Today we went to a number of place closely connected with the ministry of Jesus: Capernaum, called “the Town of Jesus” because so many incidents recorded in the gospels took place here, and Tabgha where tradition says he fed the crowd with bread and met his disciples after his resurrection. We ended the day at the Jordan River where we renewed our baptismal vows and visited the church of the Beatitudes.

We began at Tabgha with morning Mass celebrated at a small wooded site along the Lake of Galilee and our reading was from John’s gospel which tells the story of Jesus meeting his disciples there after his resurrection. He provides them with a miraculous catch of fish, then Jesus questions Peter, “Do you love me?”

Then, we went to the Church of the Primacy, a short distance away and the Church that recalls the miracle of the loaves and fish. There are crowds of pilgrims in the Holy Land today. A large number seem to come from Russia, as well as from Goa, Korea, Houston, California. Here’s a Russian nun feeding fish at the Church of the Loaves and Fish. Also some friends of Peter holding on to his statue at Capternaum.

Capernaum is truly extraordinary. The ancient ruins from the time of Jesus present a striking indication of the place where he spent some of his most important years.

We went to the Jordan River to renew our baptismal vows, not at the spot that’s favored for baptisms these days at the southern end of the Lake of Galilee, but at a stretch of the river that feeds into the northern part of the lake.

Here we are at the Jordan getting sprinkled.

Tomorrow we pull up our tents and head to Mount Tabor, then south along the Jordan River, to Jericho and Qumran, then up to Jerusalem.  Joseph is taking us there.