Every pilgrim who travels to the Holy Land is moved by a deep desire to find God’s “footprints” here, almost seeking them in the stones, mountains and even waters that provided the setting for Jesus’ earthly life. It has been so for two thousand years, for the endless chain of Christians who have journeyed there.
Over the years, hundreds of groups from all over the world have visited the Holy Land, welcomed by the Focolare presence. They experience deep union with God, increase their knowledge of Jesus’ life and gain a new understanding of the Gospel. They also have the chance to get to know the “living stones” who inhabit the Holy Land today: the Christians who keep Jesus’ presence alive in these lands, as well as the Jewish and Muslim friends who witness the strength of our dialogue.
“In the footsteps of Jesus” is a project that helps by providing guided pilgrimages in the Holy Land for Focolare members.
For more information, or to program a pilgrimage, please write to: suipassi@focolare-hl.org.
Some impressions:
“Dear Friends of the Holy Land, the amazement of what we experienced continues. It is something that transcends time, history and geography. These are flashes of Heaven, of eternity. This is the ‘Journey of a Lifetime,’ which is beyond all other experiences we have had or will have.”
“Returning home and to work was for me like coming down from Mount Tabor…. Like the disciples, I would have gladly stayed in the Holy Land, in Jesus’ footsteps, together with you. But just as Jesus and the disciples had to cope with the harsh human reality of Jerusalem, so did I – who nevertheless feel enriched by a constant presence of the Divine throughout my days. This state of the soul translates concretely into a greater care for the brothers and sisters who pass by me, an awareness that I am not alone in facing difficult situations, and a deep conviction that what counts in the end is only to love.”
“In a special way, that of the Holy Land is a unique pilgrimage that cannot be compared to any other form of pilgrimage. Coming to the Holy Land means coming to meet Christ: the Holy Land is a fifth Gospel… where the stones speak of Jesus, speak of his story, speak of God’s revelation to humanity.”
Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa
“Some time ago, I travelled to the Holy Land, to the land of Jesus, and for me actually, and also for others with me, it was a unique experience… .
I, we, already knew Jesus. We knew him under the aspect I would like to say of light, love, truth, doctrine. We had tried for years to live his word, so our knowledge was mainly of him Word of God, Word. In the Holy Land we came to know Jesus man.
To raise our eyes at night and see the sky dripping with stars, to raise them during the day and see that blue vault that Jesus’ own eyes had seen; to look at those places, to observe those dunes, those roads, those deserts, that horizon that Jesus himself with his eyes had seen, to observe those stones, was for us a most singular experience: we felt him very close….”
Chiara Lubich (Grottaferrata, July 25, 1960)