JonMarc, I was really struck by the fact that your parents were both missionary kids in Japan - obviously it made such a huge impression on them that they both decided to continue their parents' work. I only know one person who was a missionary kid, in Africa (I forget where specifically), and partly as a result of what she saw there, she left the church as an adult. I'm curious as to whether your parents met in Japan, or whether they both returned to the States (?) and then met and said, "Hey, whaddya know..." Absolutely none of my business, really, I know, but I find it an interesting thought.
Anyway, to get back to the OP, I haven't made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but six years ago I went to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and visited the supposed tomb of St. James the Greater. I'm not a Christian, and wasn't then, and when I was Christian I wasn't Catholic, but it was still a hugely intense religious experience. Not least because of all the tiny villages I passed through on the way, with tiny churches, which were just
gorgeous. No matter how poor these villagers were, having a beautiful church was still important to them because their faith was so intense, and that could really be felt there.
Compostela really wasn't too bad as far as commercialism went. There was an official souvenir shop where you also got your certification, but they only sold sweatshirts and small religious medallions, and a few things for children. For the rest it was just two or three postcard-and-rosary carts. And that was in a jubilee year. The cathedral was huge and had gold everywhere. I'd always disapproved of that, thinking the money could better be used to feed and clothe poor parishioners, but after spending two and a half months in deprivation (by Western standards), walking six to eight hours a day and carrying all my posessions on my back, I was more than ready for some pomp and glamour - it made it worth the walk, in a way.
However, I had stopped for a side trip to Lourdes, and that was disappointing. It was horrendously commercial - there is even a little tourist train that takes you around to see the sights. There are souvenir shops all over the place, each with a screaming proprietor. You can buy plastic five-gallon jugs imprinted with drawings of Bernadette and the Lady, which you can fill up with water from the spring, and giant glow-in-the-dark rosaries with beads as big as my two fists, and ball-point pens that when you tilt them send a line of tourists into the grotto. The whole thing looked like DisneyLourdes. The underground church was beautiful - it had about twenty giant banners hung from the ceiling, with the Lord's Prayer printed in as many different languages, and the grotto itself was very moving. I wished they hadn't put a statue of the Lady there where she'd appeared - I would rather have been able to imagine it for myself - but I know some people like things to be more concrete.
In any case, all in all the whole experience was incredibly moving and spiritually enriching, and I hope I get the chance to do it again. I haven't really thought about whether I would want to go to the Holy Land.
