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| 2005 - Ali at the sea of Galilee near Tiberias |
In 2005, to mark Ali's 50th year we went to the Holy Land. We were not with a group. We hired a car at Tel Aviv airport and travelled first to Caesearea, then to Haifa, before having a few days at the Sea of Galilee. We visited the many places associated with Jesus's life and miracles, including the Mount of the Beatitudes, Capernaum, Nazareth, Cana, and Mount Tabor, before heading south to Bethlehem and, of course, Jerusalem.
It was the first and only time that Ali visited the Holy Land. It is an incomparable land, given its importance for salvation history. It was extraordinary to be in the places where Jesus was conceived and born, and where he lived, taught, performed miracles, suffered, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. The impression it makes is beyond words.
Everything to do with the Holy Land, everything to do with Jesus's mission, everything to do with the life of the Church, is to prepare us for eternal life - for the heavenly Jerusalem. While Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, we need guides to bring us to Him, to explain His teachings and to show us how to live them. The most exceptional among those guides are recognised by the Church after they die as canonised saints, and I have long believed that Ali will one day be added to their number.
I was in the privileged position of knowing, more than anybody else, the quality of Ali's faith, hope and love and her extraordinary holiness. Her greatest wish for all people, without exception, was that they would make it to the heavenly Jerusalem. I am sorry that I still have not yet provided an account of her life so that she can become better known as the heavenly guide for others that I believe she is destined to be. In the 70th year since Ali's birth, and on the 12th anniversary of her entering into eternal life, I believe she is now experiencing the joy and wonders of that heavenly Jerusalem. May it be a destination we all reach.
overlooking Jerusalem - Sept 2005
