Galilee meditation. One of the many moving aspects of the pilgrimage we took last week was celebrating Masses in the places where the Gospel events happened. In those holy sites, the Mass readings and prayers are not the readings of the day, but the “readings of the place.”
For example, for Masses at the Mount of the Beatitudes, the Gospel reading is Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, and the Collect prayer says something like, “Lord, when you preached the Beatitudes HERE…” (And almost always that word was in all caps, so you couldn’t miss the significance.)
When I proclaimed the Gospel that day and had to shout to make myself heard to our group, over the wind, I thought that Jesus might have had to do the same thing, and was very moved.
It was one of many reminders that Jesus, a real person, came to a real place in a real time.
(Photo: View of the Sea of Galilee, from the outside altar at the Mount of Beatitudes. In that little inset in the distance the following events occurred: The Calling of the First Disciples, Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, the Healing of the Woman with the Hemorrhage and the Breakfast by the Sea after the Resurrection.)