Museum pieces, no; they inspire us to grow in holiness

How many tour companies can assure you that you will have a priest on almost every single pilgrimage who offers confessions and daily Mass?  Not many.  But we do.

Part of that is the collaborative work of our ministry with priests.  Part of that is that we take prayer seriously on our pilgrimage as an authentic, Catholic pilgrimage provider.  But our priests have to be encouraged to make/lead pilgrimages.  Not only is a pilgrimage good for the priest himself but for his people as well.

Some think of Catholic shrines as museums.  As one priest said to a group of interested pilgrims the other night, "They're not there to be museum pieces but to inspire us to grow in holiness."

Well said Father!

Please encourage your parish priest to lead a pilgrimage with us.  Talk to him and have him call us.  Or we'll call him. Either way, let's get our priests on a pilgrimage!

Jesus, the devil and gondola rides?

Say what?  That's right.  Our Holy Land pilgrimage comes complete with a gondola ride.  Where to?  The Mount of Temptation.  How else does one get from here:

to here?

 

The Scripture from St. Matthew reads, "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (4:1)  I don't know about you but I'd rather take a 15 minute gondola ride, enjoy the view, and head back down.  No need to fast 40 days/nights and then be tempted by the devil. 

"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; and he said to him, 'All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.'" (4:8-9)  Yeah, no, I'm good; thanks.  The gondola view is just fine with me.

Anyway, what made me think of all this is a piece Foxnews.com ran in their Travel section. (To give credit where it is due, it was actually put together by Condé Nast Traveler.)  What got me was that they didn't include the Holy Land gondola ride!  Ok, a ride through the Alps is beautiful and so is Croatia.  But Jesus wasn't tempted by the devil on the slopes in Switzerland!  

Not only is the Mount of Temptation gondola a beautiful ride (see below) but it is such a unique opportunity.  Everyone who has gone skiing or hiking has taken a gondola ride.  But to do so from one of the oldest cities on earth to the place where Jesus conquered the devil...now that's a gondola ride worth taking!  When your friends brag about taking a gondola ride in Sydney over the zoo, you can say, "Oh?  That's nice.  We rode the one up to where Jesus said, 'Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'  Havvvvve a nice day."  (Of course you'd say it in a Christian manner and all.)

But really, taking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land means walking in the Sea of Galilee, touching the place where Jesus was born, riding a gondola onto the Mount of Temptation and a whole lot more.  It's worth every penny.

Encounter Christ this Sunday, June 2nd w/Pope Francis

It's the first time it's ever happened.  Pope Francis has called for all the cathedrals around the world to participate with him in a universal Eucharistic holy hour at 5pm Rome time on Sunday, June 2nd.  Why he is doing so?  To celebrate Corpus Christi.  What are his prayer intentions?  There are two.

1) For the obedience of the Church so that she appear before the world as “beautiful, without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish.”
2) For victims of violence, drugs, human trafficking, economic insecurity and social marginalization.

Here's the tricky thing.  5pm Rome time is 11am EST, 10am CST and so on.  Most U.S. parishes will be busy having Mass at the same time the Pope is calling for the holy hour.  So, some bishops/priests have switched Mass times. Some have decided to hold the holy hour at a later time.  Some, well, haven't decided anything at all.  Or at least they have not published it on any online sources.

What can you do?  Make a pilgrimage to a local Church that is holding a holy hour in union with the Holy Father's intentions.  You could also make a pilgrimage to your diocesan cathedral for the same.  You might want to call them or check their websites, however, in order to make sure you are there at the correct time and if, indeed, they are having the holy hour.

Either way Tekton Ministries is happy to be a part of this Eucharistic holy hour seeing as how prayer is such a major focus for us on our Catholic pilgrimages.  As we tell pilgrims, it's more than just seeing sites. It's about encountering Jesus in these holy places!

Destination weddings, Catholic-style

Non-Catholic couples often decide on "destination weddings".  What are they?  They are weddings in which the bride and groom choose an exotic resort or a favorite place they share in order to get married.  Catholics can also do so but in a Catholic Church near or in that location.  But what about this idea?  A Catholic pilgrimage as a way of celebrating a destination wedding?

That was the case for two Italians who met on a pilgrimage and fell in love.  They made the decision to return to the place they fell in love and, there, be united in holy matrimony in the midst of their family, friends, fellow pilgrims and even pilgrims who happened to be visiting the Church at the time.  The Church of St. Catherine, located near the Church of the Nativity, was host for the wedding which was a simple, spirit-filled celebration of the Lord and our pilgrimage to him- and in this case, as a man and woman joining together in the sacred bond of marriage began to do so together.

Congratulazioni! Per Cent'Anni!

Check out this short video from TerraSanctablog.org then like and share it.