“In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:39-42
We began our day on the bus with a prayer, and the scripture reading from John 17. In this chapter, Jesus prays to the Father for His disciples. “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:25-26
Our first visit today was to the Temple Mount, which is basically the platform on which the Jewish temple resided until it was destroyed in 70 AD. Today, it is home to the Dome of the Rock, the third-holiest place in Islam. Ever since the Six-Day War of 1967, when the Old City of Jerusalem became part of the modern state of Israel, control of the platform has remained with the Muslims. Our awesome tour guides, Shuki and Ana, prepared us for the high security procedures that we would need to go through in order to visit the Temple Mount.
They explained to us that there were eight different entrances to the Temple Mount, but non-Muslims could only enter through one of them. The other seven entrances did not have a lot of security, but we would need to pass through a metal detector. We also had to take our passports, and be ready for questions. Shuki also told us that once inside, we would split into two groups so as not to call too much attention on ourselves because we were such a large group. He also said that if we took pictures, it would be best if we did not touch. Yes, we could not touch because for Muslims, a man and a woman touching in public would be considered disrespectful. We had to dress very modestly (no shorts, no tight pants, no skirts above the ankles, no exposed shoulders...). We also could not wear crosses or carry any religious articles, like our Bibles. And, we could not pray while we were there. Muslims obviously do not believe in freedom of religion.
Once inside, we saw a group of Orthodox Jews. They were being followed by police officers. Shuki explained that the reason why they were being followed was to make sure that they did not start praying in there. If they did, they would be immediately arrested. Wow.
After we tuned out all the Muslim rules and regulations, we were able to actually enjoy the place we were at. The most striking building on the platform is the Dome of the Rock, one of the most iconic symbols of Jerusalem. Its golden dome, composed of gold electroplated on copper, has a warm, natural glow at dawn and dusk. Muslims erected the first building on this site in 691 AD because they believed it marked the stone from which Mohammad rose on his night journey to heaven. For Jews and Christians, this building marks the summit of Mount Moriah, where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice Isaac. This was also the location of the temple that Jesus frequented, the temple where He overturned the tables because they were turning His Father’s house into a den of robbers (Matthew 21:12-17). Unfortunately, nothing of this temple remains in view. The Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.
We were not able to enter the mosque because only Muslims are allowed to enter. But we were able to walk around, take pictures, and we decided that if we could not beat them, we would join them.
After our interesting visit to the Temple Mount, we headed towards the Western or Wailing Wall. The Western Wall (known in Hebrew simply as HaKotel, “the wall”) is the most sacred spot on earth for the observant Jewish community. When the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD, they destroyed everything on the plaza but did not destroy this retaining wall. Consequently, the wall is the one element of the first-century temple complex that remains. Given the legacy of these stones and their proximity to the temple (which was located where the Dome of the Rock now stands), Orthodox Jews come to worship and pray here. Even though this was merely the retaining wall holding up the platform on which the temple sat, they believe the divine presence never left this wall. That is why they come to worship here.
When we visited, the wall was packed with praying Jews. The women had to go to the right, and the men to the left. The space for the men was much wider than the space for the women. It was very interesting to see everyone praying with their prayer books. Some were sitting down, but many were in front of the wall bouncing back and forth. It was very difficult to reach the actual wall. Some of us had been carrying little pieces of paper filled with prayer requests, and we were not going to leave without placing those papers somewhere in that wall. We finally located a section in the wall where we would be able to place them, but getting to it proved rather difficult because there were Jewish ladies standing in front of the wall praying, and with no intentions of moving. Some of us had to literally get on our knees and crawl under the praying ladies, to place the prayer requests inside the holes on the wall, which were already packed with little pieces of paper. But we accomplished our mission.
After such a special and moving morning, we got on the bus and headed towards Ein Kerem. While on the bus, I began to reflect on the whole experience. I thought to myself, “This is such nonsense. What’s the point of having to place the prayer requests on the wall? I could just have prayed directly to God and avoided all the trouble of reaching the wall, finding the perfect spot, getting on my knees, and placing the paper in a hole that was already overflowing with papers.” And then, I looked out the window, and what do I see?
Butterflies have always had special meaning for me. The piece of paper that I buried on the wall was filled with butterflies. Every time I’m feeling down or having doubts, God sends me a butterfly. It’s His way to reassure me that He is listening, and that He is present. So as soon as I saw the huge butterfly on the garden, I felt God telling me: “Yes, it’s true that you didn’t have to go through all the trouble of placing the little piece of paper on the wall. I listen to you regardless. But did you see my people? Did you see their faith? When you were crawling on your knees trying to reach the wall, I was there.” I have no doubt that the Lord was present in that wall “for where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” Matthew 18:20. Since I have returned home, He has answered one special prayer request written in that piece of paper, a request that I have been praying for a very long time. Thank You, Jesus!!!
We stopped to have lunch in a Kibbutz, which is a communal place where everyone shares everything and nobody owns anything. The Kibbutz operates under the premise that all income generated by the Kibbutz and its members goes into a common pool. This income is used to run the Kibbutz, and to provide for the needs of its members. The food was buffet style but pretty good, especially the desserts.
Back in the bus, we continued meditating on John 17. “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:20-24
Father Frank then gave us a meditation. We may be different. We may worship in a different way. But we have a choice. If we concentrate on our differences, we will continue to struggle and fight with each other, thus widening the barriers that keep us apart. Instead, even as we struggle to understand the different religions, we can choose to come together as a community embracing each other. May we concentrate on what unites us, which is God. May we be united in God’s love. And may we bring this unity back home to our community, which is also made up of many different religions and nationalities.
With these thoughts in our minds, we arrived to Ein Kerem, the town where John the Baptist was born. Our first stop was the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. The Church of John the Baptist was built in this location in the nineteenth-century, surrounding the cave believed to be the birthplace of John the Baptist.
Before we entered the church, we stood in the courtyard outside which turned out to be a wonderful spot to read the story of John the Baptist’s birth (Luke 1:57–66). All around the courtyard they have the Benedictus prayer, which is Zechariah’s song of celebration, in all the languages. We stood by the English version, and we read it together.
To stand in the very place where all this took place was very special. The first part of the prayer, found in Luke 1:68-75, is not about John, it’s about Jesus. How amazing that the first words uttered out of Zechariah’s mouth after he had been mute for nine months, were not about the baby boy that he had just fathered, instead, they were about Jesus. He praised God first, and then, he mentions his own child (Luke 1:76-79). We can learn a lot from Zechariah. God has to come first in our lives, above our own children, above our spouses, above our parents, above our jobs... If we place God at the top, He will take care of everything else.
After visiting the beautiful John the Baptist Church, we began a very steep climb up a hill with over 200 steps to reach the Church of the Visitation. We prayed the rosary as we were going up. We were very impressed with some of the members from our group who are “slightly” older than us, and yet, they took the climb and didn’t even complaint. Some had to stay behind at a restaurant, but from the stories they shared, they had a great time. The rest of us, celebrated mass at the Church of the Visitation, which was absolutely gorgeous. The façade of this twentieth-century church is adorned by a mosaic that recalls the visit Mary made to her cousin Elizabeth after she had received the news that she would be the mother of Jesus.
On the courtyard, there is also a beautiful statue of Mary and Elizabeth talking to each other.
And the song of joy, known as the Magnificat (Luke 1: 46–55), that came to Mary’s lips during her visit is engraved in various languages around the courtyard. The Magnificat is regarded as one of the most powerful pieces of inspired poetry in the Bible, and it reminds us of how God uses the most ordinary of people from the most ordinary places to accomplish extraordinary things.
The main scripture for our mass was, of course, the reading of the Visitation from Luke 1:39-44. Father Willie’s homily, as usual, was right on point. He shared the story of a time when he went to visit two students in New York who were considering the priesthood. He had only been a priest for a few years, and he wanted to make sure that “girls” would not steal his two prospective future priests.
He asked his superiors if he could make the trip. They decided it was for a good cause, so they gave him permission and a budget, and with that, he took off to New York. He had enough money to invite the two students to dinner, so he took them to an Italian restaurant. While they were there, they saw some Marines that were in the restaurant. The boys told him, “Father Willie, wouldn’t it be great if we paid the bill for the Marines?” He looked at them, and felt embarrassed to tell them that he was on a tight budget, so instead he said: “Sure, that would be very nice.” He called the waitress over and told her that they would cover the cost of the meal for the Marines.
When the Marines finished eating, they approached their table and they told Father Willie: “The waitress told us that you were paying our bill, and we wanted to thank you.” They also asked him if he could pray for them because the next day they were shipping out to Iraq, and this was their last meal before they left. Father Willie told them that he would surely pray for them.
The boys were ecstatic about what they had done, and so was Father Willie until he got the bill. When he looked at it, the bill was $527. He could not believe his eyes. He called the waitress over and told her that there had to be a mistake. The waitress told him there was no mistake. The Marines had eaten and drank a lot, and in addition, they had taken pizza to go. Father Willie got really upset. He felt like he had been taken advantage of. He didn’t say anything to the boys, but he was very worried about what his superiors would tell him back home when they found out how much he had gone over budget.
As they were walking back from the restaurant, the boys kept talking about what a great deed they had done for the Marines. It got to the point that Father Willie couldn’t take it anymore, and he told the boys: “Those Marines took me for a ride. Do you know how much was their bill? Five hundred and twenty-seven dollars!!!” The boys looked at him with a surprised look on their faces, and then, in typical Belen fashion, they started to laugh. Once they calmed down from their laughter, they told him: “But Father Willie, you have always told us that when we give, the Lord recompenses us with so much more. Surely, He will pay you back.” Father Willie looked at them, and said: “You idiots, of course He is not going to pay me back. It doesn’t work like that.”
He returned to Miami on Sunday night, trying to figure out how best to approach his superior to tell him that he had overspent on the trip. On Monday morning, he was at his office when the school secretary calls him that there was a man there to see him. The man told him that he was very thankful to him for everything that he was doing, and he wanted to give him a gift so that he could use it in the best way that he needed it. Father Willie said “thank you,” and when he opened the envelope, there was a check inside for $1,000. He was in shock. He went back to his office, and he called one of the boys in New York. He said: “You won’t believe what just happened. I just got a check out of the blue for $1,000.” Silence on the line. He asked the boy: “Are you there?”
“Yes, Father Willie, I’m here.”
“You are just as surprised as I am, aren’t you.”
“Father Willie, I’m not surprised that God paid you back. I’m just in shock that he repaid you so fast.”
Father Willie tied this story to Mama Mary and service. Mama Mary was all about service. She found out that she would become the mother of the Son of God, and that her cousin Elizabeth was also expecting at the same time. And what did she do? She took off “with haste” to her cousin’s side. She did not think about herself first. She was pregnant, and she took off from Nazareth to Ein Kerem, which now we know they are very far from one another. Just to put it into perspective, imagine going from Miami to West Palm Beach in a donkey. And pregnant!!! If we admired Mama Mary before we came to Israel, now we must put her on a pedestal. She is simply amazing!!!
Father Willie recommended a book to us: “Man’s search for meaning” by Victor Frankl. In the book, it talks about the fact that the people that survived the holocaust camps were those that put the needs of others ahead of their own. Father Willie also told us that whatever our profession is (attorneys, doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, accountants, engineers...), if we work just for the money, we are never going to be happy. But if our main goal is to serve others, we will find true happiness. “El que no vive para servir no sirve para vivir.”--Pope Francis
He also did a comparison between King David and John the Baptist. David leaped and dance with joy when he was in front of the ark of the covenant, just like John did when he heard Mary’s voice. Mary is the new ark of the covenant. In the Church of the Visitation, there is a beautiful painting at the back of the church where Mary is standing on the moon with baby Jesus in her hands. The moon reflects the light of the sun. Mary shined bright because she reflected the light of her Son. “Never be afraid of loving the Blessed Virgin too much. You can never love her more than Jesus did.”--Saint Maximilian Kolbe
Mary will always lead us to her Son.
Some of us were confused as to why the Visitation took place at the top of the hill, and not at the bottom where Elizabeth and Zechariah lived. Underneath the church, there is a little chapel. Inside the little chapel, there is a well.
Father Willie explained that it is believed that the Visitation took place at the top of the hill, because Elizabeth would go to the well everyday to get water. It is believed that when Mary arrived and asked for Elizabeth, they told her that she was at the well. So Mary took off to the top of the hill, met her cousin by the well, and that’s where she sang the Magnificat. We were speechless to be at the place where these two incredible and amazing women had stood 2,000 years ago. Climbing those 200 steps to get to the top was not an easy feat, and Elizabeth did it every day to get water, and she was pregnant. God help us if we ever complain over menial things.
On the way down from the hill, some of us stopped to shop, and others to eat delicious gelato at an ice cream shop. We then got on the bus and returned to Jerusalem.
At night, we went out to dinner to a restaurant called the Dolphin Yam which was delicious. Between the four of us, we shared a tray of seafood that was pretty spectacular.
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