Today, April 1, 2012 is Palm Sunday which commemorates Jesus' triumphant entry to Jerusalem. It also ushers Holy Week which is rightly called "The Week that Changed the World."
The Gospel today comes from Mark 14:1-15 on the Passion of Christ. It describes how Jesus sitting on a donkey started his "ascent" to Jerusalem at a place called Bethphage. Despite being the "King of kings and Lord of Lords," He came humbly on an ass defying the exalted expectations of a conqueror in a shining chariot or on a mighty horse! The people accompanied him carrying branches and even laying down their cloaks on His path singing,"Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest."
The Gospel relates Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. In this garden setting, our Lord experienced the abysmal depth of human suffering which caused Him to be bathed in a "sweat of blood" thus manifesting His human nature. While in Mount Tabor during His Transfiguration, He showed the dazzling glory of His divinity!
Listening to the Gospel account of the Passion and Death of Jesus transported my thoughts to the Holy Land which I have been privileged to visit four times, actually five times. But during my fifth pilgrimage in 2005, I gave up visiting most sites since I volunteered to stay with someone in the group who suffered a stroke in Nazareth.
The Adriatic Travel brochure for May 2005 had a Land of the Bible trip which covered the Holy Land, Egypt, Jordan and Mt. Sinai. Aside from the Holy Land, I had not visited the other places mentioned so that my eagerness to join the pilgrimage was at high gear. My "balae" Lily de Guzman and her daughter Prescy, my cousin Tina Dizon along with my colleagues in the Simbang Gabi Prayer Group- Arnie and Sol Sedayao, Nitay Caballes, Rick and Elvy Tan and a good friend, Filipinas Pineda accepted my invitation to be pilgrims, too.
The sojourn to the Land of the Pharoahs with its monumental pyramids and the Coptic church where our Blessed Mother appeared was a memorable experience. So was the visit to the ancient city of Petra in Jordan which has existed during Biblical times being known then as Edom. It is said that the "remnants" of Israel during the Babylonian Exile stayed at this red- sandstone city. To see temples, tombs and even an amphitheater carved out of the mountains by Nabateans who inhabited the place 6,000 years ago was mind-boggling! The visit to St. Catherine's Monastery, the oldest one in the world which takes care of Moses' "burning bush" ( yes, it is still alive!) in the Mt. Sinai area was a most awesome, never-to-be-forgotten experience! Also, the oldest existing icon of Jesus in the world is at St. Catherine's too. It is called,
"Pancrator" and depicts the face of Jesus with His right side showing gentle, tender lines and a merciful look while His left side features a deep piercing eye with a raised eyebrow and gnarled lip as if giving out severe judgment.
The published itinerary showed the visit to the Holy Land first and then to Egypt and the rest of the destinations. But a week before our scheduled departure, the itinerary was reversed for some unexplained reason. It did not bother me a bit!
To me, the Holy Land is a place that has greatly enriched my life with such a powerful sense of faith, peace and wisdom on the reason for my being and the truth of my being so very blessed! To be at the Bethlehem cave where Jesus was born, to walk where Jesus walked in Nazareth, Capharnaum and Jerusalem and to touch the waters of the River Jordan and the Sea of Gallile were moments of intense rapture and wonder. So were the times I had stood on Mount Tabor where Jesus had His transfiguration and the one where on my knees I was in the Holy Sepulchre itself!
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