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| Church of All Nations (or Basilica of the Agony) on the Mount of Olives, next to the Garden of Gethsemene, which is to the left of the Church in this photo. "It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus prayed before his arrest." The Church on the hill with the golden domes is the Russian Orthodox church of St Mary Magdalene. |
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| Tomb of King David |
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| Cardo Maximus - The original Roman road, in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem. Designed by the Romans in the 2nd Century AD after the city was established and rebuilt by Hadrian. |
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| Cardo Maximus - Jewish Quarter - Old City, Jerusalem |
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| Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem |
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| Alex & Dario lighting candles for family and friends in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. |
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| Brigid & Conor lighting candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. |
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| Lighting candles in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. |
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| Dario & Conor at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. |
Once the
troubles started in Israel, soon after we arrived, we were unsure as to where
we would end up for Christmas. My father
had always dreamt of taking the family to Bethlehem for Christmas, so it was
something I really wanted to do in honour of him, not to mention how amazing it
would be to be in the birthplace of Christ for Christmas. Bethlehem is in the West Bank of Israel. We knew for certain that we would not be able
to take our Israeli rental car into the West Bank, so there were concerns about
how we would even get to Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
A couple of
weeks before Christmas I noticed an email advertising a bus tour to Bethlehem
for Christmas Eve from Tel Aviv. This
could be a way to get into Bethlehem without having to ride the public buses
from Jerusalem, which I was not confident about doing, particularly with the children. We had learnt that tickets for the Midnight
Mass in Bethlehem were booked out months, if not years in advance, so it would
be virtually impossible to attend the Mass.
Jump
forward to a week before Christmas …. My dear friend, David Barnes, had given
me the contact details of Fr Peter Vasko, who is head of the Francisan
Foundation for the Holy Land. Fr Peter
Vasko has been in Israel for over 25 years and serves as the liaison and guide
for the White House and as Chaplain for the Marine Security Guard for the U.S.
consulate in Jerusalem. From his resume,
I presumed that he would be too busy to meet us just before Christmas but he
was incredibly generous with his time and invited Alex and I to meet with him
at the Franciscan’s headquarters in Jerusalem.
We had a fabulous afternoon with him as we quizzed him on the many
photos adorning the walls of his office, many of which were Fr Vasko with
former U.S. Presidents and the last three Popes. He is originally from Brooklyn, NY and is
still quite the New York character.
As we were
leaving he said that each year he was given two tickets to the Midnight Mass
and that he would be happy to give them to us, realizing that there were six of
us. We thanked him for his generosity of
time and hospitality and for the offer of the two tickets. Two nights later Fr Peter called me and said,
“I believe a little miracle has taken place.
Every year I receive an envelope with two tickets, and only ever two
tickets, to the Midnight Mass at St Catherine’s in Bethlehem. I just received the envelope now and nearly
fell over when I opened it to find 6 tickets.
It really is a little miracle and a sign that you’re destined to go to
Bethlehem for Christmas Eve.” I was so
overwhelmed with gratitude but it was yet another gift delivered to us on this
amazing journey through Israel.
Christmas Eve
Our tour
bus left Tel Aviv in the afternoon of 24th December. I believe the tour guide, Zahi Shaked from Bein
Harim Tourism, is a Messianic Jew who spoke very passionately about the many
examples of fraternity being shown between the Jews and Palestinians. Messianic Judaism is a movement of people
who, as committed Jews, believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as the Jewish Messiah.
Zahi first
took us to Jerusalem where we stopped to overlook the Mount of Olives. We then drove to the Old City where we
visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The children were a bit worried about this as we had just been there the
day before with Fr Peter Vasko. Alex
suggested we light candles for my parents and for both of our families and
friends back home, which touched me greatly.
As we had visited the tomb of Christ many times before we chose to sit
upstairs at the site where Christ was crucified on Calvary and had a very
special moment together as a family where we prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of
the Rosary. It was very moving sitting
there in the dark with candles burning around us, united in prayer. A unique and rare moment for us all! There was something so magical about being in
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at night and the impression it left on my
heart will stay with me forever.
From
Jerusalem we then drove to Bethlehem where we first visited the Church of the
Shepherds in the Field. We had a
wonderful Syrian Orthodox tour guide, George Safar, who read relevant passages
from the Old and New Testament for us. There was a Mass being said in the small
church, so we were unable to go in but we stood outside and listened to the words
and singing, while coming to terms with being at the site where the Shepherds
saw the Star in the night sky signifying the birth of Christ.
Onto a
Christian souvenir store in Bethlehem where Alex got me to take some photos of
the children with the Palestinian soldiers.
There are now only a small number of Christians left in Bethlehem. The population has plummeted from 87% in 1947
to between 10 and 20% now.
We then had
a dinner at the “Christmas Bells” restaurant… not sure you’d want to visit that
one J
The tour
guides were very shocked to learn that we had tickets to the Midnight Mass. After dinner we separated from the group and
were led into the Church for Mass. The
Church of the Nativity, which sits above the cave of the birthplace of Christ,
was closed to the public by the time we got to Bethlehem. As we were entering St Catherine’s for the
Mass, Alex asked a young Francisan friar if he could somehow get us in to see
the grotto. The young priest came back
and led us into the Church of the Nativity and through the grotto. It was a sublime moment. We were led down a set of stairs into the
small cave where a group of nuns and young people were gathered, singing and
playing instruments in front of where the crib once sat. To think that we were at the place where
Christ was born on Christmas Eve!!!
We then
went into St Catherine’s for Midnight Mass. There was limited seating so we
stood with the hundreds of other people lined along the sides of the Church. The two younger children fell asleep on the
floor. The Mass was beautiful, although I did wonder at times whether a good
number of people were there to encounter Christ or to see President Abbas, (President
of the Palestinian National Authority) who must have had a security following
of at least 50 men.
We made it
back to Jaffa at 4am, all wowed by our very unique and special Christmas
experience.
On
Christmas day we went to a pot luck lunch at the Lutheran Church in Jaffa, as
we know the pastor there and then celebrated a wonderful Shabbat dinner with
our Jewish neighbours upstairs. What a
Christmas!
BETHLEHEM
Explanation of the Church of the Shepherd's Field by our tour guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_tICH4_FSw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_tICH4_FSw&list=PLk3tL9beKyZAOpeRq57TJKi-ND4aa2ePW&index=5
Bein Harim Tourism Services Ltd - Zahi Shaked zahigo25@walla.com
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