A chronological recap of the life of Jesus based on sites visited during our Pilgrimage

(96 steps from beginning to end)

• The Virgin Mary is born at St Anne’s house in Jerusalem. (This is the church with the sound echoes).

• Virgin Mary moves to Nazareth, to her home. (Basilica of the Annunciation)

• Joseph has a home in Nazareth. (Below church of St Joseph)

• Joseph has a shop in Nazareth. (Below church of St Joseph)

• Joseph and Mary are betrothed in Nazareth. (Stained glass Icon at St Joseph Home).

• The Annunciation occurs in Mary’s house. (Grotto at Basilica of the Annunciation)

• Virgin Mary goes to Ein Karem to visit her kin Elizabeth. (over the Hills of Judea which we saw on the way to top of the Mountain, where church of Visitation is built)

• Mary recites the Magnificat at the top of the mountain where Elizabeth resides. (We read the Magnificat at the spot that the Virgin Mary first recited it).

• Virgin Mary draws water from “Mary’s well” at Ein Karem while helping Elizabeth. (Half-way up the mountain).

• Mary returns to Nazareth

• John the Baptist is born at the lower house. (At the spot marked in lower church)

• Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem. (We saw their place inside church of Nativity).

• Mary gives birth to Jesus in the back of the cave, because there is no room for them at the inn (entrance). (Location marked with 14 point star).

• Mary places the child a few feet away in the manger. (We saw the spot next to the star about 9 feet away)

• The Shepherds come from the fields near-by to pay respects to the Messiah (We sang Christmas Carols at Shepherd’s field)

• Mary nurses Jesus in the milk grotto. (We saw the cave).

• Mary goes to the temple for circumcision through the Southern uneven steps.

• Mary goes back to the temple for the Presentation through the same Southern steps. (We were at the Temple area).

• The Holy Family flees to Egypt from Bethlehem.

• Herod orders the male children less than 2 years massacred. (Buried in St Joseph’s grotto where we had Mass).

• John the Baptist escapes because Elizabeth hides him behind a well. (Ein Karem vestibule of the church).

• The family returns to Nazareth, where Jesus grows.

• Jesus at 12 goes to the Temple. Impresses elders at Southern steps where He is found after being thought to be lost.

• Jesus comes to Judea to be baptized at age 30. (Baptismal site between the Dead Sea and Jericho, where Trinity first manifested. We had a group picture taken there).

• Jesus goes into the Judean desert to be tempted by the devil. (We saw Temptation mountain overlooking Jericho, where we had lunch).

• Jesus is transported by the devil to the Parapet of the Temple. (Southeast corner of the Temple)

• Jesus goes to Jerusalem for Passover, cleanses the Temple

• Jesus returns to Galilee

• Jesus goes to Cana and turns water into wine. (Some renewed wedding vows at the Church built over the spot where the miracle occurred).

• Jesus preaches in Galilee. (We went around the Sea by bus to see it all).

• Jesus cures Peter’s mother-in-law in the house of Peter and Andrew. (There is a Franciscan church with a glass bottom, built over the house. We saw it).

• Jesus cures the centurion’s servant (son) at the Synagogue in Capernaum. (We were there).

• Jesus cures the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue in Capernaum

• Jesus cures the man with the unclean spirit Synagogue in Capernaum.

• Jesus teaches about children abuse and that it would be better that a millstone might be put around his neck and thrown into the sea. (We were near the spot where he taught this).

• We also saw a Gethsemane and contemplated the weight of our sins, while at Capernaum

• Jesus probably preaches at the Synagogue of Magdala – town of Mary Magdalene. (We were the first group to visit this recently discovered archeological site!).

• Jesus is rejected by the Nazarenes at the Synagogue in Nazareth. (We read from the scroll of Isaiah at the spot where Jesus read it – The Spirit of the Lord is upon me).

• Jesus prays all night in a cave, then comes out and calls out his Apostles. (Some of us were able to scale down into this cave).

• Jesus calls Peter to follow him in the Sea of Galilee, and James and John. (We also fished on the Sea of Galilee, but caught nothing!).

• Jesus calls Matthew at his tax post (Near Tabgha)

• Jesus feeds the 5,000 at Tabgha (Benedictine Monastery Church we visited)

• Jesus calms the storm in the Sea of Galilee. (We were on the same Sea in a Boat)

• Jesus preaches the Bread of Life discourse at the Synagogue in Capernaum

• Jesus goes to Kirsey, where he casts Legion out of a man, into swine. (We stood at the edge of the cliff where Legion entered the swine and jumped over the cliff and drowned)

• Jesus turns toward Jerusalem to die.

• Jesus is transfigured at Mt Tabor. (We had Mass and ate there, and drank wine there).

• Jesus raises the widow’s only son at Nain. (We saw the outside of the church that is built over the spot, and read about the miracle).

• Jesus goes through Samaria, by the River Jordan on the West Bank of the river. (We traveled this very same route up to and back between Sea of Galilee area and Jerusalem by bus)

• Jesus teaches the Parable of the Good Samaritan. (We got out of the bus and did a reading on the road to Jericho).

• Jesus meets Zacchaeus at the Sycamore Tree, in Jericho on way to Jerusalem. (We saw a sycamore tree that is over 2000 years old, near the spot).

• Jesus is anointed by Mary (sister of Lazarus) at Bethany. Judas complains

• Jesus raises Lazarus. (We visited his tomb)

• Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (We walked this steep route down. Imagine being the donkey that had never been ridden, carrying a person down that incline)

• Jesus cleanses Temple for the Second time.

• Jesus cures the man at Pools of Bethesda, who had been crippled for 38 years. (We paid admission to see this site of five pools).

• Jesus sends Peter and John to prepare the Last Supper in an Upper Room. (We visited the Mount Zion area, the area where the man carrying the jar would have been found).

• Jesus washes the feet of the Apostles in the Upper Room. (We were there alone as a group and prayed a decade of the rosary).

• Jesus institutes the Eucharist in the same Upper Room

• Jesus goes to Mount of Olives, asks Apostles to keep watch. (We saw the 2000 year old olive trees, among which the Apostles slept).

• Jesus sweats blood, asks cup to pass at Gethsemane (We had Mass and Adoration of the Eucharist at the same site at the Church of All Nations)

• Jesus is arrested and taken to the House of Caiaphas. (We visited the remains of this house).

• Jesus walks up the steps to the House of Caiaphas (We were there)

• Peter denies Christ 3 times at the courtyard, near the charcoal fire at Caiaphas house. (We saw the bronze statues that marked the area where Peter denied).

• the cock crows after the denial. (Bronze rooster on pole).

• Jesus is placed in the Pit overnight, in Caiaphas house (Psalm 88)

• Jesus is taken Friday Morning to the Praetorium, to meet Pilate. (We were by this place before we started the 1st station).

• Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns at the Kings Game pavement. (We saw the spot where the ‘game’ was played and said a decade of the rosary there)

• We saw the scourging pillar that was used, (Now moved inside the Holy Sepulchre Church, where many of us attended Mass).

• We saw the stone Jesus sat on when crowned with thorns, (Moved to be inside the Holy Sepulchre Church, we saw it)

• Jesus is condemned to death. (Station 1 inside the church that begins the Via Dolorosa. We began our stations by doing station 1 and 2 while seated inside the church).

• Jesus follows the Via Dolorosa, the Stations of the Cross. (Muslim Quarter. We walked in His footsteps encountering Mary, Veronica, Simon Cyrene, the women of Jerusalem, and watched Him fall 3 times)

• Jesus is stripped and nailed to the Cross at Calvary. (Catholic Altar where we had Mass several times).

• Jesus is hung on the cross at the Orthodox side of Calvary. (Many of us went to the Orthodox side and paid respects to the spot where it is believed the cross entered Calvary).

• Jesus dies and the earthquake remnants are still visible below Calvary. (We saw the cracks in the stone beneath where the cross entered the ground.

• Jesus is cleaned on the anointing stone. (Rose of Sharon scent applied daily at the stone. We kissed the stone daily)

• Jesus is placed in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. (We each had a chance to attend Mass in the Tomb twice).

• The Apostles gather in the Upper Room for fear of the Jews.

• Jesus rises from the dead. (We saw the slab and we saw the remnant of the rolling stone. We also saw a first century rolling stone tomb at the King David Hotel so we could have a better idea of what Jesus’ Tomb might have looked like)

• Mary Magdalene enters the outer chamber of the tomb and an angel is seated on the right. (Lamps hang inside the outer Tomb, where the Angel appeared to Mary Magdalene)

• Peter and John enter the inner tomb, see the Shroud and Sudarium and believe. (We saw a copy of the same Shroud)

• We visit the Shroud exhibit. (Notre Dame Complex where Johanna not only explains the exhibit, but sings to our Lord at the end.)

• Jesus returns to the Upper Room twice, once on Easter Sunday with Thomas missing, and once again a week later. The first time, he institutes the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

• Peter and some of the Apostles return to the Sea of Galilee to go fishing.

• Jesus returns to Galilee and over a charcoal fire, at the Church of Primacy location restores Peter. We saw the church built over the charcoal fire site. (John 21 – Do you love me more than these …)

• Jesus ascends into Heaven from the Ascension mount – (Now marked by a Mosque. We prayed a decade there).

• The Apostles receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in the Upper Room

• St Stephen is later martyred, by being led out of the St Stephen (Lion’s) gate. (We walked through this gate).

• St Paul is commissioned to persecute the Christians, and leaves by the Damascus gate. (We saw the lower 1st century gate St Paul used).

• St James, brother of the Lord, (James the Less) is killed by being thrown off the Parapet of the Temple. (We saw this on the Southeast corner of the temple area).

Later events, for which we also saw evidence or the location:

• In 316 AD, St Helena – mother of Emperor Constantine, comes to Jerusalem, unearths the dirt covering Calvary and finds the True Cross. (We saw the site where the cross was found).

• St Helena builds the first church of the Holy Sepulchre over the site of Calvary and the Tomb. The church also encompasses the new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. (We saw all this many times).

• St Helena builds the church of the Nativity over the spot where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. (We saw the mosaic from 316 AD, from the first church).

• St Helena builds the church of the Pater Noster, over the site where Jesus taught his Apostles, the Our Father. (We saw the remains of that church in the Mount of Olives. We also saw the mosaics of the Our Father prayer).

• St Helena takes many of the Passion Relics to Rome, where they are today visible in the Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem.

• St Jerome in the early 400s translates the Greek scriptures into the Latin Vulgate inside the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the chapel that today bears his name. He is also first buried there next to the chapel. Later on his body was moved to Rome. (We saw the chapel and his first tomb).