Some thoughts on Greece/ Turkey

It's been almost one month since I last posted to this blog.  I guess you can say this is how long it has taken me to process all the sights and sounds I encountered on this amazing pilgrimage following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and St. John the Divine (Turkey and Greece).Paul was an amazing evangelist, who was clearly commited to his mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the gentile world.  The journey was not only physically exhausting, it was actually mentally and emotionally draining.  Clearly, the risen Christ who met Paul on the road to Damascus must have given Paul the strength and the wisdom to carry on with this mission.  There were some days were were travellig by bus for four to five hours (from Athens to the regions of Corinth and Thessalonica), and if Paul covered this territory in an age when fancy air conditioned buses were not in existence, I can't even imagine what a toll these journeys must have taken on him body.  Thessalonica was cooler and even more beautiful!  [See the pictures from Berea and Thessalonica above].
We also visited the Greek Orthodox Chirch in Thessaloniki, where I said prayers before the icon of the Blessed Mother and her Holy Child.  There were many pilgrims (including locals) who were coming to the various icons to offer a prayer or two for themsleves or for loved ones.  I prayed fot my St. Mary's family.