My last Blog

After leaving Caesarea, we continued south to Jaffa where we heard Mass at St. Perer the Apostle Church. This is where St. Peter baptized the first Gentile, Cornelius, into the Christian community. It is also where Peter restored Tabitha to life and lived with Simon, the tanner. We could date the time when non-Jews were accepted as Christians to this city on the Mediterranean.


There is a lot of contrast in Jaffa -- in one area, it is a clean modern city with high rise buildings. The boulevards are lined with palm trees -- there are parks, canals, tulips blooming everywhere. The name 'Jaffa' means "beautiful" in the Hebrew language, and it is a beautiful city. It is a port city, and has always been important as a station on the Via Maris. The founder of Jaffa was thought to be Japhet, the son of Noah. Another name for Jaffa is Joppa.


The Old City contrasts with its crowded, boxed-in, and ugly apartment buildings. Laundry is hanging out, and garbage and rubble line the streets. Historically, the old city can be traced back to 1468 B.C. when the Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III conquered the city.


After dinner in Jaffa, we traveled onward to Tel Aviv and the Ben Gurion Airport to catch our flights home. Tel Aviv was established in 1909 by a group of Jewish families. It is considered Israel's most cosmopolitan Mediterranean city, with elegant shops and restaurants.


Our plane departed after 10 PM with no problems with security. I even slept on the way home, and only had a little bit of 'jet-lag.' This was a life-changing pilgrimage, and I thank God that I was allowed to be a part of it.