All posts filed under: Excursions

Short reports about our excursions.

Sepphoris and Cana

Sepphoris Its Hebrew name, Zippori or “Bird,” reflects its lofty location. The city commands a panoramic view of the lower Galilee, including the towns of Cana, five miles to the northeast, and Nazareth, four miles to the south. The historian Josephus called this city “the ornament of Galilee.” Sepphoris has been rightly called “the forgotten city.” Over the years, commentaries and geography texts give their attention to the nearby towns of Nazareth and Cana, while Sepphoris has been virtually ignored. This has been a great oversight. Sepphoris is one of those cities in Galilee which, although not mentioned in Scripture, played a crucial role in configuring the political, social, and economic context in which Jesus of Nazareth lived and ministered (from the Israel tour guide book 2013). Walking and Reading the land of the Bible…Walking the Jesus trail from Nazareth to Sepphoris and from Sepphoris to Cana was an amazing experience. It was indeed touching the country as well as its culture, feeling and smelling the landscape was a moment of glorifying God. It was …

Nazareth

We arrived in Nazareth on Sunday evening. We stayed with the Sisters of Nazareth for two days and three nights. Our first day in Nazareth we were so excited, we started our day with our mass in the Annunciation Church. It was a blessing to be there where Angel Gabriel visited Mary. I did not think about the time, I just wanted to be aware of God’s presence in each moment and I was able to enter to my inner self as a normal woman like Mary always listening to God’s word. I was also very happy to find Mary’s images in the wall of the Basilica from the different countries especially from my country “Guatemala “when I saw it I was shouting with full of joy. After that we went to St Joseph Church, later we visited Mary’s house we arrived too early but sister Norika of Chemin Neuf Community welcomed us, she was very kind explaining to us and she invited us to the top of the building where we could find their …

Tiberias

We woke up excited to go to Tabgha to stay there for 4 days so we packed our belongings and then we went to the mass at St. Joseph’s church at 6:30 a.m. then we had our breakfast at 7:00 a.m. Along the way we have had the opportunity to know every village where Jesus walked and proclaimed God’s kingdom. For some of us we knew the lake for first time and our heartbeat accelerated so much. It is quite amazing. We visited St. Peter’s church in Tiberias, while we were there we sang a song: “Only let me hear you say those words again: come and follow me”, which let us to renew our own call and to confirm God’s presence and in all the promises contained in the Sacred Scriptures as Father Theodore said, so to commit ourselves to bring others in God’s presence in this century. We were delighted with St. Peter’s fish as our nice lunch on the lakeshore. While we were waiting we shared our feelings about how blessed we …

Community gathering

Saturday morning, novices, sisters and brothers of Sion joined the Yom HaKehilah, a meeting arranged by the Kehilot (Hebrew-speaking Catholic communities). The event took place in Kiryat Ye’arim, near Abu Ghosh (Israel). (written by frinds of sion)  

The fruit pickers and cleaners

We are grateful that we were finally able to clean our garden. We worked for three afternoons and, of course, we enjoyed it, running, jumping and climbing the apple trees like children. Now we have some different kinds of jam, for example, apple, pear, and fig. For some of us, this was the first experience of having so many kinds of fruit at the same time. It is all the more exciting because they come from our own garden, and for us this is a blessing. It is nice to pick so many kinds of fruit and not have to pay for them! Of course, it involves work, and we have been a little tired but very happy! Come and see the photos!… written by Alejandra  

Visit to the Tent of Nations vineyard

Last friday, June 20-2014 we hade an eye opener exposure to the place of David Nassar, a Palestinian Christian family fighting for their ancestral land since 1991 when the Israeli government declared the whole area an Israeli State property. Nassar has all the original land documents from the Ottman period up to this present government. They fight their rights in a legal way and brought this issues to the high court. Nassar family situation is just one concrete example of exploition around the whole world fighting for land, life, dignity and freedom against their oppressors. According to David Nassar, “our response to this injustice is not with violence, not being a victim and not by running away but by facing it in a non-violent way by channeling our pain to be in a constructive power that leads to a better future under the slogan: we refuse to be enemies.“ They are calling us for help especially for the international supports to walk with them not behind or in front of them but to walk with …