Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Reflections on Day 2: Janet Rockafellow

So far my most meaningful day was Day 2, when we left Tiberias by boat across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum.  The sea was very calm that morning, and the boat captain shut off the motor partway across and we had our devotions floating on the water.  One of the crew threw a net into the water so we got a really good idea of what the disciples who were fisherman did.  After we landed, there was a small museum containing a restored fishing boat found buried in the sand.  Could it have been one of the disciple's boats?
Capernaum is in ruins, which I didn't expect.  We did see the ruins of the Synagogue there, and the foundations of houses, which were quite tiny.  There is now a church, Franciscan of course, built over the foundation of St. Peter's mother-in-law's house.
The day also included a visit to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is also controlled by the Franciscans, as are many of the holy sites in Israel.  At these sites, it is quite common to see groups of Pilgrims observing a Mass, and we saw a group of very loud  tourists get "sshed" by a very forceful sounding nun, who even had a microphone in her hand.  The gardens there were quite beautiful and we had time to walk through them.
Our day ended back in Tiberias.

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