WED 12 MAY 10    Depart from Washington DC according to flight arrangements.
 
THR 13MAY 10     Arrive Tel Aviv ISRAEL in the afternoon and after Passport Control, be greeted by our guide and driver.  Drive north along the Mediterranean Seacoast and inland to Nazareth.  Father will celebrate Mass before dinner and overnight.

FRI 14 MAY 10    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 included 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.      Return to Nazareth for dinner and overnight.  After dinner, experience praying the Rosary near the Grotto where Mary ‘heard The Word.’  

 

SAT 15 MAY 10   After breakfast, depart for the Sea of Galilee and take a boat across 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 included 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.

 

SUN 16 MAY 10    After breakfast, depart the Galilee and head south through the Jordan Rift to  Jericho to see the Mount of Temptations and the remains of the oldest city in the world!  Celebrate Mass in the local parish church, then have a lunch break and enjoy the wonderful local abundance of fresh fruit.  Continue  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.  We continue up to Jerusalem  and check into our hotel for dinner and overnight.

 

MON 17 MAY 10     After breakfast, start on the Mt of Olives and 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 or after included 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.

 

TUES 18 MAY 10   After breakfast, we'll drive 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.  

stop at Yad Vashem  to visit the Children's Holocaust Memorial and Garden of the Righteous and eat in their Kosher Cafeteria.  Continue to  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. Dinner and overnight in Notre Dame.

 

WED 19 MAY 10   After breakfast, we drive around the city walls once more 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.  

    After lunch visit St. Peter in Gallicantu where our Lord was held by the high priest when he was arrested. Have time for prayer and meditaton before walking back through the Armenian Quarter to our hotel.  Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

 

THR 20 MAY 10      

After breakfast, drive around the city walls 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.

 

FRI 21 MAY 10    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.

 

SAT 22 MAY 10    Time to depart for homes with many memories to Give Thanks and Remember