The Beginning

The Beginning

The Nativity

Today our trips involved the beginning of the salvation story. The lecture following breakfast oriented us to the places we would visit today. Our leader, Rodney, does an excellent job of introduction and summation. 

The Church of the Visitation

Our first journey took us to the village of Ein Kerem, in reality a suburb of Jerusalem. There we visited three sites–the Church of the Visitation, Mary’s Well, and the the birth place of St. John the Baptist. 

The Church of the Visitation is quite small by American standards. It is perched on a hillside with a lovely view of the valley beneath. 

It is quite clearly in the hands of the Franciscans (who have the western rite Latin custody of the holy places). The murals in the church all have some connection with the Franciscans. 

The Visitation
Mary and Elizabeth

In the courtyard are several plaques with the Magnificat (the Song of Mary) in different languages. We heard the story of the Visitation from St. Luke and recited the Magnificat before entering the church. There was a special meaning to our recitation taking place on the site traditionally known as the place where Elizabeth and Mary met and Mary sang her song. In this courtyard there is a contemporary representation of this event, nicely done. In a courtyard, unfortunately chained off, there is a statue of Zechariah, John’s father.

We stopped at Mary’s Well which is a spring where, according to tradition, Mary stopped for refreshment before climbing the hill to Elizabeth’s and Zechariah’s home.

Birthplace of St. John Baptist

Following our visit to the Visitation we walked to the Church of St. John the Baptist which is built over the place where he was, by tradition, born. This is a larger structure and contains a crypt where one can venerate the site of his birth. There is a lovely icon written of St. John which hangs on the church wall. In the 

courtyard of this church there are several plaques with the Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel in different languages. We heard the story of his birth and then recited the Benedictus together. Some of the group shared their thoughts on Zechariah’s Song. My own reflection brought to mind the daily recitation of this canticle and the words “You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation.” Each morning we are reminded as children of 

St. John the Baptist

God that this is our task to “give his people knowledge of salvation.”

The Grotto at the Shepherds' Field

We journeyed on to Bethlehem, stopping for lunch and then to the Shepherd’s Field owned by the YMCA. This location could have been where the angels appeared to the shepherds.  It is situated so that one has a lovely view of the valley. There is a grotto where the shepherds could have kept their sheep overnight. There are many limestone caves in the Holy Land. They could have conceivably be used by the shepherds. We sang some Christmas hymns and read the story of the angels’ visit to the shepherds. We have no permission to do anything liturgically in the Church of the Nativity so we had our service here.

Then we ascended, as the shepherds did, to Bethlehem to the Church of the Nativity. While standing in line to visit the grotto where Jesus was born, one of the group read the Christmas story over our sound system so we didn’t 

Birthplace of the Savior

disturb anyone else. The church is administered by the Greek Orthodox. They grant the Armenians the use of two altars. Next door is a Franciscan Church which actually connects with the Greek Church in the grotto with a door firmly locked between the two.  The Ottoman’s gave the Greeks the church and cordially invited the Franciscans to leave, hence the two churches side by side.

In the grotto there is a silver star in the floor where one can venerate the place of the Lord’s birth. There are two additional altars remembering the laying of Jesus in the manger, and the visit of the Magi. All of this is in a place barely larger than a good sized walk-in closet! Cozy might be descriptive. In spite of the crowds pressing upon one there is a sense of the holy that can be felt.

St. Jerome's Altar

We visited the Franciscan Church. In the grotto there is an altar for St. Jerome who lived in Bethlehem, close by the site of the Nativity, and translated 

the Bible into Latin. His scriptorium is preserved there. 

The obligatory stop at the souvenir shop followed with magnificent discounts offered and solicitous clerks, all relatives of the owner, who served tea, offered baskets, reminded us of the discounts we would receive, and offered to ship purchases home.  It is ever thus the world over.

Upon return to the college we joined Chef Joseph in the kitchen for a cooking class. This evening he is preparing moussaka, chick pea salad, arugula salad, rice, and his special date cake for dessert.