This is always one of the favorite days for our pilgrims. We start out with Mass at the Notre Dame Center (homily here). The Israel Museum is our next stop will review the Temple Model which is like walking around Jerusalem at the time of Christ. We also saw the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book.
We then descended down from the mountains of Jerusalem to the lowest place on the face of the earth – the Jordan Valley. We renewed our Baptismal Vows at the Jordan River and prayed the Mystery of the Baptism of Our Lord. We then had lunch in Jericho, some of the freshest and best food ever, where we also saw the Mount of Temptation and a Sycamore Tree before visiting a Hebron Glass Store.
Next we saw Cave Number 4 at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered and discussed a lot about the Essenes and the development of the Bible.
Swimming, or I should say floating, in the Dead Sea was our next stop before going back up into Jerusalem to prepare for our Solemn Entry where we are brought into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the Franciscans to bring us up to the Tomb of Christ and we enter without waiting in the 3 hour line. What a Great Experience!
After the visiting of the tomb of Christ we came back to the Notre Dame Center and ate dinner on the rooftop of Jerusalem looking out over the whole story of salvation while he ate an exceptional meal with great wines. Good night everyone!