A study tour in the Holy Land, Khoi and Mark Hanns
By Khoi Nguyen msc
This 2-week trip to the Holy Land was organised and architected by Dr Rosemary Canavan, a Scripture scholar at Catholic Theological College (University of Divinity, Melbourne). She was supposed to accompany us on this journey but a moment of falling while she was in the US broke her arm and made her uncapable to do this.
Mark Walsh stepped in as a replacement to be the tour leader. Mark brought with him his experience living in Jerusalem during his theological training and studies and his knowledge of Scripture and prayerfulness were incredible. Mark also works as a lay formator for the Sisters of Zion.
During these two weeks, Mark Hanns and I, along with 24 other pilgrims, visited and prayed at various places mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. For the first five days, we stayed at Nof Ginosar kibbutz, visiting Capernaum, walking along the sea of Galilee (or the lake of Gennesaret as Luke called it), Chorazin, the Mount of Beatitudes, having a boat ride on the sea of Galilee, visiting the museum which holds a first-century fishing boat discovered in 1986 around the local region, having lunch with St Peter’s fish, going up to Mount Tabor (the Mount of Transfiguration),
visiting Nazareth, Bethsaida, the ancient city of Dan, Magdala, Jordan river (where Mark was doing baptismal renewal for some of the fellow pilgrims), the first Church of the Ascension. From the sixth day onwards, we resided at Olive Tree Hotel, and from here we continue to explore the southern region of the Land where Jesus would have walked, especially the city of Jerusalem. We went to the Mount of Olives, visited and celebrated mass at the Garden of Gethsemane, walked via Kidron Valley to the Church of the Cock Crow.
The next few days we walked through the Western Wall tunnel, visited the place of the Sisters of Zion in Jerusalem, Ecce Homo, prayed at the Western Wall, visited Bethlehem, celebrated mass in a cave at Shepherd’s field, went to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Nativity, the Temple Mount, visited the Old City of David, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, went to Qumran, the Dead Sea, visited a wilderness road of Jericho, saw the Mount of Temptation from a distance, Bethany, En Karim where John the Baptist was born, visited the church of Visitation, and concluding our trip at Emmaus, where the two disciples encountered the Risen Christ.
I think you can easily have a sense that this was a very intense trip with lots of information given us at each site and place by our excellent tour guide, Gila, lots of emotional moments as we were there, where Jesus had been, and listening to the Gospel readings again where it actually took place. These were quite expected.
But what was not expected for me was the friendship, the humanity, the fellowship we experienced along the journey. We made friends with one another, we got to know one another better, we helped one another to get through uneven roads, narrow alleys and tunnels, rough places that were not so kind to our tiredness of each day. We even came to aid when one of us got conned and scammed by a shopkeeper!
It was a memorable, amazing and intense trip we shared together. Thanks to Mark Hanns, who was my company, and to those who made this possible, especially Chris McPhee, who allowed and supported this journey, through and through.
