HOLY LAND - WALKING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF JESUS (CONT'D)

This is where the Archangel Gabriel was supposed to have appeared to Joseph telling him not to "divorce" the Virgin Mary for what she had conceived was from the Most High. After the annunciation, Joseph took Mary home as his wife. This site is adjourning the cave where Jesus was born (Church of the Nativity).

Relief of St Jerome aka St Heironymus who translated the Old Testament based on the Hebrew text and the New on the Greek into Latin. It is believed he spent many years in a cave near where Jesus was born praying, fasting and meditating while doing the work.

The Church of the Nativity is managed by both the Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches. We were privileged to come out from the Catholic side, as shown, as our SD knows the Catholic administrator. A statue of St Jerome stands in the courtyard.

This is supposed to be an imprint of Jesus' foot before His Ascension to Heaven. It is found in the Church of the Ascension which is now a mosque under Muslim administration.

An ancient burial ground found near the Dominus Flevit Church. The bodies would be buried in caves or similar structures and left for about a year. Thereafter the relatives would collect the bones and inter them in box-like earthern vessels called ossuaries, as shown.

View of Jerusalem from the Dominus Flevit (tears of Jesus) Church with the Dome of the Rock in the centre.

The Dominus Flevit Church is built on the site where Jesus had sat and shed tears over Jerusalem, the City of Peace. An account of this is found in the Gospel of  Luke Ch 19 : 41-44. There are three possible reasons why He shed tears. One was His unending desire for the peace of Jerusalem and the second being His unlimited knowledge of the punishment of Jerusalem. The third was His unbounded love for the people of Jerusalem. The Church has been designed to look like a tear.

In an open altar preparing for mass in the grounds of the Church. Someone had the misfortune of sitting on poo left by the priest's dog.