Day 7: Sheep In the Road

What a nice surprise the Lord gave us (He sure is doing that a lot!).  This happened on Day 7, which was January 30th.

On the way to Shepherds' Field in Bethlehem, the Lord provided a very nice real life situation: a shepherd and his sheep stopped our traffic so that the sheep could follow him to a better place. (It is not, of course, real life back in Dallas, but it is here.  That is part of what makes this journey so special...to see what was real life to Jesus.)

In 25 years serving here, Fr. Peter had never before been stopped on the way to Shepherds' Field by a shepherd and his sheep!

The video doesn't do justice to the awesome life lesson, but here it is anyway to let you know what we experienced on the way to Mass:



We then celebrated Mass in a small cave at Shepherd's Field.  This was one more of so many moving experiences as we talked about how the shepherds responded to God's message and went immediately as God had suggested.

After a visit to the Milk Grotto, it was finally time to go to the Church of the Nativity to the spot where Jesus was born. As you watch the upcoming video, keep in mind that sound is one of the very important senses that helps us experience something new.  This video is a good example of the importance of sound in our journey.

It is also an overview, so it starts before we encountered the sheep above.  A bit out of order, but I think you get the message.




We then moved on to the next step which was actually entering the Church through the very small door.  An act of humility to bow down upon entering the place where Jesus was born.


After we were all finally able to squeeze into the Church, which was actually very large on the level we entered, we then went downstairs to the actual birthplace of Jesus to worship Him.  We waited for a while, but only because there were some Franciscans there having Morning Prayer.  Once we finally got in, we experienced a profound time of His presence.