I just returned from the first ever Holy Land trip for our group of single Catholics, which were mostly Ave Maria Singles members but also included a married couple who met on AMS, an engaged couple who met on AMS, and non-AMS members.
  
The bottom line:  All Christians should go to Israel!   What can I say?  Words truly cannot describe this trip.  The Holy Land is a place that must be experienced, and which affects each person uniquely, as the Holy Spirit moves them.

We had a group of (36) people, including myself and Fr. Timothy Castor, who was an amazing chaplain and provided so much additional information.   We always have excellent groups on our trip, and this group of people were no different.  Everyone was so friendly, kind, accommodating, helpful, tolerant, and so many other adjectives that would describe people who made this pilgrimage special for everyone.  As with all our groups, everyone felt comfortable from day one with each other, like they were with old friends.  So many of them have already said they are going to come again.

Our tour guide was an Arab-Christian, born and raised in Jerusalem, and a tour guide for 35 years.  He had an exceptional knowledge of all the places we went, and shared many interesting things about Arab-Jewish-Moslum relationships and of the history of Israel.  His name was Zacharia, and he made the tour very special.  Our bus driver, Ammar, was also exceptional.   Both made us feel comfortable and quite pampered.  In fact, we were very spoiled (and loving it :-)

The food was outstanding!  I was so surprised to discover how much I enjoyed the food.  Every breakfast and dinner provided was a buffet at the hotels we stayed out.  The selections were vast and magnificient.   Our lunches along the way were no different.  I was delighted to have been able to get Falafel a few times while there, too.   The hotels were nice, too, especially Gai Beach Hotel in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee. 

There was just nothing to complain about.  Even the weather was on our side.  Sunny, dry, beautiful days ALL 9 DAYS!   We were told it rained the week before and it was about to rain for 4 days starting the day we left to return home. 

There is not enough room to describe all we did and experienced, and all the little things that made this trip so wonderful and successful.  Fr. Castor and I did an end-of-the-day recording each night to talk about all we did.  Our goal was to make sure we would remember everything and use this for future trips to Israel.  So I think I will soon post those recordings for you to listen to.  They will describe everything we did.

But nothing can take the place of experiencing the Holy Land.   Our entire group felt very bad for the (22) people who had to cancel their reservation with this trip.  But I believe they are going to get another chance to go, because I have decided to do an encore Holy Land trip for single Catholics next November.   I just hope Consolidated Tours can set it up for us in time. 

So if you missed out on this trip, you are going to get another opportunity next year.  I'm certain more people will be inspired to go after those of us who attended share our comments and photos of this trip.  So stay tuned for the announcement of the next Holy Land Pilgrimage.  Perhaps even some of those who went on this 2008 trip will go again.  We shall see.

And to think that right up until September, I was not planning to attend this trip (due to my needing 40 people to attend in order to break even on it).   But Bridget (my wife) and Fr. Timothy encouraged me that I needed to be there, and Consolidated Tours (the company who put together this amazing trip) insisted that I needed to be there in order for it to go properly.  So I did decide to go, and yes, I really needed to be there.  This trip was inspiring in so many ways. 

I will share more later about this trip.  For now, let me just tell you again that if you have the opportunity to go to the Holy Land, take advantage of it.  It is perfectly safe, and it will change your life. 

For those of you who know you want to attend our next trip, go ahead and write me to tell me so.  I will put you on the list of those interested.  

Read the comments area of this post to hear what those who attended our first Holy Land Pilgrimage have to say about it.  View photos of this trip by going to www.KodakGallery.com/amstrips.

I do pray you will be inspired to do all you have to do in order to make the next Holy Land pilgrimage with me next year and/or in the future.  You will not regret it!!

Today is Election Day, and I am in the Holy Land. Many of you may know that our AMS Holy Land Pilgrimage is Nov. 2-12 this month. I purposely wanted to do this trip during the Presidential Election. It's kind of surreal to have such a high-profile event taking place at the same time we are walking the footsteps of Jesus Christ. I really feel like we are doing our part in prayer and sacrifice to help with the outcome of this election. It is 7 hours ahead here, so I plan to get up at 2:00 a.m. to turn on Fox News and watch the coverage :-)

For me, it was so difficult to really "get into" this trip up until now with work and family preparations for my being away for 12 days. I just did not want to leave Bridget and the kids for that long. This will be the longest I have ever been away from them at one time. They have all been very supportive about my going, and know that my going is a blessing to me, for our family, and for the group attending the trip. But it is still hard for everyone, including myself, to physically leave them. After getting to JFK and meeting up with the group, I was finally starting to realize what was happening and how wonderful it is going to be. The group was so excited. As usual, we have a great group! There are 36 of us, and many are alumni AMS travelers. We have a person from Australia and a person from Ireland with us, too.

We had long travels without any real problems. Elsa lost her passport in Madrid when we were about to board, but thank God (and St. Anthony, whom many of us were praying to, and Julie from Australia who really came to Elsa's aid) that it was found by a person at the Duty Free shop Elsa left it at and sent ahead to the gate. But all is well and we are here in Tel Aviv.

Getting through customs went really smoothly and the group was great about staying together. We met up with the tour company with no problem and got on the bus to head to our hotel.

The first thing you realize when you arrive here is how safe it is. There is absolutely no sign of danger at all. So all the concerns for safety went out the window. We got to the hotel, got settled in our rooms, Fr. Castor had Mass for us, we then had dinner and went straight to bed. We were all exhausted. I conked out on the bed at 9:30. As I said, it's 7 hours difference from the US, so it was only 2:30 Monday afternoon back home. I guess it will be a couple of days until my body gets adjusted to the time change. I'm writing at 3:00 a.m. because I am awake and can't get back to sleep. So I figured I would just get up and do some work.

We are looking forward to starting our touring today (Tuesday). It is election day in the US and Fr. Castor is offering Mass for the election and we will follow it tonight on TV after our day of touring. We will be praying a lot while here for this election, as well as for many things this entire time we are here. I am praying and fasting while here for graces that will affect my family, all those I said I would pray for and who are expecting my prayers, for the intentions of single Catholics and their vocation to marriage, and in reparation for my own sins. And the 9 tour days we have is going to be my 9-day novena for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

So it is going to be an amazing and beautiful trip. I'm looking forward to it and can't wait to see how the Holy Spirit works for those of us on this pilgrimage. Hopefully, I can post more while I'm here. If not, I will do a summary when I get back. Please pray for me and our AMS group on pilgrimage.

This time last week, I was in the hot sun, surrounded by the beautiful blue Caribbean ocean on the island of Samana, Dominican Republic. Now I'm back to the cold reality (literally) of winter in Virginia.

And so it goes for us AMS cruisers who were last week enjoying our group and a wonderful Caribbean cruise vacation. It was an outstanding group, too. About 50 attended, and there was a great sense of belonging and enjoyment being together. I really hand it to all those who attended; you really made it enjoyable for each other.

Fr. Peter Stravinskas was new to our trips, and provided us with outstanding and informative talks, along with very holy and reverent Masses and Adoration time.

This trip, like all of them, left me realizing just why I provide trips for single Catholics. They are a real blessing in every way.

Anyone can view photos from this and all AMS trips by going to www.kodakgallery.com/amstrips.

Just got a call from the company setting up the AMS Holy Land Pilgrimage for me and they have confirmed the dates and prices. So we are ready to go in promoting this exciting trip. So start working on clearing your schedule.

I am putting together a web page to formally announce this trip and provide details and registration info, which won't be done until the end of this month. I'm leaving for the AMS Caribbean cruise tomorrow and won't get to this until I get back. But for now, here are the key details:

Dates: November 2-12, 2008

Price: $2,599 (deposit of $300 required)

Includes: Round-trip out of New York to and from Tel Aviv, hotels (4 and 5 star), breakfast and dinner daily, transportation to and from Tel Aviv airport, bus transportation for tours, and tour guides

Additional costs: $80 to cover tips (so you don't worry about it) and $300 in taxes (airline and countries visiting)

Destinations: All major Biblical sites

I have a list of 80 people who said they wanted to be kept in touch about this. I'm not sure how many are actually serious about going, but I would advise you to get your deposit in as soon as you can upon my posting the registration info. You will be e-mailed again when that happens.

You can bring others with you to travel with, if you'd like. And you will be able to make payments toward the trip.

This is going to be a very memorable trip!