Pilgrims attending the International Eucharistic Congress in just over three weeks’ time are being offered a one-off opportunity to see an exhibition that recreates Capernaum in the time of Jesus.
The three dimensional exhibition titled, Through the Eyes of the Apostles: Life Overwhelmed by a Presence will transport visitors to Capernaum, the village on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus lived during His public ministry.
According to organisers, the sensory rich reconstructed surroundings will include the smell of the trees and the sound of the lapping of waters. It will allow the visitor to walk in the Apostles' footsteps and experience what it must have been like to live at this pivotal moment in history.
The exhibition documents several key elements of Jesus’ ministry: the waterfall at which John the Baptist baptised Jesus; a reconstruction of the house of Peter, where Jesus stayed at an early stage in his public life in Capernaum village; some of the locations in which Jesus spoke, and finally; the location of the Resurrection.
Writer and journalist, John Waters, who is a key speaker at the Congress, and who saw the exhibition last year in the Italian city of Rimini, said it is, “impossible not to be moved by it. For what I felt was that suddenly I had been embraced in something involving a collapsing of time and space," he said.
He added, "History was foreshortened, and the past 2,000 years became irrelevant. I was in Capernaum. I had returned to the centre of history. Is He here, I found myself wondering. Is He here?”
The exhibition will be on show from June 11 to 16 at the Simmonscourt Complex, RDS from 10:00am to 8:00pm.
IEC2012 will transform the RDS into a Eucharistic Village for an eight-day festival of faith and culture.
The Eucharist will be celebrated in the liturgy and adored in the prayer space.
The theme of the Congress is The Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with one Another (communion, like solidarity, means a relationship of mutual love and self-giving).
There are a total of 223 keynote speakers taking part in IEC2012's programme of events, including 38 speakers in the main arena delivering catechesis (teaching), personal testimonies, homilies and addresses.
144 presenters will deliver workshops during Congress week.
There are 41 speakers delivering addresses at the Chiara Luce Youth Space for young people between 17 and 25 years old.
There will be a total of 160 workshops including talks, addresses, group reflections, meetings, concerts and plays.
On June 17, more than 80,000 people are expected to gather and celebrate Statio Orbis, at Croke Park, the Final Mass, of the 50th International Eucharistic Congress.
The full programme is available at http://www.iec2012.ie/programme.
More information: www.iec2012.ie.
Registration for the Congress is at http://www.iec2012.ie/registration