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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