Travelling in the Holy Land 2

Since I last had a swim in the Sea of Galilee (Tiberius), which was this morning in case you were wondering, I have had more time on the road in the homeland of Jesus. Today we visited the amazing and beautiful Church of the Beatitudes where the Sermon on the Mount was delivered by Jesus. It overlooks the Sea of Galilee and Tabgha, where the 'loaves and fishes' occurred. The pic I have included on the right shows the Byzantine floor mosaic recording the event. The first church at Tabgha was built in 313AD, and this original mosaic shows the two fish and four loaves...but there were five loaves I hear you ask! This ancient mosaic tells us Jesus is the fifth loaf as He breaks His body and feeds the world. The rock at the top of the mosaic is the original rock that Jesus used as the table. This site is now a Benedictine Convent. And some people just think we dream this stuff up!

The pic on the left does show the stuff we dream up...wine from Cana. This is the town where Jesus allowed the water to turn to wine at a wedding feast with his Mother: His first miracle.  Check the labels!

We then visited the magnificent Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. This Basilica was opened in 1969 (so is quite modern) and includes mosaics from many countries of the world depicting the Annunciation. Here is also a pic below of Troy and I by the Australian contribution which is up close to the upper church main altar.

This Basilica honouring Our Lady's trust has three levels. The pic on the right shows the below ground grotto where Mary's house was, while the pic on the left is the entrance to the Basilica. We said Mass in the Grotto where you can see the entrance to Mary's original house at the rear.  The grotto pic also shows the three open levels of the Basilica. The excavations here are quite incredible as they have uncovered graffiti which was scratched into the walls of the original 'Mary' house before the first church was built in the 300'sAD. This graffiti scratches the words "Ave Maria" in Greek...hail Mary. This is not dreamt up either.

This page is dedicated to the women in the Church who continue to make a difference to our world...and to those who would like to, but lack the courage, or faith. God bless you all. 

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