Overview: Mount Carmel / Cana in Galilee / Migdal (Magdala) / Cats

Our little crew from Baton Rouge gathered at 5am yesterday morning for a quiet morning Mass before heading to the airport. After the obligatory ticketing chaos we got on our flight and made our way to Newark. I was given a blessing in the form of having an open seat next to me on the 10-hour flight to Tel Aviv!

Arriving in Tel Aviv, we were whisked off to our bus and made our way to Mount Carmel for Holy Mass. How incredible to be in the place where Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the offering and show the truth of the Lord being the One True God! At the top we were able to see so many places mentioned in the Scriptures, and little light bulb moments were happening every few minutes. You never think of how close these places are until you can see it firsthand. We offered Holy Mass in the lower chapel there at Mount Carmel. Along the way to and from Mount Carmel we saw cats. One was feasting on dumpster leftovers and one was the doorman at the restaurant where we had lunch. The one at the restaurant was especially friendly.

We continued on and saw Caesarea and the Sea of Galilee, as well as some Roman aqueducts and other ancient ruins, along the way to Cana. We visited the church of the miracle and the married couples on our trip renewed their marriage vows at the chapel.

We then continued to Migdal (Magdala). The city is great to see simply because of St. Mary Magdalene, but in the last couple of decades ruins were found of the old synagogue where Jesus would likely have taught and visited in his travels in Galilee since it was such an important city of that day.

And now we are heading to the hotel to check in, have a bite to eat, and get so sleep!

If you want to see some different photos and updates, you can also follow along via Dr. Edward Sri’s Facebook page HERE.