Beatitudes, Zippori & Nazareth

Mount of the Beatitudes

There are three chapters of Matthew's Gospel given to a significant portion of Jesus teaching. We know these chapters (5-7) as the "Sermon on the Mount". This teaching of Jesus begins with the beatitudes and continues through forgiveness and authentic practices of faith. You might like to spend time as you continue your pilgrimage from home or wherever by reflecting on these chapters of Matthew.

Our first visit this morning was to the probable site of this teaching of Jesus. The hills above the Sea of Galilee even form a natural ampitheater. It is not difficult to imagine Jesus teaching and the curious crowds gathering to be nourished. http://www.my-holyland.com/site_intro.php?category_id=0&site_id=14

We celebrated Mass together at a small outdoor chapel overlooking the hills and the lake. As always we began the Mass by remembering those we pray for, you the pilgrims who continue to journey with God from home, and the many people whose prayers and intentions we carry. A regular pattern now is that when we finish Mass each day we take half an hour (more if possible) for our own personal prayer. These sacred moments to savour the beauty of God with us in the Mass have become for us a highlight of each day.



Mosaics in Zippori

One of the remarkable things about archeological discoveries in Israel (one of the oldest inhabited parts of the world) is that almost all excavation is relatively recent. The excavations at Zippori began only a few decades ago. The discoveries of a Roman city from the time of Jesus is breathtaking. Zippori is only a few kilometres from Nazareth and here in the period of Roman rule of Palestine (63BC - 313 AD) a city grew. http://www.pbase.com/kitkool/zippori
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish–Roman_War

Many of the mosaics formed from coloured stone told the story of Roman and their encounters with humans. These mosaics formed the floors of some houses. Later, after Christianity became the religion of the empire (c325), the new Christians replaced their now-inappropriate ‘pagan carpets’ with new layers of mosaic flooring. Excavations here in the last thirty years have revealed these layers of civilization and belief.





Nazareth

I’m sure most people would name Bethlehem as the town of the incarnation; the place where God became human in Jesus. Yet we know that the event of the Annunciation almost certainly happened in Nazareth, the town that Mary and Joseph made home. I have moved into the Joyful mysteries today. The first Joyful mystery of the Rosary, the Annunciation recalls the event of God breaking into human existence in a new way. From this moment God became as vulnerable as any human, for nine months in the womb of Mary his mother.