Prior to every endeavor, God's grace is always sufficient. The more difficult the task ahead, I believe the more His grace will flow abundantly. And despite my nervous tendencies and various insecurities, past experience shows me that Providence is real and that all that is needed will be in place when it needs to be ... to accomplish what needs to get done.
I am on pilgrimage, and it is a blessing to be in Jerusalem, Israel. My family and I are together visiting the places where Jesus' ministries and miracles took place. There were so many obstacles to our journey prior to it even beginning, and yet it finally happened.
Is a pilgrimage just a trip? I'm inclined to believe not quite. For myself, I have come to understand the Christian pilgrimage as a journey explicitly and deliberately searching for God, engaging with prayer, and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to what Christ has in store for us.
In many ways, all of life is a journey and for the most part -- a pilgrimage. I hope to be open to this experience and to just be present. I trust it will help strengthen me for the months ahead and pray whatever is received can inspire The Christa Apostolate (TCA).
Our morning started so beautifully with a high Mass at Calvary 730am. Most of today was spent in prayer at the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre with the afternoon dedicated to processing with the Franciscans in the Stations of the Cross.
It was such a simple witness of the Christian faith amidst a religiously and culturally diverse part of the Old City. Additionally, it seemed even more significant in the sense that the quarter is heavily commercialized. The Stations are labeled with roman numerals; however, unless you're looking for the signs, it's not easy to tell something salvific and holy had taken place within the stone-cobble maze.
We began close to the Church of the Flagellation and processed through the Muslim Quarter into the Christian Quarter. It was a neat experience of praying through the streets in both Italian, English, and Latin, listening to the Stations, and reciting the responses.
The contrast was so stark between Christian and Muslim and yet there was a fluid understanding taking place -- that being, the Christians were going about our procession while the Muslims were selling goods or going to the market or just passing through. And everyone just existed going about what needed to be done and sharing the space.
The relationship between religious and ethno-cultural groups is complex. I hate to oversimplify or generalize; but in a somewhat microcosmic way, the procession and interaction with different peoples showed a mutual effort to maintain order and fluidity on both the part of Christian and Muslim. It was most admirable, indeed. Stepping further back, it is even more amazing that so many religious quarters have been able to live within close proximity of the other for centuries.
Part of my love for the devotional Stations is the penitential spirit found behind them. This has been very helpful in keeping my focus on Christ and reminding me why we are in Jerusalem and Who we are celebrating.
Overall, it has been a blessing to be in Israel, and we have received nothing but hospitality from everyone we have encountered. The only regretable moment of the day (of which I just could not help ...) was falling asleep in the worst possible place: the garden and basilica of Gethsemane. How can anyone not feel guilty given the Scriptures? The weather was really hot ...
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