Pilgrims
On Monday evening, April 25, Father Alex will lead 18 others from Holy Apostles on a Holy Land Pilgrimage. The group will depart from Houston on Turkish Airlines, connecting in Istanbul the next afternoon and arriving in Tel Aviv in the evening of the 26th. Having cleared COVID protocols prior to their departure, they’ll all take another COVID test upon arrival and then travel north by bus to Tiberias for three nights.
The Sea of Galilee and Beyond
From their Tiberias base the group will sail the Sea of Galilee, visit Capernaum and the Mount of the Beatitudes, spend time in Nazareth and Caesarea, and visit Jericho and the Mount of Olives, the site of Jesus’ ascension. Friday night will find the group shifting hotels, moving south to Jerusalem for the balance of the journey.
The weekend begins in Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity, constructed over Jesus’ birthplace, and then return to Jerusalem to visit the Garden of Gethsemane and meditate on the Last Supper in the Upper Room. They’ll stroll the streets of the Old City, explore the Teaching Steps and Western Wall, sing at the Church of St. Anne, walk the Via Dolorosa (the Stations of the Cross), and pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The final days of the pilgrimage will find the group ascending Masada in a cable car and taking a dip in the Dead Sea, touring Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Memorial, and visiting the Garden Tomb. They’ll take their final COVID test after dinner in Joppa and depart from Tel Aviv at 4:50 am on May 4, connecting again that afternoon in Istanbul for a 13-hour flight home.
Prayers and Updates
We solicit your prayers for a safe journey. Watch for pictures and blog posts during the pilgrimage and be ready for all the stories once they’ve returned!