Footsteps By Kathleen Nichols On an early April morning, I quietly slid one of the paddleboards at Magdala onto the glassy surface of the Sea of Galilee for a sunrise prayer over the water. After the sun rose into white heat above the Golan Heights, I turned back toward the Magdala shoreline, using Mt. Arbel…
My Dear Magdala Family, After our arduous journey of Exodus, we finally come to Easter, or, as the catechism used to say, ‘Pascua Florida’ (Feast of the Flowers). Happy Easter to every one of you and your family and friends! Circumstances and time tend to surprise us. Sometimes when we think that more intense periods…
Sunrise Stroll & Chat at the Sea of Galilee with the whole world! By Fr. Eamon Kelly Where do you find atheists, agnostics, Protestants of all kinds, together with Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others strolling and scrolling together with a Catholic priest, resonating together and often offering to pray for each other when…
The Lover’s Tower By Fr. Cristobal Vilaroig Richard Pococke was an Anglican bishop born in the early 18th century. Besides serving his flock, Rev. Pococke found enough time to travel the world. Between 1737 and 1741, he visited Palestine, and when he returned to his native England, he wrote down his experiences in his great Description…
Mary of Magdala was weeping, her master had died, and now his body was no longer on the sepulcher. Suddenly, she saw two angels dressed in white, and they said to her: “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him. When she said…
Who Do You Say That I am? This question was posed by Jesus to his apostles in the region of Caesarea Philippi, on or near the feast of Yom Kippur, when the name of the Lord was pronounced by the High Priest in the Temple. He asked his disciples, “who do people say the Son…
Holy By Kathleen Nichols We shivered with cold and anticipation before dawn, gathered around the small rust-colored boat altar on the Magdala shoreline for a sunrise Mass. The crimson outlined clouds brightened as our voices proclaimed, ‘holy, holy, holy Lord!’. (Isaiah 6:3) They professed with us: ‘the Heavens and Earth are full of your glory,…
Antonio Castillo and Magdalo Castle By Fr. Cristobal Vilaroig Spanish pilgrims never stopped visiting the Holy Land. Shortly after the arrival of the Ottomans (1517), some famous Spaniards would visit Jerusalem: the poet Juan de la Encina, who would narrate his pilgrimage in verse (1519); saint Ignatius of Loyola (1523) and the music composer Francisco…
Dear Magdala Family, We want to begin by wishing you a good Lenten Season again this year. To help you with this, the entire Magdala team is putting their best effort into the preparation of our fifth Virtual Pilgrimage for Lent entitled “Exodus: Pilgrimage of Freedom, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’ Mt 2,15.” …
A Franciscan Describing Towers By Fr. Cristobal Vilaroig In 1517 the Ottomans took control of Palestine, leaving a deep footprint there. Pilgrims visiting Jerusalem today can still contemplate the city walls that Suleiman the Magnificent restored around the Old City. At this time, pilgrimages were still rare, but the Franciscans, who lived there, wrote down…
