To the Holy Land and Beyond

Midwest Provincial Fr. Karl J. Kiser, SJ, might be excused if he is somewhat blasé about his extensive travel schedule. In the first four months of 2023, in addition to his domestic travel, he’s visited men and Jesuit works in Belize, Paris, Rome, Beirut, and Kohima (India). These should not be confused with sightseeing trips; his travel days are tightly scheduled meetings with Jesuits in service overseas or in their formation studies. Any observations of sites outside of Jesuit works are, due to the nature of his schedule, cursory at best.

So it was a blessing to Fr. Kiser that the meetings of the Jesuit Provincials of the United States and Canada were held in Israel just after Easter, and that the schedule included time to visit important sites in the Holy Land.

Fr. Kiser had visited the Holy Land twice before this trip, with church and school groups during his service in Detroit and Cleveland. But something about this trip was different. “In a way, it was more powerful to travel with non-Jesuit students and lay people, because they had never been to the Holy Land,” he says. “They were visibly moved by the experience, you could see it in their faces.”

Most of the Jesuits on this trip had been to the Holy Land before, “but far from being unmoved by the experience, we reveled in the opportunity for contemplation and prayer together at these sacred places,” Fr. Kiser says. “Despite the desire to see as much as possible, we tried to take 20 minutes to a half hour at each site to just be quiet. As we contemplated Jerusalem, for example, we silently stood where Jesus looked over the city. That was a unifying experience to be praying–just praying– but not talking to each other.

“It’s interesting. When you’re there, you get a real sense of the words that we know so well from the Scriptures. It all makes more sense and takes on a special meaning. We actually walked through Psalm 23– ‘Though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil, for He is at my side….’ It’s quite a desolate place in the wilderness, and it’s hard not to appreciate its meaning then, and even today.”

The location of the Sermon on the Mount also made more sense to Fr. Kiser when he stood there himself. “You can see why they would have gone there,” he says. “It was away from the city, and it’s just a beautiful place. You can easily imagine people sitting there. It really helps your prayer as it all comes to life.”

Even so, the experience raised questions. “I’m still intrigued by Mount Tabor,” he says. “Why did they go there? We only have a skeleton of information from all these things. Obviously, no one was taking notes. But you wonder about their movements, because in being there you get a sense of the entire area. And it took time to travel between places during all the time Jesus and the disciples spent together. What did they talk about?”

Asked to name the best part of the visit, he says, “One day we were able to have an early morning Mass at Calvary, when there was almost no one there. That almost never happens in the Holy Land because of the crowds. It was truly a grace. I had time just to pray in silence in that chapel. It was so moving. I think I’ll always want to go back there.”

It may be some time before he’s able to visit the Holy Land again. By the time this magazine goes to press, Fr. Kiser will be visiting Jesuits and our works in several areas in the Eastern Africa Province.