looming colossi, many among them could not help but feel humbled by the monumental events and places that this miniature model evoked.

The group then did as Jesus did, and made for the Judean desert, a fitting Lenten excursion. The journey there requires quite the bus ride, departing from Jerusalem,  which stands 2474 Ft above sea level and they eventually descended nearly 4000 feet—in just 20 miles—to arrive at the lowest point on earth: the Dead Sea, whose waters flow 1410 feet below sea level.

While in the dessert, Father Diego renewed boy’s baptismal vows at the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. The next stop in the desert was the Palestinian City of Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back to nearly ten-thousand years before Christ. Here, while listening to the call to prayer sounding from the Mosques, our pilgrims made a visit to the Sycamore Tree that the resourceful Zacchaeus climbed to get a better view of Jesus. Weary from the trials of the desert, the famished boys sat to lunch in a restaurant of Jericho featuring the food of the region.

After lunch, the group drove a short distance to view what is said to be the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by the devil. Our travelers also witnessed the spectacle of the Monastery of St. George, built into the mountain cliff overlooking a lush garden of olive and cypress trees. The Monastery was founded in the 5th century and is one of the most visually stunning sites in the Holy Land. A handful of Greek Orthodox monks still remain in the monastery.

The end of the day featured what is perhaps the single most anticipated event as far as the boys are concerned: a swim in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. They could barely contain their excitement as they arrived, eager to cover themselves with globs of mineral mud, that any far-away spa would covet. Another popular pastime for the boys was to drift their bodies into the sea and float, effortlessly. It was not long before the boys learned that the mud, is actually mineral rich and good for the skin, giving them additional excuses to cover themselves from head to toe. It was a most fitting end to an exciting day!

Once the boys had sufficiently soaked themselves in the salty brine of the sea and applied the mineral-mud long enough to receive all the real and perceived health-benefits, it was time to depart. The bus returned the boys back above sea level to the Franciscan Casa in Jerusalem for well-water showers and dinner. Father Diego later led the boys on an evening walk to the famous Ben Yehuda pedestrian street to experience the rich city culture of Jerusalem. The boys witnessed both street performers and other local pastimes, while enjoying ice cream, souvenir shops and Jewish culture.

Many of the boys remarked that this was their favorite day of the pilgrimage thus far. And who can blame them?