Introduction
A visit to the Holy Land was a dream for me.
Every time I heard people talking about their experiences in tours to the Holy Land, I would think about the possibility of ever joining a group and quenching my desire.
In 2013, my friend Lawrence Grech told me that he had been on a pilgrimage tour to the Holy Land. He emphasized the fact that he really enjoyed the experience and recommended that I should one day join one of the pilgrimages organized by the Franciscan Minors, who own the Custodia of several places in the land where Our Lord was born, lived, preached, performed miracles, was condemned to death, suffered and died on a cross, and - above all - resurrected triumphantly over death.
Early in 2014, my wife and I decided to do it. The event took place later on, between 28 April and 8 May; the group consisted of 39, some of whom from Gozo.
It was a hectic tour, sometimes waking up very early in the morning, hurrying from one place to another, often in a coach driving for long distances, walking stretches of steep up-hills and down-hills, frequently under a scorching sun, listening to historical and archaeological details, but of course seeing most of the places associated with the life of Christ. It was a memorable experience, both culturally and ... spiritually.
I kept an account of the pilgrimage, and then, at home, added some data about the places we visited, which I retrieved from the internet. The latter may be considered as an enhancement to the information delivered to the group by Fr Anthony Chircop OFM, who was a truly professional and experienced guide all throughout the tour, except during the visits made in Jordan where law prescribes the employment of a local guide.
Back home I brought with me photos which I took all along the tour; memoirs of places, people, meetings, gatherings, church visits, paintings, sculptures, mosaics, scenery, etc. an extra visual diaristic data which helps my memory recall and cherish this extraordinary experience, every now and then.
Malta - Tel Aviv
We left Malta on Monday 28 April, by Emirates for Larnaca Airport, in Cyprus, from where we flew with Cyprus Airways to Tel Aviv. We proceeded to Nazareth - about an hour and fifty minutes' drive by coach.
Church of St Joseph
The following day, under a scorching sun, the group left on foot towards the Church of St Joseph [also called Church of the Nutrition and the Church of Joseph's Workshop] built over the remains of older churches, in 1914, where we heard mass concelebrated by Mgr Joseph Bezzina and Fr Anthony. It was the beginning of a moving experience.
In the Gospels St Joseph is married to Mary, Jesus' mother, and was Jesus's legal father - hence, with him begins the life of Christ.
Later, gathered in the courtyard where there is a bronze statue of the saint, Fr Anthony narrated the history of this church and spoke also about how we come to 'believe' in the veracity of these places: documents in archives and archaeology - the one supports the other.
Down beneath the church, we saw an early Christian Baptistery.
The cave of the Anunciation
We then walked to the massive two-storey Basilica of Our Lady the Mother of Christ - a church above a church. We could admire the majestic façade built with white stone, with sculptures of Jesus, the four Evangelists, and motifs of flowers, birds, the sea, fire, and the stars on them, and the words 'Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae' in the third course and 'e Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis' in the sixth course of pinkish stone.
The church was designed by Italian architect Giovanni Muzio. It has a towering cupola, with a lantern on top, symbolizing the Light of the World. From the inside, the soaring cupola represents an inverted lily opening its petals to the shrine below.
The lower church is made of dark concrete and left tale quale, in the concrete's natural dark greyish colour. In it there is the original cave where the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to conceive and become the mother of God - the beginning of the pilgrimage following the steps in the life of Christ.
On the front of the white marble altar, there is the writing: 'Verbum caro hic factum est' ('Here the Word was made flesh') (reference to John 1:14) - the spot where Mary accepted with the famous words:'Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum' ('Be it done to me according to thy word.') (Luke 1:38).
The cave turned into a chapel enjoys great devotion.
There is also, on the left hand side of the main altar, the Chapel of St Francis built to commemorate the 670 years of the Franciscan Fathers' Custody of the places in the Holy Land.[Custody: After an intense apostolic activity in Italy, in 1219 Francis went to Egypt with the Fifth Crusade, to announce the Gospel to the Saracens. He met with the Sultan Malek-al-Kamel, initiating a spirit of dialogue and understanding between Christianity and Islam. The Franciscan presence in the Holy Land started in 1217, when the province of Syria was established, with Brother Elias as Minister. By 1229, the friars had a small house near the fifth station of the Via Dolorosa. In 1272 the Sultan Baibars allowed the Franciscans to settle in the Cenacle on Mount Sion. Later on, in 1309, they also settled in the Holy Sepulchre and in Bethlehem. In 1335 King Robert d'Angiò of Naples, and his wife, Sancia di Maiorca, bought the Cenacle and gave it to the Franciscans. Pope Clement VI, by the Bulls 'Gratias agimus' and 'Nuper charissimae' (1342), declared the Franciscans as the official custodians of the Holy Places in the name of the Catholic Church.]
Malta's Madonna
On the walls of two arched courtyard corridors, on the right hand side of the church, there are many large mosaic 'pictures' of Our Lady, coming from many countries from all over the world. The one from Malta represents the painting of Our Lady in the Sanctuary at Mellieħa. [Today there is also that of Our Lady of Ta' Pinu, representing Gozo.]
On four of the columns of the arches plaques commemorate visits to the place by Popes Paul VI, John XXIII, [Saint] John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. Pope Francis had to visit later on in May.
In the Franciscan Museum of Archaeology there is a plan of the Basilica's foundations, and various stone sculptures and pottery which were found in the grounds of the Basilica, discovered during excavations lead by Franciscan archaeologist Bellarmino Bagatti of the Custody, between 1955 and 1969, are exhibited.
In the afternoon, Jimmy - the coach driver - drove us to Mount Tabor[Jabal aṭ-Ṭūr] located in Lower Galilee, Israel, at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, some 18 km west of the Sea of Galilee.
A van took us to the top of the mount where we entered a beautiful church, built in 1924 by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi on the foundations of a Benedictine Monastery which dates to the times of the Crusades. In the apse above the altar there is a golden mosaic depiction of the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-360. On 6 August, which is the 'day of the Transfiguration', the sun strikes a glass plate set into the floor of the church so that the golden mosaic is briefly illuminated.
Down the crypt beneath the main altar, we could appreciate the four symmetric mosaics dedicated to other transfigurations: the Incarnation, the Eucharist, the Lamb, and the Resurrection.
Outside the church, above the door on the left, there is a marble round bas-relief of the head of a Franciscan friar, who hailed from Għarb, Gozo: Fr Publius A. SS. Salvatoris OFM.
On the sides, just near the entrance, there are two chapels dedicated one to Moses and the other to Elias - the two Biblical figures mentioned during the narrative of the transfiguration of Christ.
Mount Carmel
We then drove to Mount Carmelo [Har HaKarmel (literally 'God's vineyard'); Jabal Mar Elyas 'Mount Saint Elias'] in Haifa, beside the port. Here we visited and prayed in the church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, otherwise known as Stella Maris Monastery. The church has the shape of a cross, and its dome is decorated by colorful paintings of Elijah rising to heaven, David playing his harp, the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Family and the Four Evangelists. Latin biblical verses are written around the dome.
The monastery is run by the community of nuns of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, founded in 1892 by a group of French Carmelite nuns. Today the community is made up of sisters coming from different countries and four different continents, even though they speak French.
Outside, we walked to the San Francisco Observatory on the promontory of the mount from where we enjoyed the panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea below us.
All photos reproduced with this article were taken by the author
© Joe Zammit Ciantar
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