By Pilgrim Jessica Nohra
Notre Dame Pilgrim, Jessica Nohra
Wow so here I am on the bus in Israel, driving past the Mountain of Sodom, reminding me of the sin of Sodom and Gomorra and Lots wife, who was so attached to Sodom that even when the Lord told her not to look back as they were fleeing the doomed city, she had a lack of trust in the Lord and after turning around was turned into salt! The couple of days have been crazy (to say the least).
Day 3 we were woken up super early to leave Cairo early. Ahead of us, an eight-hour drive! We were all a bit fed up from long travelling by now (since many of us were still suffering with jet lag), yet these eight hours were not so bad. We had a few stopovers before reaching our next destination, Sinai. On the bus we filled the time with some very loud singing, a little prayer, including morning prayer, spiritual reading as well as the rosary, and of course with Arabic music pumping from our bus some dancing in the bus.
One of the stopovers was Ayun Musa (the well of Moses) where Moses, by the power of God, brought forth water from the sand for the Hebrew people after parting the Red Sea. Also God provided manna and qualle for the people to eat. It is said that the number of Hebrews there was over 6000 people, and so standing in this holy place, I was trying to imagine all the different groups that would have been sitting down all around the sandy terrain. I thought to myself, from this sand God proved sweet food for his people; God provided for his people as he promised. The guide reminded us as we were standing there that the Hebrew people were to only take food for the day and no more; a test of their trust in God, yet many did not and so their food went bad. Standing there it came to my mind how much God provides in my life, not only through my family, friends, education but most importantly the Bread of Angels; the Holy Eucharist! And what a lack of love and trust I have in God – He gives me the ultimate food (His own Body and Blood) and much of the time I respond like the Ancient Hebrews, holding on to worldly things and not trusting in the providence of God.
We had a number of other stopovers on the way to Sinai and finally arrived in St Catherine’s city. At the monastery of St Catherine’s, which is a Greek Orthodox monastery, we visited St Catherine’s church briefly and then walking out of the church we touched and prayed at the well where Moses met Zahara his wife. Not so far away from this, we saw the Burning Bush! Wow! What an experience! So I had an image of what the bush looked like in my head from such movies as the ‘Prince of Egypt’, yet it was so much bigger and different to what I had thought. Nevertheless I knelt and thought about how God spoke to Moses through this book, calling him to be his witness. The story of how Moses was called yet was not confident because of his lack of speaking abilities, reminded me about how God calls us all in our lives, yet much of the time we feel it is to inconvenient or difficult to accept. Moses’ trust in the Lord can teach us a little about the Christian life!
We then walked to the St Catherine’s Library, which the likes of Blessed Pope John Paul II have visited before us. The art, manuscripts and icons in this museum were just amazing to say the least! One of the manuscripts that really moved me was a manuscript of all four Gospels from the 5th Century, allowing me to reflect on the great history of the Church and the strength, precedence and power of the words of the Gospels to all people of God in all ages. On the hill where St Catherine’s was situated we caught spectacular views of the mountainous ranges of Mount Sinai. After a few group shots and some beautiful words spoken by the Cardinal we headed back down to our new hotel.
We learnt that since Day 4 included climbing up Mt Sinai for the sunrise we had to have kind of an early start… like 12am early! So after one and half hours’ sleep (if that) we all came into the lobby, absolutely exhausted but so pumped for the morning ahead. So at 1am on Sunday morning we all took up residence on the back of a camel (a strange thing to do early on a Sunday morning but nevertheless). The ride was uncomfortable at first yet after a while I got used to it, I just didn’t get used to the fear that suddenly would come over me as the camel would veer toward the edge of the path which led to the sharp rocks below! Luckily our Bedouin guides had it all under control. We got off the camels after an hour and a half and it was 750 large and inconsistent rocky steps till the top of the mountain left. Hmm so it seems to me that 750 steps in mind is not so bad but reality it is agonizing! I almost gave up yet had wonderful people around me, encouraging me and the rest of the group, who were struggling. Once at the top we could see the shadows of the mountains as the sun was peeping out, yet by the time sunrise came the view was simply magnificent… actually really there are no words to describe the experience. I truly felt the presence of God and was able to have a few beautiful moments in quiet prayer with the Artistic Creator, just as Elijah had experienced on the same mountain, and just as Moses had experience on this same mountain! It was on this spot where from an overflowing of His love, God gave to us the Ten Commandments, in order for us to know Him so intimately, to love Him so well and to imitate him most faithfully. After morning prayer, which was said as a group on the peak of Mt Sinai, we took off down back the treacherous stairs. I was loving the walk compared to walking up, in fact once I passed the rocks coming down it seemed like smooth sailing. Casually chatting with Luke (one of the pilgrims with us) I suddenly slip and fell twisting my ankle. Luke rushed over to me asking me if I was alright yet I knew from the pain that really I wasn’t. Providence has it that a doctor travelling with the YOOM group was coming down the mountain soon after my fall and so I was well taken care of my friend, a doctor as well as the Bedouins who fetched me a camel to go down on. My pilgrimage suddenly had taken a very different turn. I went to the hospital with a few Egyptian escorts from our tour guides and learnt to my dismay that I had a slight fracture of the ankle, and thus had to have it casted. So heading back to the hotel and sitting in the shade outdoors for most of the afternoon in a wheelchair I was able to do some good prayer about it all. It has really given me a new perspective on not only disabilities but the human dignity. Since I have lost much of my independence as I cannot put any weight on one of my legs, it has allowed me to learn how our human dignity is not about our looks, our abilities or our intelligence but is a God given dignity which is only cemented in the fact that we are creatures of God and made in His image and likeness.
So as I said before my journey has taken a change of direction, yet perhaps not for the worst. Sure there are probably things that I was so looking forward to do like climbing the mountain of Beatitudes and shopping for shoes in Madrid, yet I know God has something even better in stall for me, something hopefully, if I am prepared to listen and follow Him, will bring me closer to Him and be a form of sanctity for me.
Please pray for me, but most especially please pray for the amazing pilgrims that are on the journey with me. Their help and encouragement has really affirmed in me the fact that Christ works through the compassion and work of man.
You are in my thoughts and prayers on the rest of the journey!
God Bless,
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