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Boker Tov:

Just back from Bethlehem and a great story, but you have to wait, because today I will tell you about The sea of Galilee.

I made fried eggs for breakfast before we headed out for the day. Our first stop was the Mount of Beatitudes, site of The Sermon of the Mount, located just above Capernaum, Jesus’s home for a period of time.  The weather was beautiful and  driving was easy.

We arrived at the mount and not many tourists were around. This is  slow season over here. As we approached we were surprised at the size of the complex, which is a retreat center.  What a beautiful setting for that.  There is not much to see here but it was worth the trip.  The chapel was small andbeautiful and I got to kneel on the kneeler St. John Paul  II knelt on when he was here.  You could very easily picture Jesus  sitting on a rock and delivering the Sermon in these surroundings. The  peacefulness was extraordinary.

From here we drove down to Capernaum and the home of St. Peter. This is the place where Jesus cured the invalid and St. Peter’s mother.  The scriptures each day just become more alive with each place we go. Again the place was hard to explain, a mixture of ruins of the house of St. Peter and an old temple, which  was rebuilt twice, but you knew the whole place was very special.

We went down to the shore and found some beautiful stones to bring home, who knows……….Jesus could have walked on one! We sat under the trees, where the temperature was about15 degrees cooler, and just contemplated the life of Our  Lord.

Ten minutes away, we stopped at the church of St. Peter’s Primacy, called The Church of Mensa Christi, where Jesus appeared to the Apostles after His resurrection and had a fire and fish cooking for breakfast.  The stone in the church is believed to be the one that Our Lord sat on.  It was to overwhelming to venerate it. We lit a  candle for all of you.

Just a hundred meters away, we walked to the scene of the multiplication of the loves and fishes: there is a monastery there but poor signage.  It is shaped like an amphitheater with plenty of room for over 5000 people  that Jesus fed.

Our next stop was the Magdala Center where Mary Magdalene had her  home.  They are building a huge hotel welcome center for spiritual  retreats.  As they were digging to prepare the land they discovered ruins of a very old synagogue, where Jesus more than likely preached.  I reached over into the ruins and got another stone that was buried for almost 2000 years since the destruction of the building.

We went to 1:30 mass at the center’s chapel and the priest offered up the mass for all of our intentions.  Afterward we spent some time with  Jennifer, from Chicago, who lives in the area and is the lay apostolate of  Regnum Christi and works at the center.  Susan and she had communicated before we got there and she had set up a tour for us.  In the main part of the church the altar was made like a boat and I told Sam that it was pieces of wood and recreated from the time of Jesus.  He went to the altar and  took pictures and stood there asking the Lord how they all 12 fit with the nets and the fish.  Too funny.

This sounds like a whirlwind tour but we didn’t leave our house until  9:30 AM. and we went at a nice pace.  Everything is so close and parking is not a problem.  It was around 3:00 p.m. and we were hungry so we went to a restaurant and had an early dinner and shopped for a few things to pick on that night and food for breakfast.  Home we went, finished laundry and packed and  then relaxed for the evening, anticipating tomorrow.

Layla tov:

God bless you all;

Love Susan, Tom and the Kids
Mary’s Peace  Prayer

Mary,  Mother of God my mother, Queen of Peace, ask your Son Jesus to
give me the gift of peace. Pray for me for peace; peace in my heart,  peace
of mind and of soul, peace in my family, peace with all whom I meet,  the
peace of Jesus.
Jesus, my Lord and Savior, my Brother, King of  Peace, I come to you
with Mary, Queen of Peace, to ask you humbly for a new  outpouring of the
gift of peace. Pour out on me your Holy Spirit of  Peace.
Give me peace, Jesus, peace within myself, peace in my family, peace  in
my everyday life. Give peace to my nation, and to all nations, peace  among
all peoples, peace in the world.
Jesus, my mediator with the  Father, take me to the Father to pray for
peace.
Father, Father of  Jesus, our Father, my Father, I come to you with your
Son Jesus. In Him and  with Him and through Him I pray for  peace.

May God Bless Each and Every One Of You!

Tom &  Susan Melillo
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418 (USA)

E-Mail:
_TSMelillo13@aol.com_ (mailto:TSMelillo13@aol.com)

 

 

 

Boker tov:
I made everyone a large pepper ham and cheese omelette, hoping that would get us thru the day until we got to Jerusalem. Our first destination was Mount Tabor, the place of the transfiguration.  We planned to stop at Ein Karem the home of St. John, the Baptist and  the site of the Visitation, if time permitted, but after we got lost because of road construction we were almost an hour off schedule.

There is a reason for everything……..as we approached the mountain entrance to the shrine, we stopped for coffee and to stretch our legs.  The place was filled with tour busses that had just come off the mountain.  It was divine intervention for sure because when you see the first few  photos you willwonder, as we did, how we could have gotten buy a bus as it came down and we went up.

Johna was more scared than Susan but she wouldn’t admit  it.  I kepthearing sighs and other noises from the back seat.  Sam may have chimed in once or twice too.  Susan was just white knuckled as we  ascended. I was in my glory at each S-turn, until we got behind Grandma Moses, going 5 MPH and stopping at each turn, no one else seemed to  mind.

The Church of the Transfiguration at Mount Tabor is beautiful, and Mass was going on at one of the outside chapels, as well as in the church.  It was too late to ask thegroup if we  could join so we quietly prayed for a while and did the tourist thing, albeit quietly.

The views from here were spectacular, if you had something to look at. The countryside is a lot different from Europe, although very hilly. We spent a little more time in this truly holy place and  made our way back down the mountain and to Jerusalem.  About 2 hours away depending on traffic, which didn’t get heavy until the city.  You really don’t want to drive here unless you can be reckless and  ruthless…….and I thought I was a nice guy!
We arrived at our apartment and I parked just like an Israeli………blocking one lane on a 2-lane street, so we could unload the luggage and get it in.  Susan guarded the car and programmed the  GPS so we could get the car returned and the three of us did the rest.  Ten minutes later, Sam and I were off for the return.  We got right there, but after they checked us out, they told us we had take the car to the parking  garage. I never heard of anything like that and I almost left the car, but being  that nice person (again) we took it back the way we came and dropped it  off.

The girls were almost settled when we got back and we relaxed for a bit before going to this great restaurant that our cab driver suggested.   We had a wonderful dinner, but then we had to  walk back up the steep hill to our apartment.  UGH!

I finalized arrangements for the driver and guide we hired for Friday to take us to Bethlehem. Looking forward to the day coming  we went to bed and slept gloriously.

Layla tov;
God bless all of you
Love
Susan, Tom and the Kids

Prayer to the Immaculate Heart of Mary

O Immaculate Heart of Mary,
full of goodness,
show your love towards us.
Let the flame of your heart,
O Mary, descend on all people.
We love you immensely.
Impress true love in our  hearts
so that we have a  continuous desire for you.
O  Mary, gentle and humble of heart, remember us when we are in sin.
You know that all men sin.
Give us, by means of your  Immaculate Heart, spiritual health.
Let us always see the goodness of  your motherly heart
and may we  be converted by means of the flame of your heart.
Amen.

 

Partially refreshed after that tough travel day, and after getting Susan and Sam out of bed, we had coffee and piece of coffee  cake, loaded the car and headed out.  Our first stop the Stella Maris  Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.  A lot of you know the special affection we have for Our Lady and the Brown Scapular so this was a perfect  starting point for this Holy Land
pilgrimage.

As we were to find out, parking close  to these shrines is next to impossible. Stella Maris was our first  encounter with several turns up and down the mountain.  On the last pass we all said a hail Mary and just as we turned the corner there was an  end spot across the street from the front door.  It wasn’t even a real spot,  but the car fit, and someone was in it before…..and I’m not shy!

The Monastery is very large  and is the Carmelite headquarters for the whole order throughout the world.  The chapel is beautiful and perched high above the altar sits Our Lady holding Her Son and the Scapular in hand.  Below this altar is the cave of Elijah where he was said to have lived.  We spent very some special time in prayer with our Lady for all of you and your intentions.  It was very moving to be here at last.

We spent a few shekels in the gift store  and headed down the mountain on this beautiful day. Our next stop was  Nazareth and we were all anticipating how we would feel being were the Annunciation took place and where Jesus spent most of his life with His  Mother and St. Joseph. Nothing could prepare
us for this experience  and the emotion of it all.

Our GPS took us up and down the hills in Jerusalem and we were close to the Basilica so as we turned on a new street the  on the end of a row of cars was an empty spot, unbelievable in this area.  We stopped for coffee and the shop owner was  great. He told us we had a 5 minute walk to the Shrine and were very lucky to be  able to park.  He taught us some Arabic since many of the people in  the area are of Arab descent.  We voted Sam to be the interpreter so we  enjoyed our coffee as he wrote down all the words the owner taught him.

Everywhere he goes now he whips out his sheet because he can’t remember if he is  speaking Arabic or Yiddish.  He’s too funny…… I’ll stick with  English.

Upon entering the Basilica we heard beautiful chanting as benediction was ending in the grotto where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary.  We fell to our knees and the tears flowed as we  contemplated where we were.  The word Sacred took on a whole  new meaning.  Mesmerized and light headed we went down to the grotto after  the priests left and the few tourist in the Basilica took their photos’s and  left.  Again we knelt and prayed and took a few tourist photos.  A  young college student we had met walking to the shrine was there with his  friends and came down to the grotto with us.  He asked me to explain everything to him, because he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.  His friends  were upstairs being tourists. They all went to school in Miami.

I told him the story of the  Annunciation as I had read it out of the Mystical City of God.  He was  truly moved and I asked if he was Catholic. He was and was from Brazil, as well as his friends who were also catholic, but didn’t practice.  I told him he  was now the teacher of the group we all hugged gave him our e-mail and he re-joined his friends.

After an very emotional stay we went to explore  the upper church, stopping at Mary’s well on the way.  Inside was the group  of students, this time together they were studying the depictions and statues on the walls and Enrika, our friend, was talking and trying to explain  what he could.

After looking at the ruins of the home of Mary we went on to the Church of St. Joseph were his home and workshop were said to be.  It was a spiritual place filled with love. The photo’s help, but being here is  incredible.

As we headed back to the car the school was  letting out and there was no way we were going to get out easily so we went to a  local rest. across the street from our car for lunch.  We were starved and  ordered 3 large portion meals with side plates to split.  Susan ordered  chicken livers, and everyone but me passed on sharing.  Sam was trying to  communicate in Arabic to the staff and we were all laughing. At lunch like kids  we began to make up our own words for things and we laughed so hard we and the staff were all in tears.

Lunch was great and we headed out for Mt.  Precipie where after the announcing of the Kingdom they tried to throw him off  the cliff but he passed thru there midst.

It was getting late so we headed to Cana and the  site of the first public miracle of Jesus.  This town was tough and the GPS  took us thru some very steep and narrow streets to get there, and there was no  parking.  We asked for help and a kind soul directed us to the parking area  just around the corner which we had passed a couple of times. LOL  Cana was  special and we had to light a candle and pray for a special friend who  proposed to his girl friend there in Jan. while everyone else in the group had  their wedding vows renewed.  A renewal of vows with a group from Africa was taking place so wewatched for awhile and left for Tibeiras and our Beautiful  Mountain Home with a view.

The home was pretty good with 5 bedrooms, baths kitchen, laundry and great patio and balcony with views of the sea of Galilee.  Sam and I went to the supermarket for supplies and had  everyone in the store laughing as we tried to figure out what everything  was since it was all labeled in Yiddish.  Mission accomplished, we went  back to the house and spent a great evening reminiscing our day.

Layla tov

May God bless all of you

Love Susan, Tom and the Kids

The Angelus
The Angelus is traditionally recited morning  (6:00 a.m.), noon and evening (6:00 p.m.) throughout the year except during  Paschal time, when the Regina Coeli is recited instead.

The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
And she  conceived of the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, etc.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it done  unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary, etc.
And the Word was made Flesh.
And dwelt  among us.
Hail Mary, etc.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
That we  may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let  Us Pray

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts,  that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message  of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His  Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

May God Bless Each and Every One Of You!

Tom &  Susan Melillo
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418 (USA)

E-Mail:
_TSMelillo13@aol.com_ (mailto:TSMelillo13@aol.com)

 

 

Buenos Dias, Bonjourno and Boker Tov,

Today is travel day to the Holy Land. Confusing greeting, now you can get an idea of the day we had:  Madrid to Rome to Tel Aviv.

We got wake up calls at 3:00 AM plus I had the alarm set for 3:15, just in  case I fell back to sleep.  Sue and I laid in bed and we could tell by each others’ breathing we were not sleeping, both our minds racing.   Finally, we got up around 11:00 talked for awhile and Susan took half a xanax, but I didn’t want to…..afraid I would sleep thru.  Johna and Sam were having the same problem in their rooms, unknown to us as they watched  TV.

Susan’s breathing confirmed sleep and I laid there with one eye open as the clock struck 1.  Two hours later the phone rang, I answered and 15 minutes later I got up after the alarm went off.

The kids were up and ready to go just as I finished my shower. Our flight was at 6 Am and we were close to the airport but I had to get the kids and the  luggage to terminal 2 and then Susan and I had to return the beast to terminal 1 and walk to terminal 2, So we needed extra time.

Mission accomplished: we checked in and had one hour until the flight  boarded. As we approached the gate we still had time for a quick coffee and toast in the lounge.

The flight took off on time and we arrived in Rome ready to change planes in the same terminal.  The plane unloaded us on the parking  tarmac and we were bussed in. We thought we could go to the lounge and relax for the next flight, but we had to walk from one end of the terminal to the other, only toget on a bus to take us back to where we first landed.

Who runs these companies???

We just made it, but people were late and we sat in  the plane for an hour +, also having lost our place in line.  We all  slept until they shoved something that looked like food in front of us and a  baby two rows up started to CRYYYYY.  Three hours later we arrived in Tel  Aviv, one hour late and exhausted.

Customs wasn’t to bad and we got our luggage and I went for the car rental.  An hour later we were in the lot searching the for the car.   Twenty minutes later we were loaded and ready to go, but no one was around and 20 minutes later we took off after I figured out how to drive it and use the  controls and the I-pad they gave us for a GPS system.

4:00 pm and we were off for Haifa.  Traffic was a bear and we had to  take a pit stop and get water.  By 6:00 pm we were in Haifa at our condo, luggage ready to go down these long stairs, but nobody was home to let us  in.  Twenty minutes later, as we stood there, the owner came back and let us  in.  Amos was very nice and invited us up to his home for some wine and  cheese, which we did until we knew we had to get some food and get organized for  tomorrow.  The kids and I went to the Supermarket and Susan stayed at the  apartment to get our travel plans in order.

We finally made some sandwiches and ate, all of us exhausted and running short of patience ( I think it was me), so we went to bed, all of us praying that tomorrow would be a better day.  You will have to wait to find out.  We were so hassled, we only too 7 pictures all day. See below

Layla Tov,

God Bless you all

Love Tom, Susan and the kids

It’s not too late to send us your prayer intentions, we will present them at all the stops we make along the way:         TSMelillo13@aol.com   

   Prayer to Our Lady in Time of  Trouble

Holy Virgin Mary, you are reigning in  glory, with Jesus, your Son. Remember us  in our sadness. Look kindly on all who are  suffering or fighting  against any difficulty. Have pity on  those who are separated from someone they love. Have pity on the loneliness of our hearts. Have pity on the weakness of our faith and  love. Have pity on  those who are weeping, on those who are praying, on those who are  fearful. Holy Mother,  please obtain for all of us hope and peace with  justice.
Amen.
 
May God Bless Each and Every One Of You!

Tom &  Susan Melillo
Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33418 (USA)