For those who will undoubtedly recall, Fr. Buckner was the former pastor at St. Mary Catholic Church in Fredericksburg. In a discussion on the veracity of Marian apparitions (primarily in Medjugorije), Father offers thoughts for visiting the best Holy Sites of ’em all:
May I step aside from the general discussion here to offer a third suggestion. This does not affect the veracity of these apparitions, devotions, pilgrimages etc. Rather it does deal with the frequently mentioned item of “private revelations”.
Many of you have spoken of the spiritual benefits of making such a pilgrimage. Doubtless, this is beneficial. However, I would suggest that perhaps you might consider a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
First, this does not involve private revelations (and hence their veracity) but public revelation, the instances of the Sacred Scriptures.
Second, for those who wish to visit specific locations of Our Lady’s presence on earth, there is nothing calmer and more certain than the simplicity of her house in Nazareth, the shrine of the Visitation in Ein Karem, the poverty of Bethlehem, her maternal mediation at Cana, and the solitude of the Thirteenth Station on Mt. Calvary.
Third, for those who wish to hear the voice of Our Lord, the shrines of the Holy Land offer a living presence for the places where Our Lord preached the message of the Kingdom, shared our humanity, offered His Passion and Death, and showed the promise of His Resurrected Body.
Finally, it is an opportunity to rediscover the essentials of your Faith: fulfillment of prophecies, the Incarnation, the institution of the Sacraments, the establishment of the Church and Her first Diocese (Jerusalem), and the Living Stones of today’s Church.
While so many Catholics (especially Americans) visit so many shrines of private revelations around the world (and rightly so), it is curious that so few of them visit the authentic sites of the Public Revelation. There are some 65 million Catholics in the US. Less than 1% have ever been to the Holy Land. Today the large crowds that come are mostly Protestants, Evangelical Christians, and Messianic Jews.
So, the next time you are planning a trip, would you consider a pilgrimage to God’s Holy Land?
Father Buckner: priest, father, professor, confessor, and now blogger.
Go to the Holy Land if you ever have the chance. Father took me along three times and my faith has been all the more because of it. If you’re looking for ways in which you can visit the Holy Land and have the best experience possible visiting Holy sites and monuments, take a look into different Holy Land tours available online to see the best options available for your religious following.