Pilgrimage

Bethlehem

Today may have seemed to most people an uneventful day.  Our visit to the orphanage was rescheduled, so we had class and Mass in the morning, and were free the rest of the day.

However, a day on pilgrimage is never ordinary.  And a day in the final nine days before Christmas, as we pray the great ancient O antiphons (also the verses of “O come, O come Emmanuel”, can never be ordinary.

During these final days before Christmas, the Church remembers her history through the eyes of ancient Israel.  The O antiphons remember all the ways in which God revealed himself to Israel, and pray for the promised one to come.  The Church remembers and relives her pilgrimage through history until the coming of Christ.

We also remember another pilgrimage – that of Mary and Joseph, from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  Certainly as they were traveling, they too remembered how God had revealed himself to his people, in all the cities through which they passed – especially Jerusalem!

And they were coming here to Bethlehem, where the Davidic line began, and where it was about to see its most fitting end.

They were not only reliving the history of Israel, but they were becoming part of it themselves.  Indeed, every promise, every hope was about to be fulfilled in the child whom Mary carried in her womb.

Many of us took the opportunity to go to the Grotto of the Nativity to pray.  It was rather quiet and peaceful this afternoon, giving us a chance to stay a while.

We saw where our hopes have been fulfilled – the very reason why we hope today, because God has visited his people.  And we saw pilgrims continue to come, and families bringing their children to show them and teach them the faith, that they too would enter on pilgrimage, to join Christ from where he began his earthly pilgrimage, and one day enter into the house of the Father.

Et Verbum caro factum est

On Monday, we went to celebrate a group Mass in the cave of the Nativity, near the very place where the Lord Jesus Christ was born.

I'm sure everyone thinks "aww...that sounds so nice and quaint." Well, it was a little distracting to have a crowd of pilgrims coming and going all around us, trying to take pictures of everything (including our priest celebrating the Mass!).

However, it was a great moment for prayer. We celebrated a votive Mass of Christmas at dawn (readings can be found here). I was reflecting on what happened in that very spot 2000+ years ago, how

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

Isn't this what Advent is about?

2000 years ago, some innkeeper was not prepared to see the unique gift which was in front of him - the long-awaited messiah was in his presence, asking for a place to stay. God was visiting him from on high, and he did not see him. Rather, he sent a woman who was about to give birth to a barn, no place fit for a newborn, much less the King of the Universe.

But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,

This is God's will for us - that we should be called the children of God. How much love must the Father have for us, that he sent his only Son to us, who would reject and crucify him, so that in him we too could become his children by grace! The coming of Jesus tells us - each of us - that God loves us from before our very birth, that he is looking down upon us with love, calling us to himself; that he will not leave us orphans, but will forever be our loving Father. And to demonstrate this, he sent the Son.

And the Word became flesh (Latin: et Verbum caro factum est)
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.

There I was, in the very place where 2000 years ago God pitched his tent and made his dwelling among us. It was in that cave where all of creation was able to, for the first time ever, look upon the very face of God. It was there that we first saw his glory - that of a humble child, the only Son of God.

And, Christ continues to come to us today - in fact, each and every day. As I was looking at the spot of the birth, I had but to turn to my right to see God the Son descending from on high again to be with us - there on the altar!

What a great blessing to be here during Advent! Pray for me, that I may continue to prepare my heart to receive the Lord when and where he comes.

My Portion and Cup

Day 1
Bethlehem

"I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, you are my only good." (Psalm 16:2)

I know many people would expect the first post about Bethlehem to be about the Church of the Nativity and the birth of Christ - but this is not what first came to me.

This morning, around 9:00am, I was praying night prayer in the Catholic side of the Church of the Nativity. (Yes, last night's night prayer. It was 1:00am back home.)

The first thing I prayed in Bethlehem was Psalm 16 - a Psalm of King David.

Keep me safe, O God; in you I take refuge
I say to the Lord, you are my Lord, you are my only good.
Worthless are all the false gods of the land. Accursed are all who delight in them.
They multiply their sorrows who court other gods. Blood libations to them I will not pour out, nor will I take their names upon my lips.
LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you have made my destiny secure.
Pleasant places were measured out for me; fair to me indeed is my inheritance.
I bless the LORD who counsels me; even at night my heart exhorts me.
I keep the LORD always before me; with the Lord at my right, I shall never be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, my soul rejoices; my body also dwells secure,
For you will not abandon me to Sheol, nor let your faithful servant see the pit.
You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.

I thought about David, how he could have sung this very psalm while tending the sheep in the hills. Around him were the pagan nations courting favor with their false gods. And here was simple little David in his simple little town with his sheep - completely trusting in God and in the will of God for David.

Perhaps this was written after Samuel had come to anoint young David as King.

David was a simple farm boy, standing on the verge of a great task at the call of the one God whom he served. He had a choice: to stick with the familiar - his family, his flock, his village - or to follow the call of the God whom he served. As the Psalm conveys, he chose to trust.

David trusted God, knowing that he needed nothing more than what the Lord would provide. And it was from this man - this faith - that Christ, the savior of the world, would come.

How fitting it was that Christ should come to this place! City of David, to whom the Messiah was promised. Born in humility, in a stable, and adored by shepherds. Could the coming of Christ have echoed more strongly the faith of David?