Basilica of the Annunciation

21/12/08
Visited the Basilica of the Annunciation. This is the fifth church that was built on the spot where the Angel Gabriel stood and prophesised to Mary about her conceiving a child by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our group stood at the grotto and sang the Ave Maria and prayed the Hail Mary here.

This is a gigantic Jerusalem Cross. The crosses signify the five wounds that Jesus bore when he was crucified.



Below is the beautiful dome of the Basilica. It has the shape of a rose flower and if you look closely at the lines that decorates the dome.... the letters of AVM which represents Ava Maria can be seen.

Site of the Transfiguration

21/12/08
Here you see the new church built over the old church at the site. The church grounds was only accessible by taxi. Even though we took the taxi to the top, we still had to walk the rest of the way to the church grounds and it was a good five minutes walk uphill too.

In the church, we see the Transfiguration mosaic and of course the original building stones of the old church could be see through the glass pane on the ground.

The view at the top was indeed breath taking.

The church grounds grew such pretty flowers too. I recognise some of them as Cyclamens and Pansies and they are pretty difficult to grow in Singapore. The cool climate here definitely allowed them to bloom so well. There was also a species of cactus/succulent that was blooming too.

Cana ... Wedding Church

21/12/08
We arrived at Cana and celebrated Mass here. In Cana Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine at a marriage feast (John 2: 1-12). And it was here too 6 couples from our group renewed our marriage vows.

Some of us bought Cana Wine after that.

Nazareth

21/12/08
The town of Nazareth was the home of the Holy Family (Luke1:26). Jesus spent his childhood and youth here and even worked with Joseph as a carpenter.

We drove passed Mary's Well .... the site was believed to be the well where Mary drew water for the family's needs.


We visited St. Joseph's Workshop Grotto ... discovered recently. Dd M placed a petition into the grotto ground for the family.

Mt. Tabor

Sunday Dec.21st '08
After a hearty breakfast at Hotel King Solomon, we started our journey to ascend Mt. Tabor which was the site of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13). It was here that Jesus met Elijah and Mosses.

So from the bus, I could catch a glimpse of the new Church that was built over the old site. The man who built the church was an Italian architect named Antonio Barluzzi. He was also the man who built many beautiful churches in the Holy Land.