The Palm Trees of the Holy Land Prayerfully watching the sunrise over the Sea of Galilee through the great arched window in Duc In Altum always fills me with peaceful delight. The growing daylight forms a shining path over the water toward the opposite shore, still dressed in the morning mist. This backdrop accentuates several…
Dear Magdala Family, A few months have passed since our last newsletter, but I trust that you have been able to follow some of the latest developments of Magdala through our new online programming and latest Pilgrimage of Grace. Our latest virtual pilgrimage was an outpouring of God´s grace from all perspectives. After a two-year…
A Church in Magdala It is a fact: there was a church in Magdala. As we have seen, around the year 800, Epiphanius testified to it. In addition, two centuries later, Pseudo-Peter of Sebaste would also speak of a church in Magdala, and in that church it was remembered, “how Christ expelled the seven demons…
THE WAY OF BEAUTY Female Musicians Inspiring Hope in Times of Crisis SEE COMPLETE PROGRAM AND COSTS REGISTER HERE Join us for the 8th Annual Women’s Encounter at Magdala, ancient hometown of Mary Magdalene and explore the power of the Feminine Genius: the unique way in which women are designed to bring life and…
Dear Magdala Family, Happy New Year! This is our first newsletter of the year, and I would like it to be about hope, great joy and abandonment in the hands of God. I have just arrived to Magdala, after two months of adventures. As I mentioned before, I made a trip to the USA and…
On December 12th, 2021, the Israel Antiquities Authority together with the company “Y.G. Contractual” and the University of Haifa announced the discovery of a second synagogue in the western sector of the ancient town of Magdala. The second synagogue dates from the Second Temple period and was located in the same Magdala settlement, just 160…
Several pilgrims like Egeria left behind the narrative of their pilgrimages to the Holy Land during the Byzantine era and in the first centuries of Islamic rule. However, only three of them mention, albeit briefly, the city of Magdala. A German archdeacon named Theodosius walked through Galilee in the 6th century, and made this very…
Before the beginning of the virtual pilgrimage of healing, Father Juan, Mary Claire, Rocío (Magdala volunteers) and I hiked up mount Arbel. When we arrived at the height of the mountain, we were overwhelmed by the remarkable beauty of God’s creation. The sun had just risen leaving a blanket of pink and blue in the…
My first December in the Holy Land, I was returning from Nazareth to Magdala with a carload of decorations to prepare the newly inaugurated Guest House for Christmas. Slowly driving along the curvy and empty two-lane highway at night, I navigated the hills and turns of the unlit road through the obscure Galilean countryside. Fear…
In the early 4th century Christianity ceased to be an illicit religion, and a river of people began to flow into the Holy Land. These early pilgrims were eager to find and venerate the places related to the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ. Even the mother of Emperor Constantine, Saint Helena, commanded to build…
