Last day

It's Sunday late afternoon, we are back in the hotel. We are leaving to the airport early tomorrow. Thank you for following my blog. My blog was a sketch of my trip. I look forward to sharing in detail all that I have learned and experienced.

All the best,

Oscar

Location:Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine

Sunday Mass in Arabic

This is a regular parish in the town of Birzeit. This is a college town. The University of Birzeit is the largest university in the West Bank.






You can see the Virgin of Guadalupe at the top of the church.




The interior of the church.




This is the parochial high school attached to the parish.




Behind the main altar you have three mosaics. On the left is the Agony of the Garden, center the Crucifixion and left the Resurrection.

Location:Birzeit, West Bank, Palestine

Birth place of Jesus

The hotel that we are staying at is just down the hill from the Church of the Nativity. Like the Holy Sepulcher, there is consensus between all the Christian denominations on location for the site of the birth of Jesus. The first church was built by St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. The Church was not destroyed by the Persians, who destroyed most of the churches in Jerusalem in 614 C.E., because of the mosaic depicting the Magi from Persia.




The original church by St. Helena was repaired by Emperor Justinian. Justinian reused some of the columns and raised the floor. After Justinian, the Crusaders also conducted repairs.





The door is much smaller than the original door. If you look closely, you can see the original arch doorway.




The nave of the church. There is a cave underneath the main altar that holds the cave where Jesus was born. I did not take a picture of the holy site.




The original mosaic floor from the church built by St. Helena.




The chapel adjacent to the Nativity Church is the Chapel of St. Catherine of Alexandria. It is inside this church we have the entrance to the cave of St. Jerome, who translated the bible to the vulgate. St. Jerome is buried in the cave.





To the left is an altar. In front is the tomb of St. Jerome. The wood carving is an image of St. Jerome.

Location:Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine

The Shepherds field

Beit Sahour is the town adjacent to Bethlehem. The name actually means the home shepherds. It is in this town where tradition tells us that the shepherds were present when the angel came and announce the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:8-20).








This church was built in the 1940s. There was a Byzantine church built at this site, but it was destroyed by the Persians. The crusaders did not build a church at this site. The dome of the church was constructed so that at morning and twilight you could see beams of light illuminate the interior of the church. The day we visited was a cloudy day.








One of the side altars of the church.

Location:Beth Sahour, West Bank , Palestine

The Road to Emmaus

There are four sites for the possible road to Emmaus (Luke 24: 13-35). The different possibilities come from the understanding of the distance written in the bible. Some biblical scholars have Emmaus at 60 stadia others have it at 160 stadia. 60 stadia is about 7 miles.

We visited the site in Aba Gosh. This was the site where the crusaders built a church over the foundation of the base of the 10th Roman Legion. The church was a midway point for pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem from the Mediterranean.




Church entrance




We celebrated mass here.




The walls of the church. Most of the damage has been due to weather, but except for the faces. The faces are blurred out. According to the tour guide, the church was not destroyed by the Ottomans, but the faces were blurred.




The marker stating that the 10th Roman Army camped here.

Location:Aba Gosh, Israel

Bethlehem University

We visited the Catholic Christian Brothers university, Bethlehem University. It was a great visit. We met the vice-president of the college. Br. Jack is an Albany, NY native. His parents' are parishioner at St. Pius X in Loundonville, NY. Bethlehem U. is a Catholic college that many Christian denominations and muslim students attend. It was great to see a a true multiple faith campus.













This is the highest point in Bethlehem. Bethlehem U. is built on a hill.




Hall way in the main administrative building. This is the entrance to the chapel.

Location:Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine

Catholic Relief Services

We also had a presentation by the local program officer of Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The program officer covered the range of programs that occur in the West Bank. The programs are geared towards all people regardless of religious affiliation. One of the many programs is the rehabilitation of homes in the West Bank.

Here is a link to view more of the programs, http://crs.org/Jerusalem/.

The need and the work is immense. Both the HCEF and CRS presentations were eye opening. What came to my mind during the presentation is the saying "no peace without justice". There are many needs and injustices that are impeding peace.

Location:Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine