Today we visited the queen of the pilgrimage sites in Jordan and the 5th and final one. We drove down from the mountains of Amman and Madaba to the lowest place on the face of the earth which is the Jordan Valley. It is 1,250 feet below sea level. We arrived at the Jordan River and celebtated Mass among the reeds with even a muskrat joining us. You can hear/see Fr. Dan‘s homily here.
We also renewed our baptismal vows at the River and I did a short talk entitled “Are You Born Again?“ we toured the authentic sign of Jesus‘s baptism and the archaeological site surrounding it. We also saw the spot where Elijah was taken I’ve been to heaven.
We had a nice bag lunch as we drove an hour and a half north along the Jordan River in Jordan to the Sheikh Hussein Crossing into Israel. After crossing into Israel we arrived at our Ron Beach Hotel and settled in and enjoyed the afternoon.
Some people swim in the sea of Galilee and others just sat along the shore reading the Gospels and enjoying some down time to rest. Others took a well-deserved nap. Our Israel-only Group joined us later in the evening (separate video).