Floating on the Dead Sea

Today, we celebrated Mass at the Church of All Nations and reflected upon the Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Deacon Leo served with me. Just in front of the altar was an uncovered piece of rock, traditionally considered the place of Jesus' prayer in agony to his Father. The pilgrims surrounded the altar. The echo was temendous in the church. The windows in the church are covered with alabaster which shown through, though dimly.

After Mass, we traveled to Masada. Peggy was the lone pilgrim to actually climb the mountain. It took her forty-three minutes flat. Pretty good, eh? But, she didn't beat my challenge of thirty minutes which would have been a near sprint. Nothing like a little challenge to motivate the pilgrims! :) Honestly, I'm proud of her as this was a life-long goal for her. You go, Peggy! The rest of us polgrims took the tram. Wee! Two of our pilgrims were rather scared of the tram ride, but still took it and conquered their fears. You go, pilgrims!

Next, we jumped back on the bus and headed for Qumran, the site of the discovery of the dead Sea Scrolls. We all had lunch. Later, I mischieveously reminded us that it was a Friday in Lent! Of course, that was only after buying the turkey pasta dish myself and being reminded by a much holier pilgrim that it was Friday. And yes, turkey is still considered a meat. What to do? What to do? So, I simply decided, again after pulling a sufficient guilt trip upon the pilgrims on the bus after lunch, that I was going to grant them a dispensation for that day. Afterall, it was still Thursday in Oregon, no?

Okay. Back to Qumran. We toured the remains of the Essenes living quarters and learned about their ways. Yesterday, we had gone to the Shrine of the Book where the scrolls are one display.

Then, to the joy of all, we headed for the Dead Sea for some holy floating. The water is 30% salt content along with other chemicals that I cannot prounce... sulfuric something something and magnesium something something. Oh yeah, there was lot o tar. The pictures are priceless of us floating and rubbing mud on our beautiful bodies. I feel so much younger right now.

After that, we all returned to the hotel. Tomorrow we leave for Galilee and new hotel. I took another evening stroll to the Holy Sepulchre and almost bought some icon before I chickened out... I hate to shop. That is unless it is for computer stuff! Oh yeah, I so miss my computer. But, it is a pilgrimage and I am supposed to suffer some.

Tonight is the beginning of the Sabbath and all of the computers in the lobby have been shut down. But, WiFi works, so I borrowing a computer to type this. Did I say already that I miss my computer? Hey, if you see my dog, give her a hug. I miss her too.

This coming Sunday, Jerusalem is expecting snow! Can you believe it? I thought we left Oregon to go to the warmer weather.

That's enough for now. It's time to pack my suitcases. I don't know if there will be computer/internet access in our next hotel, so please be patient if this turns out to be the last entry for several days. But, please go ahead and post your comments at will. The more the merrier. In fact, the more you post, the more we feel loved. It make us feel that you haven't forgotten about us. Be sure that we have been praying for all of you each morning at Mass.

Shalom,
Fr. Bill