We left New York in the dark of Thursday night and arrived today in Tel Aviv in the dark of Friday night. The plane had the window shades down the whole time, so I sort of just lost a day in the air. Never saw the sun. Yet, here we are. Back in the land of the Bible. I remember my first time ever touching down here. There was the magic of wondering “which way to Jerusalem?” I remember looking out the window and feeling the incredible wonder at everything. This time was a little different, but even with the familiarity it’s an incredible feeling to be heading “up to Jerusalem.”
We are staying in the Notre Dame Center run by the Holy See for Catholic pilgrims to the Holy Land. I spent four weeks living here in 2007, so it had a nice familiar feel. After dinner we had our first celebration of Holy Mass in the chapel at Notre Dame. It was a nice moment to be celebrating Mass as a priest in that chapel where I spent so many hours praying thirteen years ago in seminary.
After Mass we took a walk down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that is the center of Jerusalem for Christians. The best time to go pray there is early in the morning, so we wanted to make sure that those who had never come before would know the route. After a long day of travel, it’s time for bed. Tomorrow we go to Bethlehem.