On Pilgrimage, Day 6 - Ramla and Nazareth

This day began with our daily recitation and reflection of the 23rd Psalm in the beautiful chapel of St. George’s Cathedral. We loaded our packed bags on the bus for the next part of our journey which will take us to Nazareth for three days. On our way to Ramla we passed through pine forests, unusually green hills, olive and almond groves and fertile valleys. We enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.
Upon arriving in Ramla, we met Father Samuel of the Emmanuel Anglican Episcopal Church. He spoke to us for about an hour weaving together a tapestry of Biblical tradition, political history, personal experiences and religious and cultural issues of the past and present. Here is an Arab Israeli man who was raised as a fundamentalist Christian, was partly educated in some Jewish schools, and became an Anglican priest. His family experienced first-hand the 1948 occupation by being displaced from their homes and required to live in a "ghetto" in Ramla.
Ramla is the same city of the house that was the focus of the novel The Lemon Tree. Father Sam took us on a walk through the open marketplace, through the Ghetto neighborhood where he grew up with his relatives and on to the actual house of the Lemon Tree, which is now called Open House. It’s now a place of learning and care for Arab Children and a place of reconciliation. Dahlia and Bashir agreed to create such a place following the death of her parents. I learned that Father Sam’s brother was a co-director and one of the founders that organized Open House, and his sister is a teacher there. We walked through the house and saw the teachers and children playing in the yard. One would never know by simply looking at this house the amazing story and the significant events that took place to bring these happy children here. For me it is a symbol of the possibility of peace and reconciliation.
Following a delicious feast of a multitude of salads, hummus, pita bread, kabobs and fried potatoes, we boarded our bus and headed for Nazareth.
We then traveled for about an hour and a half and arrived at the site of Mary’s well. There stands on the site the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. We waited at a distance for a funeral procession to leave the church weave it’s way up the hill. We entered the church and could still smell the residual incense. The church is filled with amazing paintings and icons that retell Mary’s story.
As we left it became windy, and by the time we got to the Latin church of the Annunciation, which marks the site where the cave of Mary’s home is said to be, it had started to rain.
After a brief walk around, we ducked across the street to our new accommodations, the Sisters of Nazareth Convent. Louise and Art.
Helpful web links: Today’s photo album Pilgrimage website