2010 Pilgrimage to The Holy Land

FEB 5: We drove through Jerusalem to Ein Karem, the village where St. John the Baptist was born. In the first chapter of Luke we learn that Mary visited Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. It was at this greeting that Mary proclaimed the beautiful Magnificat. We climbed up 113 stairs to the bottom part of the Church of the Visitation. In the courtyard of this church the Magnificat is written on ceramic tiles in 42 different languages. We then all said the Magnificat together in English, reading it from the wall. Inside this church was the well that Elizabeth and Mary would often use. We then climbed another 49 steps to the upper part of the Church. This had beautiful murals that depicted the titles with which Mary has been endowed – Mother of God; Refuge of Sinners; Dispenser of All Grace; Help of Christians – The Immaculate Conception.

We then drove to the Israel Museum, Shrine of the Book. Outside we saw a scale model of Jerusalem at about the time of Jesus. This model was large and had a great amount of detail. We walked around the model while George, our guide, showed us the various parts of Jerusalem. We then went inside the Shrine of the Book. This museum is where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed along with artifacts associated with their find. The museum is shaped like one of the clay jars that the scrolls were found in at Qumran. Inside the museum there is a central display that is made to look like the end of a scroll handle. This display has a copy of the whole book of Isaiah as it was found at Qumran wrapped around it. There were also fragments of other scrolls on the outer walls of the museum. After leaving the Israel Museum, we traveled past the Knesset and other Israeli government buildings. We then had lunch at Abu Shanab restaurant in Bethlehem, run by two brothers, Samir and Jamal both Palestinian Christians. This lunch was a gift from 206 tours to all of us on the pilgrimage and consisted of many courses including grilled chicken and lamb.

Then we drove to the Church of the Shepherd’s Field. This is where the angel, Gabriel, appeared to the shepherds announcing the birth of Jesus. There is a tradition that this land was owned by Ruth and Boaz from the Old Testament. The church is built in the shape of a tent and decorated with a bronze angel. Below the church we visited is a cave thought to be where the shepherds brought their sheep for shelter. The cave had old mosaic flooring. Just outside the cave we saw excavations of an old Byzantine monastery.

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St.Lawrence The Martyr RC Church