Dear Friends, Here I am after a really busy month of June when I was away from my computer for almost all of the month. I spent two weeks in the Holy Land, then after less than three days back here, and getting lots of sleep and time to pack and leave again, I spent a week away in Tanzania leading a retreat for 14 Notre Dame nuns. While in Tanzania I got a really bad case of bronchitis which I am slowly getting over. It requires so much extra sleep. Groan! Besides, winter has settled in here and it gets quite chilly at night. With no heat in the room nor on the floors, it demands extra blankets and a cap sometimes on my head! But I am so glad to be back home and no longer living out of a suitcase. ........................................................................................................... The time in the Holy Land was just the best. We were 30 in all with a terrific guide, Rula Shubeita, a Christian Palestinian who is very competent in her role. So satisfying for me to work in tandem with her, she as guide, I as chaplain. ............................................................................................................ Our weather was most agreeable, even though pretty hot in the afternoons. One has to drink lots of water. This caught up with me when in Galilee. I got quite dehydrated on my third day there and got very weak. I had to stay home in bed for a day to regain my strength. I suspect the altitude difference was a factor. I live at 5800 feet above sea level here in Nairobi and the lake of Galilee is at 600 feet BELOW sea level. the day this happened was the 45th anniversary of my ordination as a priest. I was well enough by the evening to join everyone for a fabulous meal at a restaurant some 30 minutes by bus from our hotel facility. On the drive back from the restaurant we could see the full moon shining beautifully off the serene surface of the lake. On the following evening, our last one in Galilee, I was able to see the same full moon come up slowly over the mountain range (blood red at first) that forms a boundary on the other side of the lake, 8-10 miles across. Wow, what a stunning thing to watch. ........................................................................................................ What stood out on this trip, my 5th time there? Being able to pray mass at Calvary, so close to where the cross was mounted. So too praying mass on the top of Mount Tabor in the magnificent basilica commemorating the transfiguration of Jesus on that spot. Also, going to the rock in the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed for three hours on the last night of his life and begged the Father for some other way out but eventually surrendered and was willing "to drink the cup." I have often thought of that place is where our future was decided on; it is the place where he said 'yes' and from that moment forward we were guaranteed the opportunity of eternal life. I have many times asked, "Suppose he had walked out before the soldiers arrived to arrest him; suppose he backed out on his call and on us? There are no bigger words in our stories than 'yes' and no'. ........................................................................................................ I was also quite touched by the church built on Mt. Nebo, the burial place of Moses overlooking the Dead Sea and the Promised Land. This is where Moses died and finished his call to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt; it is quite close to where Jesus started his public life and was baptized by John the Baptist. So impressive how the end of one journey was taken up by Jesus to begin his own journey, for us, to finish what Moses began! The one hour boat ride on the Lake of Galilee, going relatively close to the shoreline where so many of the places Jesus did extraordinary things; this was a great way to preview what we would visit later. I always enjoy walking through Capernaum because it was the headquarters, so to speak, for Jesus during his three years in Galilee. It is special to take time there and imagine how busy the market there had to be, an international crossroads. To see the basement of St. Peter's house still intact and imagine Jesus having resided in one of those many rooms, at Peter's invitation. Then to visit the synagogue or remnants of it across the street from St. Peter's house and read from Mark's gospel the account of what happened there to Jesus, what he did there. Just amazing! I am so taken by looking at the nearby open fields next to Capernaum and know that it was in that general direction that Jesus would go to pray each morning he was in town, before the sun rose. So very special. ........................................................................................................ then in Jerusalem, to finally make the traditional Stations of the Cross (as apposed to the path scholars say he more likely took on his way to Calvary) and feel the hustle-bustle of the Old city and its mobs of people. We were there during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month and met huge crowds of Muslims who came from far away to get to the large mosque called the Temple Mount. It estimated that a half million were there. Perhaps you know that on the evening of one of the days we were there, three Muslim men were shot dead after one of them knifed to death a 23 year old Israeli guard who was part of the crowd control. I was amazed that so many Muslims came inside the Holy Sepulchre church (where the tomb of Jesus and Calvary itself is) and were visiting different parts of it, having their pictures taken inside it--one group near me in front of a bronze relief of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. It left me wondering what it all means to them. I know Jesus is considered a great prophet for them, but still . . . When we got outside the church I chose to try to make conversation with three Muslim women, two of whom seemed to be daughters of the third woman. The older one could not understand me, the other two had some knowledge of English but not much. We made it out that they had come from Nablus, a major city in the West Bank Palestinian territory. We had visited Jacob's well in that city a few days earlier (the place Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well), the first time ever for me to visit there, and were excited to speak with residents from there. They seemed pleased to have some interaction with Christians and then Americans. I had a sense of God's great love for all of these people and the oneness of the origin of us all, everyone of us, a unity that transcends all the tragic religious and nationalistic divisions now dividing us. .............................................................................................. I got quite a surprise while in Jerusalem when on one of the mornings we were walking in a area where there were almost no people. While we were chatting and moving along quickly there was a rather haggard, short man walking quickly toward us and weaving through our group. He was acting like a vendor, holding high a number of postcards that when folded out stretched over about 5 feet. He was allegedly trying to interest us in buying these. I have had plenty of these cards before and so was not interested. It was crazy how he came at me, I dodged right to avoid him, then left as he "stayed" with me, then I went back right, wondering what on earth this guy was trying to do. My eyes were forward and up. Immediately he disappeared and then I looked down at my money-pouch fastened to my belt and saw that it had been "picked." He had distracted me long enough to unzip the top of my pouch and grab what was inside and then run before I knew what had happened. I was stunned, stood still in shock, and then began wondering whether the pouch had been left open from the time when I was on the bus five minutes earlier. Maybe the money or contents were on the floor of the bus. But soon I realized, no, I had been "picked" and this guy was a pro at what he was doing had caught me flatfooted.. He got close to $100 in US currency and a 50 euro bill. While I felt humbled by it all, feeling stupid and "out of my league" around a pro like that pickpocket, I soon realized that just the previous evening I had removed from that pouch $700 in US currency, my passport, my credit card, and my cellphone and left all of them in the strongbox or safe back at the hotel. I was immensely grateful for the "inspiration" to do that. If he had gotten any of these items, I would have been so, so distressed and would have become a terrible distraction to the other pilgrims for the last three days of our trip. God was very good to me on that one! I suspect the thief was quite disappointed with what he got me for. I am amazed how three of the pilgrims within the next 15 minutes gave me almost the same amount of money this pickpocket had taken. ...........................................................................................................One last item, there is at the hotel we stayed at in Jerusalem, Notre Dame, a 3D computerized reconstruction of the Man of the Shroud of Turin. Many suspect it is Jesus. It could be, but it might not be. But you should see it! To look right at him and see his build. about 5' 11", maybe 6' even. The wounds to his side and hands, feet too are so awesome. The look on his face is full of peace. Absolutely amazing. You wonder, you just wonder: am I looking at a reconstruction of what we worship as the Savior of the world looked like?? I wish all of you could see it. I purchased at the bookstore a booklet on this with many of the pictures with text presenting the scientific investigations relating to the cloth that wrapped the body of this man! This and the "Jesus Boat" that was found in 1985 buried in the sands of the Lake of Galilee seashore are two amazing elements to witness when going to the Holy Land and will stir you deeply. ..................................................................................... I need to go to bed, nearly 10 PM here on Saturday July 1. ............................................................ The retreat I led for 6 days with the Notre Dame sisters in Arusha, Tanzania, 5 hours south of here (June 22-29) was very blessed, but I got a horrible case of bronchitis when there. I am still nursing a cough and needing lots of extra sleep and water. Fortunately, I can sleep late any of the days of this coming week. I am off retreats all this week. This is as close as I will get to sharing with you in a 4th of July type holiday! ................................................................................................God bless. Bernie Owens