on the way down we stopped at the Jordan river and renewed our baptisimal vows, passed by Jericho where Jesus met Zaccheus and where the Good Samaritan parable takes place. the landscape is much different: rocks and dust and desert, dry and barren; lots of soldiers and guns everywhere.
Qumran -
we explored the caves where the dead sea scrolls were found, containing ancient manuscripts of most of the Scriptures. its hot so i just stayed in the shade, explored the excavations and had a falaffel. i prayed for intentions here today as we travel the road that Jesus took to His death. He still paused to heal lepers when they cried out to Him for mercy
Dead Sea -
418 meters below sea level, lots of guys slathered themselves in mud and went floating in the dead sea. it was funny...and a little weird.
Jerusalem -
psalm 122, as we went up the hill into Jerusalem. we are staying at Notre Dame house run by the Legionairres right by the new gate--it is a little too nice if you ask me. its dark now, but we went on a walk along the via dolorosa, past the Holy Sepulcher. at night after dinner Verona, Noel, Young, Baron, Nelson and i went exploring. we walked to the Armenian quarter, Jewish quarter and the wailing wall. on our way to the Church of St. Stephen's martyrdom we got scammed by some Muslim kids who "took us there" and wanted some payment for their guidework. they took us back to the Jewish quarter. we ended up finding our way through to near St. Stephen's on his feast day and found a little chapel of the Holy family on the vigil of the feast of the Holy Family. Verona and i prayed a few decades together as we walked back. the city is not that big (a square kilometer) and now we've seen all the sections.
i could not pray well today. lots of transition. we are in Jerusalem.
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