SUN 26 OCT     Depart from USA according to your flight arrangements.
 
MON 27 OCT     Arrive Tel Aviv ISRAEL in the afternoon and after Passport Control, be greeted by our guide and driver.  Drive north along the Mediterranean Seacoast to Haifa.  Father will celebrate Mass at the Cave of Elijah and then we'll check into Stella Maris, the Carmelite Convent for dinner and overnight.

TUE 28 OCT    After breakfast, depart for the Sea of Galilee to visit Tabgha where Our Lord fed the 5,000 men with 2 loaves and 5 fishes.  Continue to The Primacy where he asks Peter, "Do you love me?" and then to the Mount of Beatitudes where Father will celebrate Mass.  Afterwards, enjoy a great Saint Peter's fish lunch (there's other choices if you don't care for fish).

    In the afternoon,  drive to Mount Tabor, where we'll transfer to taxis and go up to visit Antonio Barlucci's magnificent church and have time to mediate on The Transfiguration where Jesus revealed His Glory. Before going to Nazareth to check into our hotel, stop by Yardenit on the Jordan River to renew our baptismal promises.  Dinner and overnight in Nazareth.  

 

WED 29 OCT    Walk across the street to the Church of the Annunciation.  Father will celebrate Mass at the place where The Word Became Flesh.  After breakfast visit the upper parish church and then the  museum built over the village of Nazareth and learn about the many churches that have been built over the House of Mary.  Stop at Joseph's Carpenter Shop, and then walk through the town where Jesus grew up.  Continue up to the Synagogue Church to read scripture and pray before walking to  Mary’s Well in the Greek Orthodox Church and then enjoy lunch in a local restaurant.      

    In the afternoon, drive to the Wedding Church in Cana where Father will renew the wedding vows of our couples.  Continue to Sepphoris to see the Mona Lisa of Galilee.  This is where one tradition says Mary was born.     Return to Nazareth for dinner and overnight.  After dinner, experience praying the Rosary in the Grotto where Mary ‘heard The Word.’      

 

THR 30 OCT  After breakfast, we pack up and drive south, to the King Hussein Bridge and enter the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.   Drive south to the Roman-Greco city of Jerash, one of the most complete examples of a provincial Roman city to be seen anywhere. and walk among the streets of long ago, stopping in the amazing theater. Continue to to Mt. Nebo, where Father will celebrate Mass.  Look over the Promised Land where Moses died. The Bzyantine mosaics in the floor of the Franciscan church tell the story of early pilgrims. Continue to  Madaba to see the oldest map of the mid-east in a floor mosaic of the local church and then south along the King’s Highway into the desert Check into our hotel and enjoy a great buffet dinner and then overnight.

FRI  31 OCT   After breakfast, Meet with our guide to discuss the legendary city of the Bedouins, then ride a horse, take a carriage or walk into the Siq and see the magnificent Treasury rise up between the rock walls. The rock-carved rose-red city of Petra is full of mysterious charm, it was "designed to strike wonder into all who entered it". Later in the afternoon, return to our hotel where Father will celebrate Mass before dinner and overnight.

SAT 1 NOV    After breakfast, depart Petra and head north to the Allenby Bridge to cross back into Israel.  Stop in Jericho to see the Mount of Temptations and the remains of the oldest city in the world!  Have a lunch break and enjoy the wonderful local abundance of fresh fruit.  Continue up to Jerusalem and to  Ein Karem to visit the birthplace of St. John the Baptist and then climb to the Church of the Visitation where Mary went to help her cousin Elizabeth.  Father will celebrate Mass for us here.   We'll also visit the Israeli Museum and see The 1/50th scale model of the city at the time of Christ.  It will help you understand how the walls have changed before we continue to our hotel. . Check in and enjoy dinner and overnight in Notre Dame.

 

SUN 2 NOV     After breakfast, if possible, we’ll drive to Bethany to visit the home of Jesus friends Martha and Mary and the tomb of Lazarus. Continue around to Bethpage where Jesus took the donkey to begin his Palm Sunday ride into the Holy City before going up on the Mt of Olives. We’ll walk down from the place of the Ascension to the Carmelite Convent where we remember Jesus teaching the Our Father, and continue down to Dominus Flevit where He wept over the city, and down to Gethsemane.

    We’ll continue to Bethlehem and have time to shop in one of the big Christian stores before lunch at the Franciscan Casa Nova. After visit the oldest Christian church in the world, built over the place where Our Lord was born. We’ll drive down to   Shepherd’s Field where Father will celebrate Mass  and then return to our hotel in Jerusalem.

 

MON 3 NOV    After breakfast, we'll drive around to the Dung Gate and enter The Old City in the Jewish Quarter and visit the Western Wall. Many Jewish boys will come to celebrate their Bar Mitzvah here today and we can pray at and leave our petitions in the Wall. After, walk up onto the Temple Mount where Jesus taught and prayed; where he was presented by his parents after birth; where he was tempted by the Devil to throw himself down; and, where he was angered by the money changers. Today on this Moslem property we find the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. We pass the closed Golden Gate as we leave and enter the Crusader church of St. Ann’s and the Pools of Bethesda. Leave the city by St. Stephen’s Gate and return to our hotel for a lunch break.

    In the afternoon,  walk and pray the Via Dolorosa through the streets of the Old City up to Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre.  Join the Franciscan for Benediction and then have some free time before we return to our hotel for dinner and overnight.

 

TUE 4 NOV      After breakfast, drive down to Qumran to visit the excavations of the Essene’s community and see the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947. After lunch,  take a break by the sea and have the opportunity to ‘float’ in the mineral-laden waters of the Dead Sea. before we return to Mt Zion to visit Dormition Abbey where “Mary Slept” and the Upper Room. Father will celebrate Mass at the Franciscan property of the Cenacle and then visit St. Peter in Gallicantu where our Lord was held by the high priest when he was arrested.   Return to our hotel to rest before we depart for a very special mideast feast in a Bedouin tent in Bethlehem.

 

WED 5 NOV    Father will be the Celebrant for the Latin Mass with the Franciscans at the Holy Sepulchre  then we'll return to Notre Dame for breakfast.

             ENJOY A FREE DAY IN JERUSALEM.

 

THR 6 NOV     Time to depart for homes with many memories to Give Thanks and Remember