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Journeying to the Holy Land is an experience that will strengthen your beliefs and fill your heart with the spiritual power that lies behind the sacred landmarks

Though all hell is erupting again with an Armageddon scenario in West Asia, thousands of Sri Lankans are continuing to go to the Holy Land, where some 2000 years ago Heaven came down to fill the world with glory. Now it may be not glory, but gory, yet the pilgrims take the risk, and take a leap in faith to walk where the Lord Jesus walked and experience a closer walk with Him, with every area and every step being filled with the hallowed history that brought Heaven and Earth together, turning it all into the Kingdom of God.

The Catholic Renewal Movement had brought us to an experience of the risen Lord, who is now beyond time and space and is present in everyone, everywhere and in everything. The risen Lord lives in people and when we live in Him just as He lives in us, we experience the fullness of His presence and power. How do we live in Him or remain in Him just as He lives in us? In chapter 14 of St. John’s gospel, the Lord Jesus tells us clearly how we could abide in Him just as He abides in us. We need to obey the one commandment He has left for us, instead of the 700 Jewish laws – “Love one another as I love you.”

Thus when the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was proposed, I was not keen, because I thought it would be unwise or unnecessary to spend more than Rs. 125,000 when we could meet the Lord who is only a thought away from us. More so we were told that the pilgrimage would be tough or hectic, with visit after visit from early morning till night, and health-wise I was not too keen on such a strenuous journey.

But for my wife Marie, the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a spiritual dream come true, and furthermore leaving me behind at home with my physical handicap was a major problem for her.

So I took it to the Lord in prayer to discern His will, and as in most cases He led me to choose the more difficult path. Thus I took a leap in faith to go on the pilgrimage and practically experienced how the Lord took me over the cliffs and valleys, or in scriptural terminology through raging waters and blazing flames. I grew in faith and that growth is certainly worth more than Rs. 125,000. It is priceless and of eternal value.

Our group of about 70 – of symbolic significance in terms of scriptural figures – was led by charismatic preacher and evangelist Lalith Perera, who gave deep scriptural insights at the historic places and carried the pilgrimage to the highest spiritual levels.
Another great blessing and gift to the pilgrimage was our tour manager Lalani Perera, the lady-boss of Qwest Destinations (Pvt) Ltd. Her professional skills in the field of travel and tours blended beautifully with her graceful, ever helpful ways, and she was there when we needed her. Her tour assistant Arosh Fernando was also so sincere and sacrificial in serving others, meeting their needs from pins to pictures, and prompting a friend to comment that he might make a good priest with servant-leadership qualities. The pilgrim group also grew into a little community. I became aware that strangers are just friends I do not know. From the time we left the Bandaranaike International Airport till the day we got back, God sent friends like Wasantha Jayasuriya and Shamil Perera, whom we had never met before. They were also there whenever we needed them, and we not only made good friends, but more so met the Lord in them. Also giving a helping hand when the need arose was my sister Therese. Lastly and mostly, often behind the scenes, but best of all, was my wife Marie, who guided and carried me through like an angel all the way from our Battaramulla home to Bethlehem and Calvary. She also suffers from various ailments with regular aches and pains, and had wondered whether she herself would need some physical help for the tough journey, but the Lord gave her the strength to carry me and carry herself safely and gracefully up the mountains and down the valleys.

At the Church of the Visitation, so high on a hill that brother Lalith had to help me make the climb, we reflected on the sacrificial and humble nature of the Blessed Mother Mary. Soon after she was chosen to be the mother of the King of Kings, she does not sit on any throne but makes the long hard journey to go to her cousin Elizabeth and be her servant for some months. Mary would have cooked for her, cleaned the house and done other chores that a servant would normally do. From the beginning the Blessed Mother preached by example and not so much by words. She spoke little, but her silent witness of the sacrificial service to others spoke volumes.

In Bethlehem we prayed and reflected at the sight of the Manger or cattle-shed where the Lord Jesus was born. We reflected on the trusting faith and hope of the Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph. In human terms they lacked even the basic facilities, but they continued to trust in the Father’s love and the fulfilment of His promises. At a chapel or grotto where the Angels of God are believed to have proclaimed the good news first to the shepherds, we reflected on God’s ways, which are totally different from human ways. The kings and the governors, the high priests and the other religious leaders were not told about the birth of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Instead God proclaimed it to the marginalised shepherds, who at that time were rejected and ridiculed as people who did not even go to the Temple. They were religious outcasts, but God gave them the privilege of being the first to see the Son of God and Messiah.

At the river Jordan we were baptised again. But it was more an inner experience and transformation than anything external like child baptism or water baptism. We came to an awareness of the real meaning of baptism – a transformation or change of direction from doing my will or carrying out my plans and strategies for my safety, comfort or convenience to doing God’s will and acting according to God’s plan for my life. We saw that the Lord Jesus also, until His baptism-experience in the Jordan, might have been trying to live a good life according to the religious laws of His day.

In the Jordan He became fully aware that He was the beloved Son of the Abba Father and that God had a mission and plan for Him. He totally surrendered to the will and plan of God, and from that moment He allowed Himself to be led by the Holy Spirit according to the will of the Father. We became aware that it is only when we do the will of the Father that we could have deep and lasting happiness, and we could give happiness to those who come into a relationship and contact with us. If we do not do God’s will, we will wallow in unhappiness and misery and worse still, those who come into relationships with us will also be dragged into unhappiness.

We took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee – which is not really a sea, but a lake. We reflected on the need to focus on the Lord and His power, instead of focusing on our struggles and conflicts. We came to the awareness that when we take our thoughts away from the Lord and focus on our struggles, we begin to sink just as St. Peter did and the Lord Jesus would say to us, “O people of little faith, why did you doubt me?”

At the Church in Cana where the Lord Jesus worked His first miracle, we celebrated the Holy Eucharist, and the couples in the group renewed their marriage vows, while getting a fresh certificate from the Cana Church. We reflected on the reality that marriage is a Sacrament, because it involves three people – the wife, the husband and the Lord. Like the other couples we also experienced a deep renewal of our marriage commitments to selflessly love, sacrificially serve and constantly forgive each other. Then we also visited other well-known and well-loved sights such as the Church on the spot where the Lord Jesus carried out the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, and the Church of the Beatitudes where the Lord preached the Sermon of Sermons though it was not on a mountain. We went up to Mount Tabor, where the Transfiguration took place. St. Peter and the others wanted to build tents and remain in that mountain-top, but the Lord Jesus told them that they must go back to reality and bravely face the trials and struggles of daily life.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, we reflected on those terrible hours when the Lord Jesus cried out that He was distressed and deeply troubled, with His soul crushed by sorrow to the point of death. But through all the struggles and conflicts the Lord Jesus continued to forgive and love those who were hurting or harming Him. The Lord continued to bless them and intercede for them. After practising the liberative spirituality of loving the enemy, blessing those who curse Him, helping those who hurt Him, and praying for those who persecute Him, the Lord Jesus calls on us to follow that path for the liberation of ourselves and others. If we give Him the willingness, He will give us the power of the Holy Spirit.

From there we went on the Way of the Cross and all the way to Calvary, where the Lord Jesus showed the amazing and unbelievable dimension of God’s love. He showed on the cross that even if we betray, deny or desert Him, even if we whip or strip Him, or even if we crucify Him like a criminal of criminals on a cross, God continues to love us, because He is love. Nothing and no one, as St. Paul says, can separate us from that love. Yet we ourselves have the freedom to reject that love and go our own way. Essentially that is our sin, and on Calvary the Lord Jesus died to show us that even if we have committed the sin of sins by rejecting God’s amazing love, it is still available to us.

We need to come back to Him as we are, accept the truth about ourselves in a spirit of honesty, humility and repentance. As we surrender to God, we will experience the power of His love, which is beyond our understanding or expectation and even beyond our imagination.

As we ended the pilgrimage – it was not just a sightseeing tour, but a retreat for a deep experience and inner transformation – I dared to dream the impossible dream as portrayed in an immortal song:

Last night I lay a sleeping
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there
I heard the children singing
And ever as they sang,

I thought the voice of Angels
From Heaven in answer rang
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Lift up you gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna to your King!”

And then I thought my dream was changed
The streets no longer rang
Hushed were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Hark! How the Angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King!”

And once again the scene was changed
New earth there seemed to be,
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea
The light of God was on its streets
The gates were open wide,
And all who would enter
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day,
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away
“Jerusalem! Jerusalem
Sing for the night is o'er
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna for evermore!”