Day 6

On the Way to Bethlehem
You may have noticed I have missed a day, but I am only alining it with my notes book. 

I awoke this morning to a beautiful sunrise over the Sea of Galilee, as has become routine here we arise around 6.30 and ready ourselves for a day of prayerful encounters with Jesus. Today was no different as we headed off to Bethlehem. On the way we stopped at the Church of the Primacy of Peter. 

Sunrise over the Sea of Galilee

The view from my verandah at 6.30 this morning.

This amazing place is traditionally known as the place where Jesus told the disciples to throw their nets out on the other side of the boat. The story can be found in John 21:9-14. When the disciples brought in the nets and they were full Peter recognised the Lord. Within the story it refers to the nets being full of 153 fish, this number is significant because it refers to the number of different nations available at this time of Jesus’ life, so in actual fact Jesus was reminding the disciples that they need to be fishers of all peoples.

In Father Chris’ homily today he spoke of the similarities between this story and the Emmaus story, and as we celebrated mass along the shoreline my understanding of the significance of Peter recognising our Lord’s voice came to more evident. This area of the lake is know as ‘The Seven Springs.’ The spring water is warmer than he lake water so there were always lots of fish in this area. This is important to realise as it means that it would be a natural area to fish as well as collect, buy or meet and share a meal. The shore line would have been full of people and yet Peter was able to recognise Jesus, just as Jesus was recognised in the breaking of bread at Emmaus.  There is so much more I can share with you about this story when I get home.

The photos show the large rock within the church now called “The mensa Christi” which translates to Table of Christ.

Statue of Jesus and Peter - feed My Sheep.

Church of the Primacy of Peter, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The Mensa Christi - Table of the Lord.

For lunch we stopped of at a ‘Stella Maris Monastery’ – ‘Star of the Sea.’ This was another beautiful chapel and we were served by the most humble and spirit filled people. After lunch we travelled on to Bethlehem. I will speak more about it tomorrow.

The ceiling of the 'Stella Maris Monastery'

The view from the monastery. Lebanon is across the water.

Saint Teresa

The landscape started to change as we got closer to Bethlehem.