Memoirs of Some Fantastic and Amazing Events and 'Miracles' That Happened During My Pilgrimages and Missions from 1995-2012

Memoirs of some fantastic and amazing events and 'miracles' that happened during my pilgrimages and missions from 1995-2012

I asked, and He opened my eyes to see the many wonders of, and in the bible. Please read these nine unusual to miraculous observations beyond scientific explanations but which happened.

These are accounts of some extraordinary nine sightings, or happenings, or miracles seen on our pilgrimages or missions.

1. First Holy Land Pilgrimage 18 February to 10 March 1995.

Three unusual things happened. Story below. (a)The transfiguration

Six months after my baptism on the Feast day of the Assumption of our Lady on 15 August 1994, some of us newly baptized gathered together , and discussed which part of the world which we have not been and which we would like to go .

We felt that that the Holy Land was an interesting place for our Faith, and I was asked to make inquiries of tours which go there. Thompson Tours under Alfred offered to take us there together with my mum, who was in a wheel chair.

Meanwhile we all prayed at our first get together with Fr. Jim Wallace CsSR from Novena Church .About two weeks before departure, the Palestians blew up a bus with passengers in Jerusalem, .We were so frightened that we wanted to cancel our pilgrimage.

Then at a Catholic bookshop, I came across a video of "Walking in the footsteps with Jesus in the Holy Land " by Fr. Frank Doyle. After seeing this and together with cousin Kenneth Kwan, we decided to go. We were spiritually charged .

(a) Our pilgrimage had its ups and down, but at the foot hill of the Mountain of the Transfiguration of our Lord (Matthew 17,1-13), we saw a familiar figure ,looking like Fr. Frank Doyle.

Photo: Fr. Frank Doyle ,OFM( central figure) , with American pilgrims and our group , with the invalids, Fr. Jim Wallace ( seated on right) , and Amelia. We are waiting for special taxi transport to take us up to the Church of the transfiguration.

I asked cousin , "Is that person standing over there, Fr. Frank Doyle of the video tape "Jesus the prophet"? He replied in Cantonese "Ho chee( Looks like ).

I said "Let us go and ask him. " Excuse me Father. We are Catholic Pilgrims from Singapore on our first visit. We were not going come after the car bomb in Jerusalem a few days ago, but after seeing "Walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we decided to come.

Father , were you the narrator? Fr. Frank Doyle then said Yes, and that he was the person who narrated the Jesus story .

I told him what happened, and that we were so fearful of coming to the Holy land until we saw his tape He said that he was from Cincinnati and had been to the Holy land 50 times and this time with 80 pilgrims from USA .

We asked him to give us a blessing, and he prayed over Kenneth and me. It was quite a long blessing , and he spoke in strange words.

While waiting at the bottom of the hill, and looking up, I wondered ."Where did Jesus stand for the transfiguration, and which path did Jesus and his disciples take to come down.

Photo: foot hill view of the Church of the Transfiguration of Jesus, at Mount Tabor, Tiberius marker show the site of the church.

As the church was full , we had an outdoor Mass on the archaeological relics of the old church

Photo: Outdoor Mass at the Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord at Mount Tabor .Magdalene reading the first reading and Father (seated) the Gospel of Matthew (17, 1-13).

In his homily, Fr Wallace reminded us that this day was a special one for the Lord had brought us to the place of the transfiguration, and it was not by chance that we had met Fr. Frank Doyle, who had made us come here by his narration , but God . Many years , later, I would be minded of these words. Indeed it was a transformation of our hearts to be as often to the Holy land , the birth place of our Faith.

Photo: Taking Holy Communion for the first time in the Holy Land at the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus, and my own transformation. Trevor Chong serving

After the Mass was over , Father waved a farewell to us as he stood outside the church.

Photo: Farewell from Fr. Frank Doyle OFM, outside the entrance to the Church of the transfiguration.

We then entered the beautiful chapel of the church and saw its many beautiful glass and wall murals

Photo: Mass at the Church of the transfiguration. Jesus' in white with his out stretched and raised arms in the roof alcove. In front of the altar, and first bench(before the seated pilgrims) , is the wooden trap door.his was the place of the transfiguration where Jesus stood.

Photo: granite stone where Jesus was alleged to have stood. Top left is the picture of Jesus, in white garments with upheld arms. Below on the stone ,looks like the etched picture of Jesus like the picture on the alcove roof.

(b) Granite picture of Jesus. This picture was first seen by Susie, and confirmed on my video camera, but not in the other pilgrims cameras. It was never seen again. In 1996, we could not go up before road repairs. Thereafter on eight further occasions, it was covered with coins or some trash!

The third unusual thing happened.

When we arrived at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, it was like returning home. With awe and excitement , we managed to squeeze ourselves into the narrow Tomb of Jesus. I tried to take a picture with my Canon camera, but it won't click.

I then took the video camera, and it also did not start. But cousin Kenneth took a picture of me praying inside the Tomb and it came out.

Photo: The first time inside the Tomb of My Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Sepulcher Church, Jerusalem . 10 March 1995.Picture taken by cousin Kenneth.

The tomb was very small and could hold at the maximum four persons. On a slab of marble measuring not more than 5 feet was the tomb.

Above it was the altar. A iconic painting of our Lady

Photo: Our Lady, Mother of God at the tomb of Jesus.(1995). In 2009 , when we visited the Tomb, the beautiful figure of Mother Mary was badly defaced.

Question: Were these unusual events , a miracle and a gift from God , meant for my transfiguration?

2. The 'burning bush ' at Thyatira , Greece baptism site of Lydia, the first woman Christian in Europe

Can a bush fire start spontaneously after rainfall during Mass?

This was our first pilgrimage following the footsteps of St. Paul to Greece with Fr. Paul Pang. On the 18 February 1997, we arrived at Thyatira in Philippi, Greece . At this site, which was a Roman colony in St. Paul's time was a woman called Lydia who dealt in purple cloth ( Acts. 16, 11-15), nd she had invited St. Paul to her home and there she and her family were baptized.

We had two non Christians with us. They were Nancy Tan SRN, my staff nurse and Judy Hew ,SRN. As we sat on the banks of the brook on a wet and sunny day, the grounds were wet from an earlier rain. It was cold. As Mass was beginning , we saw on the opposite bank a small bush fire. We were worried it may get bigger and interfere with the Mass. But once the Mass was over the fire went out. We felt warm with that fire.

Photo: Outdoor Mass at Thyatira, Philippi, Greece on 28 February 1997

Photo : Blessing of Judy Hew SRN, who a year later was baptized. In the background ( black arrow) is the smoke of the bush fire across the bridge. The warmth of the fire kept us warm.

Photo: Blessing of Nancy Tan SRN by Fr. Paul Pang, attended by her future God Mother Ms Elizabeth Soh. In the background on the opposite bank are the smoke of two bush fires ( arrowed).

3. Finding of the evidence of Jesus the Christ existed, was crucified, and rose on the third day.

Did Christ ,outside of the bible and Christian history exist? Was there another source to authenticate that he really existed, taught, was crucified, died and came back on the third day?

Although I was baptized in 1995, I tried hard to find evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ outside of the Bible . This was because the atheists, and Christians and our Medical specialists , were curious and wanted proof of his existence.

Just before I led the second pilgrimage to the Holy land in March 1996, I said in silence , a prayer " Lord, help, me to find the evidence of the birth of your son Jesus, that he came, he taught, died and came back from the dead"

Arriving on the 25 March 1996, at Qumran, where the Dead Sea scrolls were found, there was a book shop, and browsing through it, I came across the book of Flavius Josephus, the first century Jewish and Roman historian , who had written about the Jewish Antiquities and the Essential Writings.

He said " In AD 30, there was a wise man , called Jesus the Christ, the son of a carpenter in Nazareth, who was held to be the Messiah, was executed by crucifixion by the Romans under Roman law by Pontus Pilate. He had a following of Jews and other nations, and he appeared to them alive on the third day, and the sect or tribe of Christians, named after him, have not disappeared to this day " His writings were authenticated by both the Roman Emperor Vespasian, his adopted son, and by Herod.

Photo: The Book of Flavius Josephus . This is the book available only in the Holy Land and at the Qumran book shop

Observation: This was awesome, to find an authentic evidence of Jesus Christ , outside of the bible and through prayer.

4. Finding historical evidence of the Bible.

Soon after I had convinced my late father to be baptized before he passed away on the 12 May 1992, I began to take a fascination for religion and studied all the religions. Ever since I was a child refugee in Bandra , India, and brought up in a Catholic School of St. Stanislaw, I had a yearning for Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, which I was most comfortable to be in.

At the Chester Beatty Institute in Dublin ( 1990) , I had found the papyrus bible of Mark, and later when we were in Patmos island , the parchment bibles of Mark and Job.

Photo: Parchment Bible of Mark, third Century. Monastery Museum at Patmos.

Photo: The Book of Job, fifth century. Monastery Museum of Patmos

5. A Storm at Sea. the power of prayer.

In February 1997, on our Greece Pilgrimage of St. Paul, we were about to take the night ferry across from Piraeus harbor in Athens to Patmos , a journey of some 12 hours .

But the storm and the sea was so rough that we were not allowed to sail. Several of us went on deck and we prayed together. I read the bible reading of Jesus calming the storm at sea ( Matthew 8, 23- 27). We were delayed for some 8 hours, and finally the sea calmed , like a " milk pond" and we sailed to Patmos, arriving there at dawn.

Photo: Patmos island, Garden of our hotel.

Photo: Cave of the Revelations to St. John @ Patmos island.

Photo: Inside the cave where St. John ( son of Zebedee) was incarcerated at Patmos island. Figure show where he laid . Overhead is the rocky beam, which split during an earthquake

There ,he had his revelations and these were written in symbolic apocalyptic manner to Christians undergoing persecutions , of the revelations of God. He encouraged them to have and sustain their Faith despite severe persecutions, and to believe in the coming of Christ.

Photo: Pilgrim group on first pilgrimage to Patmos Island 18 February 1997, with Fr. Paul Pang CsSr as Spiritual Director.

On our return , we also faced the same storm and were delayed for a few hours, and again with prayers the storm quieten down.

6. The miracle of the Eucharist

(a) at Lanciano

How can a piece of host become the body and the wine the blood of Christ? Can it be believed?

As a scientist, it is difficult to belief that the host ( the unleavened bread) can be transubstantiated into human flesh. But many such miracles did exist. The first was recorded in AD 700, at the Church of St. Longinus ( named after the Roman Centurion who had pierced the side of Jesus), in Lanciano , Italy. Today this church is called the St. Francis Church .

A priest monk celebrating the Mass, had not believed in the transubstantiation of the bread , when after he had said the solemn word of consecration, the bread changed into a circle of flesh., and the wine was transformed into visible blood. The flesh remained intact for centuries and was recently examined by pathologists, and found to be human heart muscle, with intact vagal nerve. The blood group was AB negative , the same as in the Shroud of Turin, believed to be burial shroud of our Lord Jesus.

Photo: Lanciano. Reliquary Eucharistic miracle. Human heart muscle dating back to AD 700 when the transubstantiation took place.

(b) Other sites of Eucharistic miracles .

I would travel with pilgrims to Santarem, Portugal to see the second miracle and to Sienna in Italy to see the two miracle which occurred in 1330 and 1730.

In the first miracle at Sienna , a priest who had removed the consecrated host had not put it in a pyx but between the leaves of a breviary book, to give a sick farmer. When he opened the breviary , the book was blood stained .In deep remorse he went to the Monastery of St. Augustine and confessed .

The second miracle was when the consecrated hosts were stolen from the Church of the Assumption of our Lady, and later found in the streets two days later. To the amazement the hosts did not deteriorate, as would be expected , but remained fresh.

Photo: Sienna. Hosts of the second miracle in 1730, looking as fresh as it is today in its reliquary

7. My own transfiguration again at Lawdesky, Aceh in North Indonesia .

Still a skeptic of the transubstantiation of the Host at consecration , the Lord would teach me to believe the power of the Eucharist.

On a mission of mercy requested by the Archbishop of Aceh we went there on the 1st April 2005, to help the Tsunami damaged Church of St. Josef and the adjoining school buildings .Some four thousand students from age of 10 to 18 years attended this school, and they received pastoral lessons.

Arriving there on a treacherous journey ,after an eight hour land journey , I was weak and sweating profusely. Soon after taking the body and blood of Christ at the Friday evening Mass , I purge fresh blood profusely , giving me the diagnosis of my unusual sweating and weakness.

Being in a jungle and volcanic area, there was no rescue, and I had no medicines to stop the bleed. The next morning I took the Body and blood of Christ at the morning Mass for the one thousand children who came to celebrate the Mass. I felt better and we returned to Medan where we stayewd overnight . The fresh bleeding had stopped , and I was feeling stronger .At the Sunday morning Mass , I took for the third day, the blood and the body of Christ.

We flew home from Medan that night. On Monday morning I had and endoscopic examination, and found to have had six acute bleeding duodenal ulcers, but they have all healed. All my specialists friends said that this was impossible to have been healed by water, mucaine antacids which I had taken. Furthermore , I had taken 'forbidden' altar wine when bleeding. I told my disbelieving nursing and specialists " I took the blood of Christ , not wine". They looked at me, with aw and also with incredulit

Photo: The broken road from Medan to Lawdesky damaged by the subterranean, aftershocks , and landslides after the Asian Tsunami . The journey of 250 Km took us 8 hours, because of the pot holes, landslides, boulders, fallen telegraphic poles and trees on the road.

Photo: The Parish Church of St. Josef with the Parish priests.

Photo: School children attending special Saturday Mass to celebrate the completion of repairs to their school and village church.

Photo: the repaired Church of St. Josef 1st April 2005 from the Singapore Archdiocese Tsunami Fund.

A detailed account may be found in my website: Gabrieloon.com http://www.gabrieloon.com/index2.php?p=Testimonies/Lawedesky-Aceh%20Mission.pdf

8. The whispered voice of My Mother Mary at Ephesus.

In early 2001, the world faced the difficult bioethics problems arising out of the successful cloning of the sheep Dolly .There was a huge supply of already frozen and unwanted fertilized human eggs stored in liquid nitrogen or freezers all over the world following in-vitro fertilizations programs for barren couples. Biological science had moved so fast, that it was possible to program the human eggs to produced a cloned human who can be used . Singapore had formed a Bioethics Council which was moving into therapeutic human cloning and had feedback from the public. I was strong opponent on the ethics of the issue. There were two main arguments against doing this.

(i) an innocent human being , who was defenseless , would have his or her life sacrificed for another sick human who needed that body part replacement, be it heart, brain, kidneys or liver, which were in high demand and appeared to be another worthy cause. If this was permitted, who then can guarantee that in the future, a hapless human, may also be sacrificed for his or her body parts

[Today in 2012 ,BBC reported and showed life pictures of many fleeing Ethiopians seeking a future in Egypt are taken in by tribal gangs , are killed and their organs taken for human donations. Their bodies are left in the desert ]

(ii) the fertized human embryo frozen in IVF freezers, is a life and is human . It cannot be killed for whatever purposes.

Being a strong defender of these views, I was active with the Catholic Medical Guild and was appointed to the Archdiocese Bioethics Council as it scientific adviser. I had persuaded many of my colleagues to sign a petition and submit it to the government's Bioethics Council, but they declined as their jobs were at state. Some of them told me " Only you can do it" I ponder on this statement. Later I would face a great proponent of the therapeutic cloning Dr. Alan Coleman in a life radioTV debate on human cloning. Should this be done?"

See account: Radio 935 Human Cloning debate . http://www.gabrieloon.com/index2.php?p=Testimonies/RADIO%20938%20LIVE%20PANEL%20DISCUSSI ON%20ON%20HUMAN%20CLONING..pdf

At Ephesus , on the morning of the 25 March 2001,on our St. Paul's Pilgrimage, while we were having an outdoor Mass in the Gardens of our Lady's last home in Ephesus ,with Fr. Gino Henrigues CsSR ,as our Spiritual Director, a strange wind blew. The leaves ruffled; the pages of Father's bible flipped over; he gave his reading out of his spirit ; women wept, and many were tearful. I was recording on my video camera these events , and silently praying to Mother Mary asking her . " Mother Mary, why does your son Jesus , send me to do these unpleasant job , which I sure to be persecuted , and be rejected by officialdom.

Like a gentle voice in the breeze, she smiled, with a great motherly love ,said " Who can he send ?" Tears well up from my eyes. I knew then that God would be with me on my mission, and that I would suffer the pain of rejection by some seniors in the society.

Photo: House of Mother Mary, Ephesus. White arrow on left background indicate the place where we had our outdoor Mass on the 25 March 2001

Photo: Susie & I at the House of Mary in 1998.

Photo: Pilgrims all over the world entering the house of Mary with reverence. They come in busloads on pilgrimages, and also in tour ships, like the Queen Victoria.

Photo: Out door Mass at House of Mary.

Photo: Koran verses at the House of Mary, showing that Islam worships our Lady ( as Miriam) in Koran verses cited. Many Muslims come in reverence to pray at this site of holiness.

Photo: entry into the Garden of the House of Mary at Ephesus. There is a sense of holiness ; stillness in the air; silence; peace; joy ;reverence, with a cool breeze; chirping birds . On the far right is the house of Mary. It is believed that this was her last home before she was assumed to heaven and that she was taken here by the apostle John, whom her son Jesus had said to his beloved disciple John "She is your mother" and to his mother " He is your son" ( John ( 19, 26-27)

Photo: With Mother Mary at Ephesus.

Photo: Koran verses about Mary and Jesus, outside the House of Mary , which is also worshipped by Muslims

Photo: In 2006, a wild forest burnt up to the foot of the House of Mary . Was this divine arrest of the fire? Picture shows the burnt up forest in brown. It stopped short of the holy grounds of Mary's Home.

9. Is there still the fabled he Biblical Garden of Eden , and Noah's Ark in existence? Does the Tigris and the Euphrates exist? These are questions I prayed and asked our Lord, as we had now come close to seeing all the ancient sites of the Bible , except the Garden of Eden and Noah's Ark.

In the book of Genesis ( 2, 8-24) , God created the Garden of Eden and put the Man he had formed . He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there, and produce good fruits . In the middle of the garden was the tree that gave life and the tree that gave knowledge of what is good and what was bad. A stream flowed through in Eden There were four rivers. The Pishon, the second Gishon, the third is the Tigris which flows East of Assyria, and the fourth river is the Euphrates.. God the Man in the Garden and asked him to guard it. He told the Man " You can eat the fruit from any tree except the tree that gives the knowledge of good and back. You must eat the fruit of that tree ;if you do, you will die the same day"...then God made the Ma sleep .and took a rib out of the man . He formed a woman out of the rib of the Man and brought her to him..."

In 2009 Salahuddin, my good friend and Turkey guide invited me to bring a group to Eastern Anatolia, and see Noah's Ark . Eastern Anatolia , was ancient Assyria, the land of King Nebuchadnezzar (who destroyed the first temple of Jerusalem) and of King Antiochus( Maccabeus) to Haran ,hometown of Abram ( Genesis 12, 4) and to the Ararat Mountain range to see the fabled Noah's Ark, which several American archaeologists had discovered

We set out in the month of September, as this was the best time to see the Noah's ark , when the snow would have melted.

The journey.

We started from Antioch Orontes, then moved within 10-20Km of the border of Iraq, Syria and Iran , and were searched several times by border police and had to have a special permit to go into that area. The whole journey to the Ararat Mountain range would be about 2,000Km and we were traveling at 500 Km a day.

Photo: Large water melon growing in the area of the Garden of Eden at Dyakarba, near the Euphrates River.

(a) The mighty Euphrates and the ancient Garden of Eden in ancient Mesopotamia

We reached area of the Garden of Eden at Dyarkarba , where we saw and cross the mighty Euphrates River, which not provided water and irrigation for the thirsty desert people from Iran ( Persia), Iraq , Turkey and Syria. We are passed the River Tigris , but the Gihon and the Pishon rivers of the old testaments no longer existed.

Photo: The mighty ancient Euphrates with its dam ( background) . This is the region , very fertile with all kinds of vegetation, and metallic works. It sustains life in the region around it, which is mainly desert. River Tigris in the foreground

Photo: Vegetations outside a shop in Dyarkarba, in the Ararat area.

Photo: A metal worker in the area of the Euphrates, also rich in metal.

Dyarkarba, Garden of Eden in ancient Mesopotamia. Street scene.

Photo: Dyarkarba, Garden of Eden . Abundant vegetable stall.

Photo; Making Carpets .

(b) Ur, Haran , the ancient home of Abram, Sarai, Isaac and Jacob.

Not far away in the desert, we came to the home of Laban and Haran in ancient Mesopotamia( Genesis 11,27-28) when God called Abram married Saria, who later were blessed by God, and became Abraham and Sarah.

In the book of Genesis, both Isaac and Jacob are asked to go back from Canaan to Ur to find their future spouses from their village. Isaac went back to Haran in Ur, with an assistant, and there at water well, met Rebecca ( Genesis 24, 12-28), and met Laban who gave his daughter Rebecca in marriage

Photo: Ancient village well in Haran. Was this the same type of well which Isaac saw and met Rebecca ( Genesis 24,12-28) ?

Photo: A mud house, which was cool in summer and warm in the winter at Haran, ancient village of Abraham and Sarah at Haran

Photo: Pilgrim group dress in native Haran dress costume

Photo: Pilgrim group that went to Haran. Mud houses in the background

Photo: Caravanite site at Haran ,with a view of the mud houses, and the desert route

Was there truly an ancient ship 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high ( Genesis 6, 14-16) which Noah built at God's commandments , which Noah's family of good people, and animals of all kinds, that survived the great ancient flood and then settled down in the Ararat range of mountains after forty days?

We traveled northwards towards the Black Sea and crossed mountains and plains . On the valleys and by the river stream we saw women staining and making carpets by the side of the road

Photo: Making and staining Turkish carpets near Ararat.

Photo: Big Ararat , with its snow capped peak. Temperature on the ground was 10 degree C.

We stopped at Miraike, for a toilet stop. we were now about 2 hrs from Lake Van

Photo: Miraike stopover , with the four falls of water feeding into the Tigris River.

Near at late evening at 4pm , we arrived at Lake Van ,and took a boat across to visit the ancient Armenian Monastery , with its many mural drawings from Abraham's time to Jesus, the Crucifixion , and the apostle on the walls.

It was deserted. After an hour's visit and as it was getting late, we made our way back to the Lake and back to our coach to stop over at our Hotel.

(d) Lake Van

This ancient Lake, is nearly 5,000 meters above sea level, and contains sea water, and sea shells, Besides this and Lake Titicaca in South America, these two lakes signify that once upon a time, there was a great flood and the sea was above the mountains, confirming the story of the Great Flood in the book of Genesis.

Photo: Lake Van

Photo: Ancient Armenian church on Lake Van.

Photo: Outer wall of 1864 Armenian Church on Lake Van showing mosiac wall paintings of Abraham and Prophets.

Photo: Susie and me on the boat back from the Armenian Monastery at dusk, on Lake Van

Photo: Some flowers by our Lake Van Hotel.

The view of the magnificent Lake Van was breath taking and the air was crisp when we left for our next destination, Doguberyazet and the Ararat range of mountains, small Ararat, middle Ararat and Big Ararat.

Photo: The distant Ararat mountains from our Lake Van hotel

Photo: Our Ladies group with Selah (in brown jacket in center) .Angela Lee, Ting Mui Ching, Joan Lim, Maria Ho, Wendy Chong, Angela Seetho, Selah, Driver, Sharon Loo, Theresa Koh, Jenny Krishnamoorthy, Angela Lee.

We arrived at Doberyazet at late evening and settled in to our three story small Golden Hill Hotel. Parked outside were small vans which would be taking us up the Ararat to the site of Noah's Ark. It was not heavily ocupied and most of those staying were tourists visiting the Noah's Ark.

Photo: Our simple bedroom with our simple baggage .

Photo: Our metal keys to Room 502, which had a window's view of the main road, and Ararat.

Photo: Dawn at Ararat from our window of Golden Hill Hotel. The hotel was named golden because of the golden skies.

Photo: early breakfast at the Golden Hill hotel.

The next morning on the 21 September , 2008 , we took two vans and were driven up by road and mountain track to the site of the Noah's Ark Museum , where we could have a good view of the ark. It was about a 45 minutes drive.

Photo: The mountain road on middle Ararat taking us to the border of Iran ( about 10 Kms away) and Syria ( 20 Kms away) . It was autumn and the best time to see the ark.

Photo: Group picture of the pilgrims at the site of the Noah's Ark.

Arrowed is the large boast shaped Ark as described in the book of Genesis. It was 450 ft long, 45 ft high, and 78 ft wide. The local guide Hassan was the first to see the Ark, and in the 1970s took a group of American archeologist and astronaut Neil Armstrong to the actual site to see the fossilized remains of boat with its corals. The distance from where we are , was about 800 meters down the slope, and we saw goats feeding on the mountain side.

Photo: Cj with Hassan, who discovered the Ark . Background are the write ups, of the US Noah's Ark expedition. Picture taken inside the museum of the Ark at the site. Today the Turkish Government does not permit going down to the ark without a permit.

Photo: inside the small Museum of the Noah's Ark, with pictures of various expeditions to investigate the Ark.

Photo: Archaeological fossils of corals and petrified wood taken from the Noah's Ark at the Museum. Carbon dating puts these fossils o many billions of years.

Photo: An account of the petrified wood from the large shaped dating back to many billions of years, using carbon dating.

Photo: Soon after leaving Aarat and arriving at Trapzon on the Black Sea, we saw this extraordinary double rainbow , just as the biblical description as the sign of God's covenant with Noah(Genesis 9,14)

More about our Mesopotamia pilgrimage in 2009 see: Ancient Mesopotamia Pilgrimage September 2009

Finally at Calvary and at the Tomb of Jesus at the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem , Holy land

Photo: Calvary. " Mary a sword will pierce your heart " Canticle of Simon, Luke 2,35). The haunting distressed picture of Mother Mary witnessing the death of her beloved son, Jesus.

Photo: Calvary. "Then Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus from the Cross, and laid him down in preparation for His burial ( Luke 23,53)

Photo: " They saw two angels in white dressed in white where the body of Jesus was , one at the head and one at the feet ( John 20, 12). Who was this strange angel in white in the tomb with us , at the foot of the tomb when we were at Mass in the Tomb of Jesus at Christmas 2009. She was there at the Mass at the foot of the Tomb , then she vanished when the Mass ended, We could note see her face.

Photo: Inaugural Christmas pilgrimage to the Holy land 2009 by the So0vereign Military Hospitaller Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, led by their Chancellor, Knight Dr. Gabriel Oon, with companions of the Order . Celebrant. Fr. Eamonn Kelly, L.C. on 24 December 2009 at the Tomb of Jesus., Holy Sepulcher Church, Jerusalem.

Reflections:

I have come through this long journey with ABBA, my heavenly Father. Ask, He said. "Ask and you shall receive , knock and the doors would be opened to your" . I had , and will always be with God, and He has always saved me, and shown me "to the way, the truth ,and the Life . No one goes to the Father except by me ".(John. 14, 6)