O Little Town of Bethlehem…
- Mar 3, 2019
- 4 min read
FROM THE TRAVEL AGENCY FOR THURSDAY AND FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8-9: We then cross the border into the Holy Land of Israel, often referred to by pilgrims as the land of the “fifth Gospel.” Continue to Bethlehem, the City. Upon arrival, we come to St Jerome’s Cave where in 386 AD the saint spent 30 years translating the scriptures from Hebrew into Greek and Latin producing the first vernacular version of the Bible! Here we celebrate Mass.
Ok, so my younger brother pointed out to me that it was difficult reading my descriptions and then pairing them up with the photos. I did some research and am going to try something different. You should be able to cick on the "galleries" of photos and they will enlarge so you can see them better. Hope this helps your viewing pleasure.
So on these couple of days, we left Jordan and entered Israel. I had a 1.5 hour delay at the check point due to the fact that one of our pilgrims has a Lebanese last name. All good, but they did a thorough review of her situation and my own as the leader of the group bringing her in. It was typical, I guess. Above you can see the difference between Jordan (1) and Israel (3). I'm sitting atop a bronze (what I Christened) the "Lion of Judah" at our rest stop before entering the Birth Place of the Lord.
FROM THE TRAVEL COMPANY (all in italics) about the photos above: On the next day, we travel out to Ein Karem, the birthplace of St John the Baptist and Church of the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth “Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?” (Lk 1:43). Pilgrims may choose to pray a mystery of the Rosary here as we walk up to this church dedicated to ‘The Magnificat’ – ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord’ (Lk 1:46). From here we come to the Church of St John the Baptist, built over a natural grotto identified as the saint’s actual birthplace.
I loved the mosaics both inside and out of this lovely little church dedicated to the visitation of Mary and Elizabeth. Both women were preganant and there's a lovely modern statue of two women preganant with their bellies alomst touching (7). Very sweet! In a small alcove is a well (8) where the two supposedly met. Look at the stunning vistas from this church set atop a mountain (9). And the other church, where John the Baptist is born, is a short distance away. Inside, are statues of John's parents: Zechariah and Elizabeth (10-11). To the left is a grotto with an altar (12) and a star marking the spot where John the baptist was born (13). here is a statue of Holy Mother Clare for us Franciscans (14). And finally a mural in the church of an angel appearing to Elizabeth warning her to flee with her newborn, as Herod was set on killing all children born in and around Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth (15). I never really thought about John the Baptist being in danger, but it makes sense!
Nearby we will visit to the Israel Museum for a fascinating outdoor orientation viewing of the Second Temple Scale Model of Jerusalem as it was in the time of Jesus. In the adjacent Shrine of the Book Museum we view the Dead Sea Scrolls with our own eyes.
These blossoms (1) are of an almond tree in bloom. Aren't they lovely? And look at this minature of the city of Jerusalem in the Time of Christ. It is updated each time they discover some new artifact or piece of information about the city. At the center is the Temple fo Jerusalem (5-8) that takes up about 1/6 of the city!
Continue to Shepherd's Field to celebrate Mass in a local cave to commemorate the appearance of the angels to the shepherds on that first Christmas night (Lk 2:8–16).
We celebrated Mass in Shepherd's Field, the place where the Good News of Christ's birth is first proclaimed to the little, least and last of the world: lowly laborers. This is the Cross that sat atop the altar (1-3). It is so well-detailed, of a shepherd feeding his flocks. This is a favorite fountain of mine (4-6). I love the use of rams and ewes all around it. Finally, here is the Chapel of the Angels with it's lovely murals about the birth of Christ. The altar is unique and noteworthy too; I love the base (16). A photo of the whole group (17) and a selfie with Fr. Gerard (18).
We end our day at the Church of the Nativity, the oldest complete church in the Christian world (6th century) and birthplace of Jesus. Bow low and enter the grotto through the Door of Humility as we descend to the Holy Manger where a silver star in the floor marks the actual spot where Jesus was born. The star’s inscription reads in Latin: Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus Natus Est (Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born).
We ended up in a two hour line to see the grotto where Christ was born! We almost didn't make it! We were the last persons allowed to visit. They were turning off the lights as we were trying to venerate the spot where Christ was born! (So much for hospitality!)
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