Looking back on our second visit to Bethlehem, I experienced a number of surprises.
Our group
attended the 11 a.m. Mass at the Church of St. Catherine today, which is the Roman
Catholic Church connected to the northern side of the famous Church of the
Nativity. The Church of the Nativity is
the church built over the birthplace of Jesus.
There has been a church over this location since Constantine issued a
commission for one in the year 327.
Currently, the church is simultaneously run by four different Christian
denominations: the Greek Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, the Armenian Apostolic,
and the Syrian Orthodox Churches.
Though it was an ordinary Catholic mass celebrated in the Roman Rite,
mass was said entirely in Arabic! Even
though none of us understood any of it, the overwhelming reaction guys had to
the liturgy was positive. Many of us commented
on how beautiful the music was as well as the fact that, though mass was said
in a foreign language, all of the mass parts were the same which made us feel
united with the Palestinian Christians we worshiped with. For me, I was struck by the universality of
the Catholic faith. Yes, it has
universal norms and doctrines, but it is ultimately practiced and manifested in
a particular time and place. Jesus was
actually born at a specific time in human history, in a specific place, into a
particular culture. That has never been
so clear as today, encountering the very place where it all began! In just the same way, the Catholic faith is
lived out and practiced in a particular time, place, and culture. Whether we are from the United States, Latin
America, Africa, the Middle East, or any other region of the world, we may all
come from different cultures, but in the end, we are all united by the same
Catholic faith.
The second surprise of the day for
me occurred after having walked the streets of Bethlehem for the first
time. Bethlehem is far larger, busier,
and nosier than I could have ever expected.
The streets were filled with vendors and all kinds of different shops
with people walking in all directions.
It was not until I found some time to find a quiet place and look out at
the hillside that it dawned on me that the state of things in Bethlehem
probably was not very different two thousand years earlier.
I began to think about how busy and chaotic
Bethlehem must have been when Mary and Joseph arrived, a bit smaller of course,
but perhaps not all that different. Who
were the first to encounter the infant Jesus?
It was the shepherds out in the fields, those who were away from all of
the noise and busyness; those who found themselves surrounded by silence. First they encountered the angels and then
they encountered the Holy Family, secluded in a nearby cave, all in
silence. It then struck me; we encounter
the Divine in silence.
Life can get so
busy, hectic, and chaotic at times, even when it is full of really good things. However, it seems that we need silence if we
are going to be able to encounter God and be open to the mysterious ways he
directly intervenes and speaks to us in our own lives. If you ask any of the seminarians when we
started to hear God’s call more clearly to pursue the priesthood, I think most
of us would say when we started to pray, which requires silence.
It is certainly difficult at times, but
reflecting on this after our visit to Bethlehem was a reminder for me that
silence is a good thing and
predisposes us to be able to encounter the God who loves us and wants to
surprise us.
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