Home sweet Home. It’s good to be home. I’ve missed all of you while I’ve been away, but you were in my prayers constantly during my pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and I thank you for keeping me and my brother priests in your prayers. I am definitely still recovering from jet lag, over 32 hours of travel, and a bad cold, but that’s okay, because this trip was worth it. And honestly, I’ll need lots of time to pray over and reflect on my experience in the Holy Land. It was an amazing experience. And I would first just like to share with you some of the highlights.
We arrived at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv at a reasonable hour, but after a long travel day, and an 8-hour time difference, my body was not cooperating with me. So, our group of 28 threw down our luggage, celebrated a quick Mass, and went to bed. The next morning, I was stunned when I looked out the window and saw the most beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee. During the first week of our pilgrimage, our group stayed at a retreat house that is actually on top of the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus preached his famous Sermon on the Mount. I cannot begin to describe how surreal it was to walk around and pray on top of that mountain.
The next surprise came at our first site. We visited the remains of the town of Capernaum. The central hub of Jesus’ ministry, kind of his home base where he lived with the apostle Peter, Peter’s wife, and His mother-in-law. When we arrived, I was told that I would be celebrating Mass in the church that is directly over this house. I had the privilege to confect the blessed Eucharist over the place Jesus lived, ate meals, socialized, slept, and prayed. It was a humbling and powerful experience, and I am very grateful for it. At all the other Masses at all the other holy sites I concelebrated the Mass, but being the principal celebrant at Capernaum was an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Some of the other highlights were at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. I and the other pilgrims were able to venerate a stone from the original cave where Jesus was born. The Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor was incredibly beautiful, filled with brilliant frescoes and mosaics depicting our Lord being transfigured before the apostles, Peter, James and John. And of course, the church of the Holy Sepulcher was the pinnacle and culmination of our pilgrimage. It contains the rock known as Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified along with the remains of His tomb. It was by far the most impactful site for me, but that is a story for another time. I will be preaching about and sharing the insights, newfound scriptural context, and spiritual experiences from my trip for months to come. But I want to end with two points, one from my trip and the other from our readings today.
As I visited these holy sites, I started to notice something unexpected. At every location, the biblical story being remembered revealed a dichotomy. At every site there were almost always occasions for joy, peace, and celebration, but also there was sadness, tension, and pain. Mary and Joseph must have been overwhelmed with joy, at the birth of Jesus, but childbirth is very painful and is even called labor. Peter, James, and John, must have been amazed to see the beauty and brilliance of the transfigured Lord, but they were also filled with terror and uncertainty at seeing something so otherworldly. Jesus, his mother, and the disciples who stayed to witness the crucifixion were heartbroken and sad beyond words, but they also knew of the glory that was to come in the resurrection and love expressed by such a sacrifice. And this is true of our own lives. There are moments of great joy, peace, and celebration, and moments of sorrow, fear, and heartbreak. Often times we categorize these moments so concretely and so one-sided in our minds. Childbirth is painful, but also gives the joy of new life. To be struck in awe and wonder can be frightening, but it can also open us up to new possibilities. Death is sad, but we as Christians also have hope in the life to come. So, when you find yourself, in moments like these, only focusing on one side, ask God for the grace to see it from the other. And here is how.
Jesus tells us in our gospel “ask and you will receive;seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Are you asking God for the grace you need? And not just once or twice, but constantly, banging down His door? Knocking until you are weary from the effort? Are you seeking him, in your life? Seeking him without rest. Seeking him in the media you choose to watch, in the people you associate with, in the way you express yourself? Put simply, do you pray? Not just when you wake up and go to bed, and eat meals, but constantly, as Saint Paul compels us to do. Do you go from Sunday to Sunday without speaking to God, or do you keep the Sabbath in your heart, keep the sacrifice Christ made for you always on your heart? Many of you wrote prayer intentions for me to take to the Holy Land, to offer as my intentions for Mass, and then to burn as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. I did pray for your intentions and I did burn them, on the Mount of Olives, at a Church called Pater Noster, Our Father, the same place Jesus preached our gospel today. I believe those prayers, the prayers you wrote, will be answered, although maybe not the way you want or expect, and maybe not in the timeline you would choose. But the Lord does answer our prayers, if we are praying. So please stay dedicated to your prayer life. Along with the reception of the sacraments, it is the most importing thing you will ever do.