The Silver Star

Leaving at the end of October, for eight days I felt the thrill of being in the same places where Our Lord lived.



Now that this unforgettable pilgrimage is over, I am left with a store of prized memories, though what fills me with most happiness is the increasing joy I feel about being a Christian and a Catholic priest. How can I forget those places teeming with pilgrims and replete with spirituality? What a gift it was to be able to see the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth with the Grotto where the archangel Gabriel visited Mary, the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and the Western Wall, where I pushed into a crevice my own prayer written on a slip of paper… I really did need to walk along the narrow alleys of Jerusalem, to kneel and pray in the Empty Tomb of the Resurrection, and to experience again the simple, radical words uttered by Jesus along the hills and grottos of those enchanting places which, alas, are constantly swept by the winds of war.



There were three moments in particular which my travelling companions and I experienced with moving intensity, and I would like to share them with you.



The first was when we were crossing the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias) onboard a ship. When we were in the middle of the lake the captain stopped the ship. Immediately the noise of the engine and, along with it, the ceaseless chatter of the passengers, died away, and we were all overwhelmed by deep, absolute silence. A gentle breeze was caressing our faces and I felt the presence of Our Lord. I was on the same lake on whose waters He had walked, in the same place where He had calmed the storm, and I could feel that He had gently folded us in his arms and was lulling us like a mother, while fish were leaping joyously all around us. It was intriguing to realise that the eyes of Our Lord saw that same coastline, those same hills that I was seeing… that on yonder cove He revealed Himself to His Apostles after the Resurrection, and prepared grilled fish for them. I could almost hear with my mind and with my heart John’s cry, “It’s the Lord!”



The second magical moment occurred one Saturday evening during a candlelit procession around the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth. We prayed the rosary, meditated on the Joyful Mysteries, and sang hymns to the Mother of God. There were many people there, most of them young. When I raised my eyes from the ground I saw the stunning spectacle of the moonlit starry sky, and King David’s words from Psalm 8 came to mind, “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them? Mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet… O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”



I experienced the third blessing in the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem. We got up at 4 in the morning to have the Grotto all to ourselves and pray undisturbed by other pilgrims, who tend to crowd round it more and more as the day unfolds. The Grotto is actually one of the most moving places in the Holy Land: tiny, simple, unadorned, and almost out of sight under the imposing gloomy Basilica kept by people who do not seem to care much about its blackening walls. It really gives the impression of being a seed planted into the ground destined to bear great fruit.



On my knees on the marble slab I looked upon the silver star on which the following words are inscribed: Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est (Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary). There I prayed for you, dear readers, but for myself also, that Jesus may be born in all of us, dwell in us, and reign in our hearts always. Thank you for you affection and warm encouragement. I wish you a most merry and spirit-filled Christmas!