October Pilgrimage to Israel

with Father David Meng and Father Mark Mullaney

October 8-18, 2018

PLEASE NOTE:  THIS PILGRIMAGE IS NOW FILLED.

MON 8 OCT OCT    Depart on Brussels Air 516 from Dulles Airport, Washington at 5:50 PM

TUES 9 OCT    After breakfast on board, arrive in Brussels 7:30 am.  Transfer to Brussels Air 3289 at 9:35 am and arrive in Tel Aviv at 3:05 pm. After Passport Control, be greeted by our guide and driver.  Drive north along the Mediterranean Seacoast to Stella Maris on Mount Carmel.  Check in, dinner.  Mass in the chapel.   Overnight in Haifa

WED 10 OCT   After breakfast, depart for Muhraqa on Mt Carmel to remember the battle between  the gods of Baal and Elijah.  Father will celebrate Mass before we depart for Nazareth for an included lunch.  Afterward visit the Church of the Annunciation to see where The Word Became Flesh then 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 where the Angel Gabriel came to Mary.   Check into our hotel for dinner.   Overnight in Nazareth.

THR 11 OCT     After breakfast, we depart for the Sea of Galilee. Recalling when Jesus calmed the storm and called Peter to walk on water to Him, take a boat across the lake to Caphernaum where Jesus called St. Peter and many of the other apostles.   Visit the Synagogue where He healed and taught and see Peter’s House.   Afterwards, go to up on the Mount of Beatitudes to the beautiful Franciscan property to remember Jesus teachings before we visit the Primacy where He confirmed     St. Peter’s mandate after His resurrection, and to Tabgha where he fed the 5000.  Stop in Magdala to visit the newly revealed first century synagogue.  Father will celebrate Mass on the banks of the lake in the new chapel in the city of Mary Magdalene.  Return to Nazareth for dinner and overnight.

FRI 12 OCT   Start the day in Sepphoris, a cosmopolitan Jewish-Hellenistic tiy close to Nazareth that was the capital of the Galilee in Roman times.  It would have been very familiar to Jesus.  Highlights include a colonnaded street, a mosaic synagogue floor and a masterpiece mosaic portrait of a Roman-era woman dubbed “the Mona Lisa of the Galilee”.   Later  in  Cana, we stop to renew the vows of our couples at the site of Jesus’ first miracle when he changed water in wine at the wedding feast.  After lunch, go up Mount Tabor, site of the Transfiguration where Father will celebrate Mass.  Return to Nazareth for dinner and overnight.

 SAT 13 OCT    Father will celebrate Mass in front of Mary’s Grotto in the Church of the Annunciation before breakfast and departure through Samaria to ancient Shechem and Jacob’s Well.  Continue to to Bethlehem and enjoy the 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 for some quiet time in one of the caves and then have time to do some shopping in the Christian community there.  Continue driving up from this lowest place on earth to Jerusalem.   Check into our hotel for dinner and overnight.

SUN 14 OCT     After breakfast, drive east and south along the Jordan Valley to the lowest place on earth.   Continue along the shores of the Dead Sea to Massada, mighty fortress built by Herod the Great between 37 and 31 BCE.  Learn about the 930 Jewish Zealots who died there rather than submit to Rome and then drive north to  Qumran.  Visit the excavations of the Essene’s community and see the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found in 1947.  Afterwards, we’ll take a break by the sea and have the opportunity to ‘float’ in the mineral-laden waters of the Dead Sea before continuing to the Jordan Baptismal site to renew our baptismal promises and making a quick stop in Jericho to see the Mount of Temptations and Zechaias’ Sycamore Tree.   Return to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight

MON 15 OCT     Drive around the Old City to 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.
After lunch, drive to Ein Karem to visit the birthplace of St. John the Baptist and then the Church of the Visitation where Mary went to help her cousin Elizabeth. After visit the Shrine of the Book where some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are now kept, and see a model of Jerusalem at the time of Christ.  See the 1/50th scale model of the city and understand how the walls have changed.      Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

TUES 16 OCT     After lunch drive up on the Mt of Olives and walk down from the place of the Ascension to Dominus Flevit where Jesus wept over the city, and down to Gethsemane.
After lunch, pray the Via Dolorosa, carrying a cross up through the Old City to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where we’ll stop on Calvary, and have an opportunity to enter the Tomb                             Overnight in Jerusalem.

WED 17 OCT     Father will celebrate Mass inside the Tomb of Our Lord before breakfast. Walk thru the Christian and Armenian Quarter to Mt .Zion to visit Dormition Abbey where “Mary Slept” and the Upper Room.  Visit St. Peter in Gallicantu where our Lord was held by the high priest when he was arrested

FREE AFTERNOON.            SPECIAL MIDEAST FEAST in Bethlehem.
  Overnight in Jerusalem.

THR 18 OCT   Depart for home on Brussels Air 3294 and transfer to Brussels Air 515, arriving in Dulles Airport at 12:55 pm with many memories to  Give Thanks and Remember.

$2,950.00**

INCLUDED:

  • Airfare to and from Tel Aviv  from Washington, DC
  • Airline taxes and fuel surcharges**
  • All transfers and assistance with arrival and departure
  • Deluxe bus transportation as required
  • Hotel accommodations in double and triple rooms using first class hotels with private baths
  • Half board (Breakfast and dinner) daily
  • 3 lunches and special mid-east feast
  • Services of English speaking local guides
  • Services of a  Certified Tour Manager from the U.S.A.
  • All entrance fees as shown on  the itinerary
  • Daily Mass and spiritual direction
  • All service charges

NOT INCLUDED:

  • A Tip fund of $15.00 per day, per person  ($165.00 total collected with balance).    Covers all tips including hotels, dining rooms, porters, drivers and guides.
  • Expenses of a personal nature
  • Meals not mentioned.  Drinks with dinner.
  • Single Supplement  of $750.00 when no roommate  (Note:  limited # singles)

IMPORTANT NOTE:     **Not always but Sometimes AIRLINE TAXES AND FUEL SURCHARGES  may change and cause an increase in the rate.You will be notified and billed for these changes with final invoice.

 REGISTER EARLY!

This is a small group pilgrimage.

 Send deposit of $500.00 to

 Give Thanks and Remember LLC

1484 Morris Pond Drive, Ste B2

Locust Grove, VA 22508

 

 

 

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