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24th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 2 Comments
It’s Tuesday and we are up bright and early for breakfast. There’s another pilgrimage here from Italy and we share a few words of friendship.
We have another long day ahead. We start our journey with the pilgrim’s prayer and Archbishop Mark reminds us of the Monastic tradition.
We start by visiting two monasteries perched high on these rocky outcrops.
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24th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 1 Comment
It’s Monday and we are back in the bus heading north , following the ancient trade route in the footsteps of St Paul.
We have several hours of travel to cover the distance to our next stop, up through the mountains and then down and across the rolling plains towards the town of Kalambaka.
As the bus climbs away from the coast the landscape changes and starts to look more familiar. We can see why many Greek migrants would feel at home in regional Australia.
The temperature is milder too - the thermometer in the bus is showing about 26C and there are cloudy skies.
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23rd June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 1 Comment
Ephesus 1,2,3,4
Nothing could have prepared us for the magnificence and significance of Ephesus!
Only now did we begin to understand the anxiety of Archbishop Mark and the guides to get us there!
There is a splendour to the grandeur that are the ruins of Ephesus! The grace and elegance of the ruins give life to the pivotal role that Ephesus played as a trading post and as a centre of scholarly learning.
Its grandeur in size and proportions makes us feel small and insignificant. The technology and innovation that is evident is mind boggling - cantilevered arhes, drains, public toilets(much like present day).
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25th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 1 Comment
Our outdoor Mass at Berea was very spiritual. It would seem the Altar of St Paul is used by many pilgrim groups. Our reading (Acts 17) allows us to reflect on St Paul’s treatment by the Thessaloneans.
Archbishop Mark explains how Paul would have used his Jewish connections as an entree into the communities where he preached and so he preached at the synagogues to Jews and those “men and women of influence” who operated on the margins of the synagogues - Gentiles who did not want to embrace the rules and strictures of the Jewish faith but who were drawn to the evangelising messages of St Paul.
We are called to communal action through the Pauline mission.
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25th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - No Comments
We wake to cloudy skies and make our way to the bus for this morning’s visit to the Church of St Demetrios’ Church. Like most of the churches of its day, the site has been occupied, shaped and adapted through the ages, and so there are different styles of architecture - Roman, byzantine, Islamic, Christian and Coptic evident, beautiful mosaics and frescoes abound as well as prescious icons.
It is the Feast of St John the Baptist and we arrive at the church during the reading of the gospel.
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26th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 2 Comments
We are having a spirit filled day today with our visit to Phillipi where St Paul preached and established the first church in Europe, a vibrant Christian community.
We begin with the Pilgrim’s prayer from our journal: Our father in heaven you are the aim and object of our lives and the goal of our pilgrimage…..
We drive from Kavala to Phillippi a distance of about 22kms , seeing evidence of the ancient road - the Via Egnatia - that St Paul travelled. We arrive at the Baptistery of St Lydia.
Archbishop Mark reads the beginning of St Paul’s letter to the Phillipians, written when he was imprisoned in Ephesus. Then we walk through an old cemetery (necropolis) to the stream where St Paul met Lydia and the other women and preached the gospel.
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28th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 4 Comments
Donna looking out from her window at Casa San Giuseppe
Today is Helen’s birthday and there’s something lovely about the idea of waking up in Greece and going to bed in Italy!
Today we’re back on the bus for the two hour drive to Thessaloniki. James our guide tells us that the media has reported that the storm we drove through on our way to Kavala delivered more rain than the area has had for a year and that about 300 sheep and goats had drowned!
We begin our trip with the morning prayers and Archbishop Mark spends time putting St Paul’s missions in sequence, with the over-riding theme that he was always heading west to Rome.
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28th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - No Comments
It’s Saturday in Roma!
With such a profoundly moving day yesterday ( we covered a great distance but took some 7500 steps) today is going to be wonderful and hard work.
We wake refreshed in the knowledge that we are not so much living out of our suitcases - this has become quite significant in our minds!
First, breakfast together then onto the bus for our trip to the Catacombs. Archbishop Mark translates a prayer to St Paul from Rome as we make our way along the busy streets marvelling at the mix of old and new.
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29th June, 2009 - Posted by Ursula Stephens - 2 Comments
It’s Sunday and we’re up early to attend Mass in one of the many chapels in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica. Our usual routine is to get a wake up call at 6, breakfast at 7 and into the bus by 8, but this morning we’re all dragging our feet and Fr Francise is anxious that we not be late.
We say the Morning Prayer from our pilgrim journal together as we make our way to the Vatican precinct. The Basilica looks magnificent bathed in the morning light. We scurry across the square and into the Basilica. The Archbishops, priest and deacons disappear to get dressed (Green vestments today), leaving us some time to take in the magnificence of St Peters.
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30th June, 2009 - Posted by CatholicLIFE - 2 Comments
CLICK HERE to read Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s message posted in the messages guestbook. Text of the message is below:
From: Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein
Greetings to Ursula and Bob, Archbishop Mark and your fellow pilgrims.
St Peter’s is truly an inspiring place.
As is Paul, whose journeys you followed all the way to Rome. Truly the Apostle to the Gentiles.
While you’ve been in Rome today, I have been visiting the good Sisters at the Convent of Blessed Mary McKillop here in Kirribilli. They are excited at her progress towards sainthood. I told them in part it would be enhanced by her taking on the Archbishops of her day - but don’t tell Archbishop Mark I said so.
Next week I see the Holy Father in Rome myself and will pass on their greetings and yours too when I do so.
Peace to you all.
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1st July, 2009 - Posted by Archbishop Mark - No Comments
I’m now in Manhattan which in some ways couldn’t be further from the world of St Paul through some of which we have journeyed on this pilgrimage. Distance - if not time, given that it’s only a day ago that we bade farewell to each other - lends a certain perspective. So I find myself asking, What did it all mean? Of course the question is impossible to answer; each pilgrim will have a different story to tell. A bit like World Youth Day, this was a complex experience that moved in many different directions and at many different levels. Perhaps in the end only God can take the full measure of it. But I’m certain that each pilgrims will never hear or read St Paul again in quite the same way. They said as much as the final dinner we had on our last night in Rome. What they meant is that, trudging around some of the places where Paul’s mission unfolded and hearing his words in situ, they met the man himself in a new way.
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It’s Monday and we are back in the bus heading north , following the ancient trade route in the footsteps of St Paul.
