My Pilgrimage: June 2

We left Jerusalem today, and not a moment too soon (right after the bus got through, they closed the road due to Friday in Ramadan).  We headed over to Bethlehem, which is in the Palestinian territory.  We first stopped in the Shepherds’ Field, where they have found shepherds caves from this time.  It was pretty cool, but for me the best part was when the tour guide (who was excellent) showed us Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity up the hill.  You could almost imagine the shepherds looking up from there and seeing the star.

We then went to the Church of the Nativity, but first was the inevitable stop in the major olive wood store.  I went ahead and purchased an altar cross, since I’ve been thinking about getting one for awhile, which has soil, rocks, and whatnot from Israel in it.  I probably could have found it for a better price in a smaller store, but I did not want to have to deal with the haggling.

A nice mosaic I liked but did not get...because it was $6000!

Unfortunately the church is undergoing restoration, so we could only barely see the golden mosaics and old columns.  Our Mass in the grotto was pushed back due to an Armenian service (apparently it was a holy day for them) so we had some extra time to look around and pray.  We finally made our way down.  Very few people get to say Mass down in the cave (the tour guide said he had never heard of it, at least for Catholics).  It was something special to have Mass next to the manger.  The only problem is there are tourists everywhere, trying to force their way in to the small area for the Mass (I was one of the bodyguards) so it was difficult to focus (especially when one group started to sing Christmas carols).  We were able to quickly venerate the manger, and then the small area of the actual floor that is exposed for veneration.  Supposedly they placed the marble flooring down to protect the actual floor from pilgrims, since they kept stealing pieces of it.

Church of the Nativity

The Humble Entrance (about 4 feet tall, so you must bow to enter)

Greek Orthodox Iconoclast

In the Catholic Church

After that chaos, the tour guide took us to another cave where very few people get to go.  In fact, our leader, who has been to the Holy Land many times, says he has never been there.  It was the cave of the Holy Innocents, where they found many bones from children and some adults, presumably the mothers who were shielding their children.  Apparently the bones have been carbon dated to the first century.  Down there also are the tombs of various monks and priests who have been stationed at the church over the centuries.

The cave where St. Jerome translated the Vulgate Bible

We also walked over to the Milk Grotto.  Here traditionally Jesus was hungry, so Mary found a cave to feed Him.  When she did, a bit of milk dropped to the ground, and miraculously turned the cave white.  There is a long tradition of women who have trouble giving birth coming to pray and conceiving shortly thereafter.  They even have dried milk you can take, and a room with pictures of thousands of women with their babies.

We then had a very good chicken shawarma lunch, much better than yesterday.  And it was back on the bus to our next overnight stop: Nazareth.  Perhaps I have not paid enough attention, because it was a surprise to me when we had to climb up a rather large incline to get to the town.  We will be here for Saturday and Sunday, leaving Sunday afternoon.  The roof of the guest house where we are staying has a nice view of the town.

View from the road to Nazareth