Good Evening from Tiberias:

We arrived here this evening on the Sea of Galilee to begin our pilgrimage in this area for 3 nights and four days. To make a correction our retreat was in the town of Abu Ghosh about 13 km outside of Jerusalem at the Ark of the Covenant Retreat Center. It was a good experience as Fr. Ed MacNamara gave the meditation talks to the english speaking priests. Fr. Ed was a excellent retreat master as he has a wealth of practical and scriptural knowledge. The weather was cool wet and windy which sounds like the weather back home in the winter time.

We left the retreat center and headed back around Jerusalem as we were heading towards the north east towards the Dead Sea into the desert to the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. We celebrated mass and had a renewal of our baptismal vows. Our next stop was Jericho an oasis in the desert. Because of the water it is filled with a green landscape with the mountains behind and Jordan on the other side of the river. We sent by tram up to the Greek Orthodox Monastery on the Mount of Temptations. No pictures were allowed in the monastery so I took some pictures of Jericho. After seeing the monastery we stopped for lunch. This was the route that Jesus and many took from the Galilee area to Jerusalem as it was the safest route.

After lunch we were on our way heading up the Jordan River valley to Lake Galilee. This is the Palestine area called the West Bank that we have been travelling in since Jerusalem. Eventually as we were closer towards Mt. Tabor we were back into Israel again. The land sure changed as we now were travelling along fertile land and seeing various crops that have been planted.  Mt. Tabor was our last stop before Tiberias. This is the Trasnsfiguration of the Lord and a beautiful church.

I will write more tomorrow as I am a bit tired after a long day so will say bye until the next time. Mike