As soon as we arrived at Notre Dame Centre we walked to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre where we prayed at the tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We then went back to have breakfast, unpack our bags before we walked back to the Basilica to celebrate the Holy Mass. After mass we had a tour by our guide, David of the same Basilica. We then walked through the 'Suq' (market) to the Jerusalem Hotel where we had lunch. After the well deserved siesta we had supper and walked down to the Western Wall.

The day started at the top of the Mount of Olives with the commemoration of the Ascension of the Lord and prayers at the place where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, the church of the 'Eleiona' or of the 'Pater Noster'. We walked down the road of Palm Sunday and stopped for Mass at the Church of Dominus Flevit. After Mass we sung Jerusalem the Golden as we faced the Holy City. We continued down to Gethsemani to the Basilica of All Nations, the place of the betrayal and to the tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After lunch at the Armenian Quarter we visited the Upper Room and the Basilica of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At 5.40pm we were met by of "President of the Most Holy Sepulchre of Our Lord Jesus Christ". We presented to him a contribution towards the work of the Custodia in Gaza and he gave us an official certificate as pilgrims to the Holy Land.After Supper, Fr. Kelly LC, superior of the Pontifical Institute of Notre Dame Centre in Jerusalem, took us round the permanent exhibition about the Shroud of Turin. All pilgrims found this very moving and a fitting conclusion to another great day.

We crossed into Palestinian territory to visit Bethlehem. We first visited the Fields of the Shepherds where we celebrated mass. After mass we had an opportunity to shop in an olive wood co-operative owned by Palestinian Christian families. We then drove to Manger Square where we visited the Basilica and Grotto of the Nativity arriving just in time to tag onto the Franciscan lunchtime procession. We also visited St. Jerome's Caves. We had lunch at the Shepherd's Valley Restaurant (well a tent really!). After driving back to Jerusalem we visted the church of St. Peter in Gallicantu.

Today we left Notre Dame Centre at 8.30am and arrived in good time in Ein Kerem. We climbed a steep hill to reach the church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth and there we sung the Magnificat. Back down the valley for some refreshment and then to the Church of the Nativity of St John. At the spot of his birth we prayed for the Parish and Mass was celebrated on the High Altar of this Shrine. Lunch was at an Orthodox Nunnery dedicated to St Elijah the prophet. From there we went to Herods Gate and walked to the Antonia Fortress where we started the way of the cross in the places in which they really happened. We had some free time in the city for sight seeing and shopping. Some fine incense was bought to burn at Sevenoaks for Holy Week.
After Supper we celebrated our last night in Jerusalem by an excursion to enjoy the Holy City by night.

We visited the Church of St Anne beside the Pool of Bethseda where we celebrated Mass. AFter that we drove on to Bethany where we visited the Tomb of Lazarus and the Church that commemorated this event. While in Bethany we called at the Lazarus Home for Girls, a home for girls supported by McCabe Educational Trust. Here we went with the generous gifts that the parish and the schools in our parish collected.
We then drove down to Jericho where we had lunch at the Al Rawda Garden Restaurant. After lunch we took a cable-car and rode up to the Mount of Temptation visiting the Monastery of Temptation. We then continued north to Tiberias.

We began our day on Mount Tabor and the Church of the Transfiguration where we celebrated Mass in one of the Chapels dedicated to St. Elijah. After that we continued to Nazareth where we visited the Basilica of the Annunciation and the house of the Holy Family. After a very good lunch we walked up to visit Mary's well which is located in a beautiful Orthodox Church dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel. We then visited the village of Cana where we visited the church and had a wine tasting session. On our way back to Tiberias we stopped at the River Jordan to renew our baptismal vows.

We began our visits at Tabgha which commemorates the feeding of the 5,000. We then visited the chapel at Mensa Christi with some time on the beach where Jesus cooked breakfast for the disciples. After that we visited Capernaum. We then went up to the convent on the Mount of the Beatitudes where we celebrated mass. Mass was followed by a great lunch which included St. Peter's fish. We had time for a quite stroll around the garden and shop of the Monastery before we made our way down to the Sea of Galilee for our boat ride. The boat ride was interesting to say the least as we experienced rain, hail, wind, sunshine, a beautiful rainbow, prayers and a hymn.

After an early breakfast we drove for about two hours to reach Mount Carmel. There we celebrated our final Mass near to the cave of St Elijah the prophet. During Mass we gave thanks for the pilgrimage and for two pilgrims - David and Sally who that day celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary. From there we drove along the Mediterranian shore to Cesarea Marittima the place from which St Paul left to evangelise our continent and so our last act of worship was the commemoration of St Paul the Apostle. After lunch in a kibbutz (communist food) we left for the airport to catch our flight back home. 21 exhausted pilgrimage but full of warm and joyful memories, our memory celebrated and our identity refreshed - Thanks be to God!