We began the day in the small village of Ein Karem (which
means “Spring of the Vineyard.”) One of my Palestinian students from UTC has
family who live here, and this is where St. John the Baptist was born. According to the Bible, Mary “traveled
quickly into the hill country, to a city of Judah,” where she visited her
cousin Elizabeth (who was pregnant with John the Baptist) and her husband Zechariah.
We visited the Church of St. John the Baptist which is believed to have been
built above the remains of ancient mosaic floor and cave where John was
believed to have been born.
After spending some time in this Church (which is maintained
by the Franciscans with financial support from Spain), we passed the Spring of
Mary along the way to our climb up to the Church of the Visitation. The ancient
sanctuary in the Church of the Visitation is built on the site that was
believed to be St. John the Baptist’s parents’ summer home where Mary visited
them. It is built around a large rock known as “the stone in which John was
concealed.” As the story goes, King Herod (who had heard a new King of Jews was
to born) had heard about John’s unusual birth, so Herod wanted John killed for
fear that he might be the new King. His parents planned to flee to Egypt so
John would not be killed, but when Elizabeth saw soldiers pursing them, she
begged God to help them escape. Reportedly, she hid baby John behind a rock,
and the sun reflected off the rock so brightly that the soldiers were
temporarily blinded, and John and his family were able to flee, thus saving him
from death. The sanctuary of the Church of the Visitation is built around this
rock.
After this stunning adventure we moved on the Israel Museum.
Among the really fantastic things we were fortunate to see here were the Venus Berekhat Ram, which is a carved
female figurine that is believed to be the oldest artwork in the world. The
museum also houses the Shrine of the Book, which is home to the Dead Sea
Scrolls. We also got to see some of the clay jars in which the scrolls were
found.
After lunch at the museum, we moved onto the Church of All Nations, which is also known as the
Basilica of the Agony on the Mount of Olives. It is believed to enshrine the
bedrock on which Jesus is believed to have prayed before his arrest. Monsignor
Al and Father Rich celebrated Mass with us on the altar as we all gathered
around this “Rock of the Agony.” After Mass, Tony put his foot on the rock as
we said a prayer for healing together. It was amazing to listen as Father Rich
spoke the Eucharistic Prayer and got to the line “At the time he was betrayed
and entered willingly into his Passion,” I got chills realizing that Jesus was
betrayed on or near the rock right in front of us! It is called the Church of all Nations
because many countries helped contribute to his design and its construction,
including: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium,
Canada, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Australia, the US and the UK.
After Mass, we moved across the street for some prayer time
in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is the garden at the foot of the Mount of
Olives where Jesus prayed and his disciples slept the night before after his arrest.
Gethsemane is the garden where the Virgin Mary was buried and was assumed into
Heaven after her domition (“falling asleep”) on Mount Zion. One of the olive
trees in the garden looked like it was offering me a loving hug. As a few of us
were waiting to leave the garden, we got to watch a herd of goats run down the
street followed by a car playing rap music. It was quite a juxtaposition!
After a long day of walking in the hot sun on a beautiful
day, we came back to the King’s Palace (out quaint little guest house in the
Old City) for dinner. All the food here is hearty and delicious. Dinner was
followed by a presentation by Catholic Relief Services, and they discussed some
of their humanitarian work in the region.
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