Yesterday I returned from three months of study in Israel. Each day we had presenters who were Jews, Christians, or Muslims and they lectured on Sacred Scripture (Torah, Acts of the Apostles, and Koran respectively), the Geography of the Land, and History.
Each of the religious groups is tied to the Land as their own Holy Land. We studied those ties and their political implications. In the final month we began looking at the possibilities for a Two-State Solution, with Jews and Palestinians each having their own country.
Some have asked how I am different after my three months of study? I went to Israel with a heartfelt understanding of the Jewish People and the suffering they endured in the Holocaust and the joy of finally having their own homeland. I came home seeing that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is a very complex reality, but my heart went out to the Palestinian People who are going through a tremendous amount of suffering.
A second most frequently asked question I have been getting is what the most moving experience I had was? That’s any easy question. It happened my last weekend in Israel. For most of the time there I saw myself as a student and conducted myself in that manner.
The last weekend a priest friend asked if I would concelebrate Mass and hear confessions of 45 pilgrims in Jerusalem who were there from Toronto. The Mass began at 3:00pm in the Church of the Cenacle, the place where Jesus had the Last Supper with his disciples. After we priests washed everyone’s feet and celebrated the Eucharist, the entire group followed in Jesus’ steps down the Kidron Valley and up the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane where we heard confessions. After confessions, the pilgrims went into the adjoining Church of All Nations for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
My ministering as a priest to faith-filled people in these sacred sites was a very different experience from studying those sites. Bringing faith and reflection to the sights through the presence of the pilgrims gave me an extraordinary sense of being a priest for people.
It was a great way to prepare for coming home. My student life was a wonderful experience. I know it will enhance how I am with others as their priest.
Fondly,
Father Nicholas
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