My pilgrimage to the Holy Land was such a pre-Lenten retreat. It really was  a very memorable moment for a deeper reflection and meditation on the Bible, particularly the Gospels texts on the life of Jesus in the New Testament. Visiting the Holy Land, Rome and the pilgrimage sites of Mary are my three favorite places to visit anytime I am able for one reason: The pilgrimage to the Holy Land draws you closer to Jesus, while visiting Rome makes you love the Church more. Also, my devotion and love to Mother Mary becomes stronger anytime I visit a Marian apparition site.

I recall that the desire to see the Holy Land inflamed my heart ever since a few months after my ordination. I remember well after one morning Mass with school children, when one little boy came to me and asked, “Father, you read many names of the places where Jesus traveled in the Gospel. How is it there? Perhaps that the Lord walked many kilometers a day. Do you know all those places? You speak like you have been there.” He did not know that I had no idea about Israel other than what I read on the map and in the Bible. I always prayed for that one day when I would put my own feet on the Holy Land and walk on the places associated with the Lord’s life, passion, death and resurrection. I wanted to live each day in the Holy Land in a spirit of prayer as we walked from one place to another, from one city to another, in the area marked especially by God’s intervention.
 
So my pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a time for prayer for me and all the pilgrims not to only live our life as a journey, but also to give us a vivid sense of a God who has gone before us and leads us on, who Himself set out man’s path, a God who does not look down on us from on high, but who became our travelling companion. When we walked and prayed in the places of the birth, childhood and the ministry of
Jesus (Nazareth, Bethlehem, Cana and Galilee), I came to  understand better what we believe: that truly the Word made flesh and He made His home among us (John 1:14). The time we stayed in Jerusalem and walked the places where our Lord walked performing healing miracles and most of all in the remembrance of His passion, death and resurrection, filled  my heart with mixed thoughts of sorrows and of thanksgiving. Since then I read differently the stations of the Cross, and in each celebration of the death and the resurrection of our Savior in the Eucharistic liturgy,
I remind myself to always open the eyes of my heart on the Crucified and to remember always and everywhere to thank God for the salvation He won for us.
 
I think that Fr. Don and Dcn. Matt would agree with me that our small pilgrimage group with thirteen other pilgrims from other parts of this country resembled a small church community.  My memory of all of us together renewing our baptismal promises at the river  Jordan reminded us that we were once baptized like Jesus and sent to preach the good news. I couldn’t stop thinking of so many children and adults that I baptized in the last sixteen years as a priest and especially those that will be baptized at Easter in our region. Praying for six couples at Cana while they renewed their nuptial vows was a unique opportunity to pray for all our families and the families we serve. Thinking of  both clergy and lay people walking and praying
together at the places that remind the suffering, passion, death and resurrection of our Lord reminds me of our solidarity on the path to holiness and perfection.
 
As our regional family enters into this season of Lent, my prayer for each of us in our region is that this Lent be for us a time of grace to prepare our hearts to
celebrate the paschal mysteries of the Lord. There are so many activities that are scheduled to help us to grow in our faith and love for Jesus. Pray for Fr. McCullough, me and all the deacons and all the priests who will help us meet with Christ in the
Sacrament of the Reconciliation with God and prayers. Anytime we meditate on the life and the passion of Jesus, let Him open our eyes and our  hearts,  and let us ask Him to give us  strength to touch with faith the flesh of Jesus in those who suffer today.  In our journey towards Easter, let us reflect on the words of Pope Francis from his message for this Lent, “Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified, let yourself be saved over and over again. And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy which frees you of your guilt.
Contemplate his blood poured out with such great love, and let yourself be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn ever anew.  Jesus’ Pasch is not a past event; rather, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is ever present, enabling us to see and touch with faith the flesh of Christ in those who suffer.”