Saturday 1/26
Mass in Bethany (home of Martha, Mary & Lazarus), Jordan River, Temptation Monastery in Jericho.
Bethany Sanctuary of Saint Lazarus. We started our day with Mass here. This church is located in the West Bank and can be tricky. This area is essentially divided into three parts and there is tension between Israelis, Palestinians and Muslims. In fact, on the site of the Church a fundamentalist Islamic family owns property that claims to house the site of Lazarus tomb. They charge 5-10 shekels to view it. Fortunately we have a local guide that can steer us away from impostors. Side note...it's amazing how many fundamentalists have absolutely no problem selling Christian souvenirs to Christians just to fund efforts against us. Christian churches have been built here since the early centuries. The present Catholic Church was built in 1954. Beautiful mosaics adorn this crypt-like windowless church. Light floods from the large oculus in it's dome. Since 2005 Bethany has been cut off from Jerusalem by Israel's separation wall. What used to be a 10 minute drive from the Mount of Olives to Bethany now requires at least a 30 minute detour.
The Jordan River. This river flows into the Sea of Galilee on the north and out of the Sea of Galilee on the south, eventually reaching the Dead Sea. Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land by crossing the Jordan. John the Baptist called the Jews to come out into the wilderness on the east side of the Jordan to be baptized and re-enter the Promised Land purified by the Baptism of repentance. When we reached the site some sort of celebration was taking place. We soon found out that the Bishop of Galilee had organized a pilgimage for his flock of Catholics to renew their baptism at the Jordan river. It was beautiful. We sat by the side of the river which divides Israel and Jordan. The river is very narrow, about ten times more narrow than in the day of Jesus. You could quite easily swim across, however, you might risk getting shot by one of the Jordainin soldiers. Mike gave a wonderful teaching about the baptism of Jesus. Father Keith performed the renewal of baptismal vows and as if scripted on cue, when he came to the part, "God, the all-powerful Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us a new birth by water and the Holy Spirit, and forgiven all our sins", four white doves flew in and perched on the dock across from us in plain view. After a moment of awe for all of us including Fr Keith, he took some reeds, dipped them in the Jordan and sprinkled all of us with the water. A beautiful morning...I will never look at baptism the same way again.
Jericho - Temptation Mount. Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to prepare for his public ministry. Jesus is tempted by Satan to renounce his vocation. A monastery built in the 3rd century, was built around the stone that Satan wanted Jesus too transform into a loaf of bread. You can physically get to the top by walking, however, we took a gondola. Even taking the gondola you have more than 200 steps up the side of a cliff to reach the monastery. When you reach the large door, you knock. The caretaker of the monastery may or may not let you in. If he does let you in, he locks the door behind you and you have the whole monastery to yourself for a while. We were fortunate, we were let in. This was one of the most incredible structures I have ever been in. It is built directly into the mountain. Originally approximately 3000 monks lived inside the monastery, currently they have one. It contains the earliest known original Catholic Church (that was not destroyed and re-built). Mike has been here six times and the caretaker has NEVER opened the gate to this ancient Church cavern. Today he opened it and let us go inside. This whole structure was one of my absolute favorite experiences of the trip. I could have spent a whole day in here. The art was incredible. The tiny walk ways on the edge of the cliff, rooms built into the mountain, open air walk ways. Every nook and cranny was utilized in a unique way.
My takeaway for the day. Jesus took on our death at his baptism so we can take on His life at ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment