Once in Royal David's City .........

Most mornings a group of us meet together for prayer and meditation before breakfast. Yesterday morning, in preparation for our visit to Bethlehem, Drasko led us in a meditation on the incarnation. He taught us St. Simeon's meditation where you focus on each part of your body, hands, limbs, organs etc and say for each part - "This is Christ's hand/heart etc - a very powerful meditation exercise.
We left early for Bethlehem, passing through the checkpoint around 8am, which meant we arrived at the Church of the Nativity early when there were no other tourists. The entry to the church is via a small doorway that the Crusaders put in to stop people entering with horses and carts. It is a large church with lots of lamps hanging from the ceiling with Christmas baubles on them and many icons painted on the large columns. It also has a wooden roof and a beautiful mosaic floor which had only been discovered relatively recently.
We waited for a mass to finish the we were hurried in to see the grotto of the nativity that has a silver star under an altar to mark the spot where Jesus is said to have been born. With people speaking and telling us to rush through quickly, it was very difficult to feel a sense of peace and joy one should feel at visiting such a sacred place!
We then went underground to the cave at the back of the grotto where they believe Mary and Joseph entered so Mary could give birth in private. We also saw the tombs of the Holy Innocents - the children who were killed by Herod after the birth of Jesus. We also visited St. Catherine's Church which had some lovely stained glass windows.
After this, we walked up the street to meet Sister Maria from the Franciscan Family Centre to hear about the amazing work she is doing for families in the area through counseling and building projects, as well as a boys' home. The four sisters in her congregation are doing an incredible job assisting and empowering the local people - inspirational!
We then travelled by bus to the Shepherd's Fields where it is believed the shepherds saw the angels who heralded the birth of Jesus. Here we went into one of the cave chapels where Rico, one of our pilgrim priests, celebrated a beautiful mass for us.
We had a traditional lunch in a nearby restaurant before going to Bethlehem University, which has been run by the De La Salle brothers for the last 40 years. We first visited their chapel - dedicated to children. The stained glass windows depicted scenes from the childhood of Jesus - my favorite was one of him playing with blocks at the foot of Mary. The walls were covered in paintings of all the children martyrs from around the world.
We then heard from Brother Peter about the three main goals of the university:
• to provide an oasis of peace for the students
• to be a beacon of hope for the people
• to provide high quality education.
The university is having a huge impact. for students and the whole community. and has been recognized by the Pope and others for what it is providing for its students. This visit was an unexpected yet wonderful addition to our visit to Bethlehem.