Fr. Steve Leads Holy Land Pilgrimage
Our very own Fr. Steve Zabala led a pilgrimage starting last October 26 to the Holy Land: Off the Beaten Path, that took the 30-plus pilgrims, which included the entire extended family of Acropolis village coordinator Anne del Rosario to Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Egypt. Also on the pilgrimage tour were several Daet, Bicol friends and townmates of Fr. Steve, which resulted in a happy reunion event.
We asked Fr. Steve if the Daet-based reunion was an accident. ‘No’, he answered. ‘Regina Ong-Field, a good friend and a year below me at La Consolacion College in Daet, now Australia-based, called me last year and said ‘Steve, I want to spend my 50th birthday in the Holy Land next year. I can form a group but can you be our pilgrimage chaplain?’ And I said yes. So she brought her sister Rowena Ong- Cortez with husband Gerry, her friend and ex-officemate Albert Sarte, and schoolmates Girlie Sicat-Root of Arizona and classmate Lyn Nepomuceno of Florida, and Manila-based Dr. Em-em Villanueva, sister in law of the former Daet mayor.’ Fr. Steve further clarified, ‘In my college days, during our seminary summer break, I played in the town’s annual summer basketball league and these guys used to watch these games. So we all know each other very well.’
The pilgrimage began on October 26 in Amman, Jordan and concluded on November 5 in Cairo, Egypt. First stop was Amman, Jordan, visiting the mosaic- filled Madaba Greek Orthodox Church and then mass at Mt. Nebo, reputed to be the place where Moses was shown the Promised Land. No trip to Jordan is complete without a full-day visit to Petra. The group then crossed over into Israel, with Nazareth as the first stop. The pilgrims visited the site of the Annunciation, the Church of St. Joseph where they had mass, and the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Gabriel to see Mary’s Well.
The following day itinerary included the Mount of the Beatitudes with a morning mass, Capernaum to see Peter’s House, Tabgha for the multiplication of loaves and fishes and Peter’s Rock, and a boat ride on the sea of Galilee. The next day, the group went up Mt. Tabor for the Basilica of the Transfiguration, then to Cana for the first miracle at the Cana Wedding, where married couples were able to renew their marriage vows during the 10 am mass. At the Jordan River, the pilgrims got to renew their baptismal vows. They also got a chance to take a dip in the Dead Sea’s healing waters, after passing by Qumran to check out the caves where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.
Then on to Palestine-controlled Bethlehem, where the pilgrims visited the site of the Nativity, St. Catherine’s Church, and St. Jerome’s Cave. Mass was celebrated at 4 pm at Shepherd’s Field, reputedly where the shepherds first saw the star that led them to the infant Jesus.
On November 2nd, the group visited Jacob’s Well in Samaria then drove to Jerusalem to visit the Mount of Olives, with the Ascension Chapel, Pater Noster Church, Dominus Flevit Chapel, Gethsemane Garden, and the Basilica of the Agony with mass at 5 pm. It was still the Old City the next day, with the Church of St. Anne, the Via Dolorosa, Basilica of the Sepulchre where mass was celebrated at 10 am, the Wailing Wall, the Cenacle or ‘Upper Room’ on Mt. Zion which was the site of both the Last Supper and Pentecost, Church of Dormition and Benedictine Abbey.
After mass in Palestine’s Ramallah, the pilgrimage crossed over into Sinai at the Taba Border. On the last day, the group arrived in Cairo. Fr. Steve left the group before they crossed over into Egypt.
With Anne del Rosario were husband Fred, daughters Mollie and Lizzie, together with eldest daughter Trixie and her family -husband Javi and young daughter Charlie. The del Rosarios had very positive words for Fr. Steve’s chaplain role. ‘His sermons were always relevant and entertaining,’ Javi answered. ‘He explained the significance of the different sites well – and he was able to relate how the events of a thousand years ago are still applicable to present life’, said wife Trixie. Trixie’s sister Lizzie added, ‘He made sure we did our morning prayers and he was always sensitive to our readiness to praying on the bus or not.’ Head of the family Fred del Rosario chimed in, ‘Fr. Steve was very accommodating’.
Anne was very positive on the pilgrimage. ‘One of the best graces of the pilgrimage for me was hearing my children converse back here at home about how awesome it was to walk on the same ground that Jesus walked. They also discussed which places they’d go back to in Israel when they had the chance.’ She added, ‘I’m proud that my family internalized that we were on pilgrimage and not on a holiday vacation; in fact, they did that better than some of the ‘more mature’ pilgrims with us. I was also very thankful that my pregnant daughter survived the long and sometimes difficult walks. And that Charlie, our two-year old pilgrim toddler, was very cooperative the whole time and never threw a tantrum even if her naps on the bus was being constantly cut short and some of our mealtimes were later than typical.’ Finally, Anne added, ‘Fr. Steve did a good job of connecting with his younger pilgrims and I’m grateful especially since I had the most number of young members in the party. Overall, tama lang yung blend of seriousness and light moments.’
The del Rosario family contingent were impressed by different things during the pilgrimage – the camel ride up Mt. Sinai, the Petra architecture and engineering, the artwork inside the Church of Gethsemane, the preservation of the Israel ruins with churches built atop the sacred sites, the sheer size of the pyramids, and the well-preserved atmosphere in Nazareth, Capernaum, and Jerusalem’s Old City which made the biblical stories come alive. Giving the family members spiritual chills were – the birthplace of Mother Mary, Golgotha, imagining Jesus on the Mount of Beatitudes, and singing inside the church at Shepherd’s Field.
