That was my reaction when Renie returned from attending Sunday Mass in Paris at Saint Pierre de Gros-Caillou in August of last year. As he spoke, he handed me the bulletin announcing a trip to the Holy Land planned by the parish and scheduled to depart from Paris in April, 2023.

Renie enthusiastically explained that this eight-day trip would allow us to be immersed in the French language (the primary language of the other twenty-nine travelers) while engaged in the exploration of iconic sites that we’d heard about all our lives. A sort of multitasking I guess.

Even though I never knew that I wanted to go to the Holy Land, I agreed, realizing that even though I might not understand much of the French, I already knew the stories and would love to meet French fellow pilgrims. Plus I knew very little about current-day Israel except for the frequent reports of terroristic acts that had begun to seem like business-as-usual. So we went.

We couldn’t begin to chronicle all we saw and did so we’ll let our photos tell the story together with a few words provided for context. Although very few of the holiest sites in Israel can be identified with absolute certainty as being what they claim, tradition, history, and archeological research abound to affirm their verity.

Mosaics on the floor of the Byzantine church built in the 5th century around the stone purported to be “the stone on which the Lord placed the bread” memorialize Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the multitude. His act of multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food for more than five thousand people (with baskets left over) is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded by all four New Testament evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Our memories of traipsing through the deserts and flower-laden green belts of the Holy Land with our new friends will stay with us always. What a congenial group: no one was tardy; no one fussed; and no one delayed our forays by asking ridiculous questions. Every person was kind, inclusive, and good natured. One would think that we were all friendly acquaintances beforehand, yet only about one-half of the participants are members of Saint Pierre de Gros-Caillou.

Beatrice with her exceptionally beautiful singing voice and Charlotte whose expertly played notes reverberated from her flute into the caves and alcoves where Mass was celebrated enhanced the spiritual atmosphere as only music can do.

That Gros-Caillou translates into Big Rock was not lost on us since Little Rock’s Big Rock, first discovered by French explorers in the 16th century and initially named French Rock as they claimed the territory for France, is a 200 foot bluff on the north bank of the Arkansas River that we enjoy seeing every day from the terrace of our LR home.

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Most outstanding was our pilgrimage-priest leader Pere Jacques whose piety, reverence, vast knowledge of the Old and New Testaments, and ability to breathe life into the Biblical stories he told imbued our Holy Land trek with depth and meaning.

Thank you, Pere Jacques, for being such a good and learned priest.

—Renie and Diane

May 24, 2023