Seventy years old and keen to return to the Holy Land- a pilgrim and volunteer’s story

We asked to hear about the personal experiences of pilgrims who have visited the Holy Land. Below is one of the many messages that we have received in response.

“A working holiday and pilgrimage in the Holy Land is an emotional experience for anyone, but as a seventy year old who has made more than five trips in just two years, it has meant even more to me. I belong to a group of people that has decided to join together in order to help the Holy Land, but above all to help ourselves by cultivating our faith. We have worked in Nazareth, Capernaum, Magdala, Jerusalem and other places.

Like the Virgin Mary, we all felt as though we had been specially chosen. That’s why I feel such a profound gratitude towards her, our special Mother who we have always had looking over us. Jerusalem is a place that gets under your skin, that takes your breath away. No matter which faith you belong to, in this city you can’t help but pray and entrust yourself to the care of whichever god you believe in.

Wandering Jerusalem’s winding lanes, it seems that you are always asking yourself: which way should I go? I choose the path that reminds me of God’s love. I choose hope. I choose to remember that it was in this land that His word came to us, and that He walks among us even now. I choose to believe that we can find God even when the worst happens. And I choose to be friends with those people who have helped to bring me here. Yours, Alba”

This and other stories that have been emailed to us will be published in our new section dedicated to pilgrims on the ATS pro Terra Sancta site.