The Manger, Now with Baby Jesus Lying There

Today is the feast of Stephen. I chose this great saint and first martyr of the Church to be my patron at my Confirmation. So, that makes it my feast day as well. This morning I went down to the Church of the Nativity to see if maybe things would be a little quieter and I could pray. As I walked down to the Church I could tell that all the people of the last few days were gone and things were already back to normal. I was able to go down in the grotto of the church and sit next to the manger for a few hours and pray. They have placed a statue of the infant Jesus lying in a crib in the manger now. There were a few groups of pilgrims that came through while I was there it is often moving to see the great faith of the people that come. I was particularly taken by a couple groups of families from Korea. The father gathered all the children together with his wife and they all prayed together at the manger. There were also many more small children coming today and it was neat when the little kids would climb up into the manger to see the Baby Jesus.

 
Baby Jesus in the Manger

As I prayed this morning, my thoughts again returned to the shepherds, the first visitors to the manger. After receiving the message of the angel they had to go search and find the Christ child. What joy they would have experienced when they finally arrived at the cave and found the Holy Family. I was reminded of my own search and desire to find Jesus. For a while this morning I was able to share in the joy of the shepherds as I sat there and contemplated the miraculous things that took place here. The shepherds left the cave full of joy and wanted to go and tell everyone what they had seen. Their message has gone to the ends of the world now. This morning, following in the footsteps of those first humble shepherds, I and many others came to see the place where the Child was laid. Praise God for the wonderful Christmas gift of His Son.

St. Catherine’s Church Decorated for Christmas

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Today, in the City of David, a savior has been born for you who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11)

Today was a very special day in Bethlehem. Christmas began with Midnight Mass followed by a wonderful reception with the Christian Brothers and the local community at Bethlehem University. We had a very nice mix of traditional English carols as well as some Arabic ones that I’ve become rather fond of now. After sleeping for most of the morning I made my way down to Manger Square. I was able to get into the grotto in the Church of the Nativity and kiss the star where Jesus was born. It was a little hard to envision the quietness of that first Christmas with all the people that were crowding into the cave, but it was still an amazing experience to be there at “ground zero” on Christmas Day.

Midnight Mass with the Papal Nuncio at Bethlehem University

As I walked the streets of Bethlehem today there were many more people out and about. It was nice to finally see a change from the normal day to day experience of Bethlehem that I’ve grown so used to in the past month. I have been waiting and waiting for “all the pilgrims” to show up. I even did my Christmas shopping early last week to “beat the rush.” However, it is somewhat sad to report that almost no tourists came. The local merchants were hoping for around 10,000, with that even being way down from previous years. However, as I walk the streets, I have seen almost no European looking faces. There were definitely more people in town yesterday and today, but they were all locals from right around Bethlehem.

You would think that Bethlehem would be the place to be on Christmas, but I think the fighting this summer caused a lot of people to stay away. One shopkeeper said that there were more Christmas lights hung this year than he can remember and yet he was very sad because no one came. I bought some nice little olive wood sculptures from some of the local Christian stores as my own kind of Christmas present to them, but it’s clear that the joy of Christmas is a bit subdued for many of the people here. It’s sad to say that the message of peace announced by the angels 2000 years ago is not at all the daily experience of people here in the Holy Land.

The Crowded Streets of Bethlehem on Christmas Day

On a more positive note, we all got invited by a local family here to have Christmas dinner at their restaurant. It turns out that this is one of the best restaurants in Bethlehem and we had a magnificent traditional Palestinian Christmas dinner. Everyone was in such good spirits and we had a wonderful celebration. I do have to say that I found myself looking at my watch from time to time throughout the day and was thinking about what was going on back home. I thought of my family gathered on Christmas morning and the big gathering at Grandma’s house. I’ve never spent a Christmas away from Kansas and things definitely felt different this year. Yet, this was a very special Christmas and one that I will never forget.

Now, don’t forget that Christmas just started! Despite the fact that I’m sure the stores back home are getting out their Valentine’s Day candy and your neighbors threw their Christmas tree to the curb already this evening, don’t you do the same. The Advent time of waiting and expectation is over and now it’s finally time to really celebrate the season of Christmas. I will be celebrating here in Bethlehem.

Here, of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ was Born
Come Let us Adore Him

Melkite Church Where We Had Mass This Morning

The sun is setting here in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and there’s a great sense of anticipation. There were many people out and about in the street today. Most of the excitement surrounded the arrival of a certain you know who all dressed in red. That’s right, the Patriarch has come to town. His Beatitude Michael arrived just this afternoon in preparation for Midnight Mass tonight. The Patriarch of Jerusalem is the Catholic Archbishop of what is basically the Holy Land. It was really something to behold. There was a big parade with many of the local scout troops playing drums and bagpipes and marching in procession. I enjoyed seeing the scouts from all over. We heard them practicing all week. I almost wanted to put on my uniform and join in.

Parade for the Arrival of the Patriarch

The Patriarch will be the celebrant tonight at St. Catherine’s (The Church of the Nativity is Greek Orthodox and it’s not Christmas yet for them…long story…tell you later). Unfortunately the Mass at St. Catherine’s, which is at Manger Square, is for ticket-holders only and you basically have to be a major political dignitary to get in. Everyone else just gets to stand in the square. So, instead of standing there without getting to go to Mass we will be having Mass in English with the Papal Nuncio at Bethlehem University. I and some of the other seminarians will be singing in the choir and it should be very lovely. Then, tomorrow morning we will go and have Mass down in the grotto where Jesus was born. It is really quite a priviledge to be in this holy place at this special time of year. This will be a Christmas that I will not soon forget and hopefully one that I will be able to share in many Christmas homilies to come. May the peace of Christmas come to the Holy Land and to you and your famlies this Christmas night.

The Patriarch Arrives in Bethlehem
(He Really is in the Car…I Saw Him)

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This morning we did what you might call a service project that turned into an absolutely wonderful time for all of us. Today we hosted a Christmas party at a local orphanage here. We brought bags of stuffed animals and toys with us to give as gifts. We had a huge wrapping party last night to get everything ready. These kids are mostly all orphans, although there was also a mix of some daycare kids. We played games and sang songs. The kids had prepared some little skits and songs of their own and they were just adorable. It was so great to be able to bring some Christmas joy to these kids. They were ages 1 to about 5 or 6 I think. I spent some time playing with a little 2 year old that reminded me a lot of myself the way he just wanted to make noise with his toys rather then use them “as designed.”

Present-Opening Time

We didn’t speak the same language as far as Arabic goes, but I think we spoke a language that they understood just fine. They were so happy to have people there to play with them and communicate that they are loved. There were many smiles all around and much fun had by all. I think some of us are planning to go back more regularly while we are still here to play with the kids. What a merry Christmas we had today. Now, I’m off to another Christmas concert tonight. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to update this site next. So, I pray that you all have a very Merry Christmas and I will be praying for you especially from ground zero here at the Church of the Nativity.

 
Some Cute Kids Dressed as Shepherds and Various Things

Today we had a rather unique opportunity to attend a special ecumenical gathering at Bethlehem University. The heads of the various religious denominations in England were in Bethlehem on pilgrimage and were having an ecumenical prayer service together. The distinguished pilgrims included:

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster
Rowan Williams, Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury
Bishop Nathan Hovhannisian, Primate of the Armenian Church in Great Britain
David Coffey, Moderator of the Free Churches

They were hosted by Archbishop Fuad Twal, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Jerusalem

Distinguished Ecumenical Pilgrims from England

It was a nice prayer services as far as those things go. There’s only so much you can do when you can’t celebrate Mass. The highlight, I would say, really came after the prayer service. The university Olive Branch Choir gave a wonderful Christmas concert that really helped put me in the Christmas mood. I still felt a little chill when they were singing “Hurry to Bethlehem” and “O come ye to Bethlehem” and I had to think…O ya…I’m actually here this time!

Later tonight I went to an orchestra concert at St. Catherine’s. This was entitled a concert for Life and Peace that was televised all over the world and is apparently a pretty big deal. It was a very nice concert and the church was packed. It wasn’t Christmas music, but if was very nice. Manger square is starting to look like Christmas with lights everywhere. There still don’t seem to be many tourists thought. One bit of good news (for the locals anyway) was that it finally started raining today. That will be a nice Christmas present for a desert.

Concert for Life and Peace

We had class all morning and now this afternoon I have been writing all the wonderful reflections that you are reading here. I hope you like it. Now, I need to catch up on some homework that I’ve been putting off!

Today was a free day. I spent quite a bit of time organizing all my pictures from Galilee and making them ready to publish so you all can see them. I guess I should mention that, in addition to browsing back through my entries here, you can always go directly to my picture site and see all of my pictures.

http://stunink.shutterfly.com

Tomorrow I will write some narrative for my blog and get everything posted. This is a great way for me to keep up my journal of this pilgrimage, but it does take some time too. So, thanks for your patience.

Church of the Annunciation, Great Upper Church

We got up today and got a quick “official” tour of the Church of the Annunciation. We’ll be back again in January, so this was just a brief introduction. While standing outside the church, our guide had me read a little reflection. I was reading loudly so that everyone could hear. In the middle, the reading brought words to my mouth which referred to Nazareth as a “backwater place filled with hicks”. I kind of had to stop for a second hoping that no one living in Nazareth heard was I just said.

Ruins of the Ancient City of Jericho

 We then loaded up the bus, bid goodbye to Nazareth for a few weeks, and headed south for Jericho. Unfortunately, the site of the ruins of the city of Jericho was closed because the workers are on strike. We did, however, get to take cable cars to the top of the Mt. of Temptation. This is the traditional site where Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and was tempted by the devil. There is a monastery up there that I found very beautiful with many wonderful icons and an exquisite dome over the chapel. There’s one monk that lives up there and we were lucky that he was home. On our way out of Jericho we stopped by what is supposed to be the tree that Zacchaeus climbed in order to see Jesus (Luke 19:1-10). As ridiculous as that may sound, it turns out that the tree is indeed likely to be 2000 years old. There are however, other historical problems that seem to say that this is not the tree.

Monastery on the Mt. of Temptation

 
Rock Where Jesus was Tempted, Iconostasis and Dome in the Monastery Chapel

 Our final stop was at another monastery out in the desert like Mar Saba that we visited earlier. This one is dedicated to St. George and is in a truly incredible place. It’s in the middle of the desert on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho (the Good Samaritan went this way) in a big gorge by a river. This location is said to be where St. Joachim received the revelation that his wife Anne, who was sterile, would conceive. The child was of course Mary. So, you could say that the annunciation of the Immaculate Conception took place here. This final stop concluded our 3 day tour and we headed back to Bethlehem to continue our Advent preparation. I find that I have much to aid my meditation thanks to this wonderful trip so connected with the Holy Family.

 
Road to Jericho and St. George Monastery

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The “Wedding Church” at Cana

Our first stop today was the city of Cana. It is actually very close to Nazareth and only took us about 15 minutes to get there. Here we visited the “Wedding Church” which commemorates the story told in John’s gospel where Jesus changed the water into wine (John 2:1-11). Many couples come here to be married or to renew their wedding vows. Our guide had in fact been married here. One of the more interesting things to see here is an ancient stone water jar from the 1^st century that was found here. It’s a lot bigger than you might envision and would have indeed held a lot of wine. Speaking of wine, they do in fact sell quite a bit of “Cana Wedding Wine” here. I tried some, but found it a little too sweet for my taste. I’m sure the wine Jesus made was better.

Stone Water Jar Found at Cana

Mt. Tabor, See the Church on Top?

 From Cana we headed to Mt. Tabor and the Church of the Transfiguration. It was here on Mt. Tabor that Jesus took Peter, James, and John and was transfigured before them (Matt 17:1-8). Fortunately we had a couple hours to spend here, including having Mass. Mt. Tabor is basically a big hill that is all by itself with plains below on all sides. To get to the top you have to take special taxis because it’s too steep for the busses. As we were going up I couldn’t help but think that Jesus obviously had something pretty important in mind to take the apostles all the way up to the top of this mountain. It’s not the kind of place you would just go for the heck of it. It’s difficult enough to get there in a taxi, yet alone to walk up. When you’re on top it is in fact a wonderful place to pray. We had a beautiful day and I enjoyed praying the luminous mysteries of the rosary, meditating with new insight on the mysteries of the Wedding at Cana and the Transfiguration.

    
Church of the Transfiguration

 Much like St. Peter I felt “It is good to be here” and did not want to leave. However, after lunch we reluctantly said goodbye to Mt. Tabor and headed on to our next stop. We made a brief stop in the city of Nain where Jesus raised the widow’s son from the dead (Luke 7:11-17) and then headed on to Megiddo. This is the famous Armageddon of Rev 16:16 (Har Megiddo = Hill of Megiddo). This city is in ruins now and has been the site of countless battles in history. The bible is full of references. Megiddo is what is known as a “tell,” meaning that one city has been built on top of the previous so many times as to make an artificial hill. Archeologists have determined that the tell of Megiddo has the ruins of 25 distinct rebuildings of the city. We saw an ancient pagan altar that was 7000 years old. King Solomon is responsible for one of the sets of walls around the town. I didn’t get any great religious insights at the place, but it was interesting to be there in such a famous and ancient place. Since the world did not end while we were at Megiddo we headed back to Nazareth for the night.

Ruins at Megiddo

 After dinner, the Mother Superior of the convent invited us to tour the excavations that were taking place under their convent. We thought we’d find some pottery shards or something small and insignificant. Instead, we found some of the most incredible ruins from the Crusaders, the Byzantines, and even the first century. The most amazing thing by far was the rock cut tomb from the first century complete with the stone that rolls across it. There are ancient documents that even mention things that would seem to refer to this site under the convent. Archeologists come each year and it will be interesting to see what they continue to find. Before bed a number of us went back to the Church of the Annunciation and prayed a rosary in Mary’s house. I was again overwhelmed. There I was saying the words “Hail Mary” in the very place where Gabriel first uttered this prayer. This is just an amazing place. I also bought a special icon of the Holy Family here tonight that is all the more meaningful having come from this city so close to the Holy Family.

Church of the Annunciation, Mary’s House in Grotto

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Ruins of Herod’s Palace at Caesarea

Today we loaded up the bus bright and early and headed north for a 3 day tour of Galilee. We’ll be going back for 5 more days in January, so this was just a taste. Our first stop was the ruins of the ancient city of Caesarea. This place is right on the Mediterranean Sea and is absolutely beautiful. The city was one of the major port cities in the first century, with a harbor that could hold 200 ships. There are lots of ruins including a Roman theater, hippodrome, and aqueduct. Also located here is what is beginning to be a recurring theme of our field trips, a palace of King Herod the Great. It seems he had palaces everywhere. However, this time he actually lived here for a while (See Acts 12:19). From the religious side of things, this city has a very important history. It was here in Caesarea that St. Paul was held prisoner before being sent to Rome to stand trial. (See Acts 25).

The Ancient Port of Caesarea

 From Caesarea we continued up the coast to Mt. Carmel and the port city of Haifa. From the top of Mt. Carmel we had an absolutely gorgeous view of the Bay of Haifa and the surrounding town. You might recall here about this place on the news this summer as Lebanon was firing rockets into this town. Next, we visited the Carmelite monastery on top of Mt. Carmel and the church dedicated to Our Lady known as Stella Maris. Like most churches here in the Holy Land, the present church was built in modern times on top of a Crusader church which was built on top of a Byzantine church. It is from this spot that Elijah is said to have had the vision of the small cloud that grew into a storm which the Carmelites came to see as an image of Mary (1 Kings 18:42). Inside the church, under the sanctuary is the cave where Elijah hid from King Ahaz and Jezebel.

Stella Maris Carmelite Church on Mt. Carmel
Cave of Elijah Below

 It turns out that Mt. Carmel is not just a single pointy kind of mountain like you might envision, but a long ridge. So we followed the top of the mountain inland for a few miles to the highest point. Here there is also a Carmelite monastery that is located on the site where Elijah had his famous duel with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:20-40). We also had a very nice view of the surrounding country. We could see the very lush and green Jezreel Valley below, as well as Mt. Tabor in the distance where we will go tomorrow. After seeing the large desert around Bethlehem, it was a very nice change to see how green and beautiful the northern areas are. I can see why Jesus would have liked to live here.

View of Jezreel Valley from Mt. Carmel

 It was evening by this time, so we headed on to Nazareth where we would be staying for the next two nights. It turns out that the convent where we are staying is right next to the Church of the Annunciation. This church is again, a modern church, built over a Crusader church, built over a Byzantine church, and this time built over a first century home. All of the ruins are contained inside the new church and you can actually see all the different structures. The most important thing is the first century cave that was the home of Mary. It was here that the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. One thing that is frustrating about the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is that so much has been added to the cave where Jesus was born that it can be hard to envision it the way it was originally. In the Church of the Annunciation, however, you really feel like you’re walking into Mary’s house when you go there. I was so overwhelmed to be in this place that I couldn’t even enter the house right away. I just knelt down at the entrance and prayed the first joyful mystery of the rosary for a while. St. John’s Gospel beautifully tells us that “The Word Became Flesh and Dwelt Among Us.” This phrase is written in Latin on the front of the church. However, down in the grotto, under the altar that is in Mary’s house, you will find instead the quote, in Latin, “The Word Became Flesh HERE”. This was probably the most amazing experience of the entire pilgrimage so far. Unlike the grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem with all the people, it was quiet here in Nazareth and I was just completely taken over by the thought of Mary’s encounter with Gabriel in this very place. Right before my eyes was the exact location where God became Man. I could almost see the encounter taking place in front of me and found myself listening longingly for Mary’s humble reply to the angel. I can’t really describe it adequately in words. This is a special place. I could have stayed there for much longer, but we have another full day planned for tomorrow.

Grotto of the Annunciation, Mary’s House in Nazareth
“The Word Became Flesh HERE”

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