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| “As I was singing at
Mary’s Well, I was thinking of the awesomeness of
where we are. I’ve been around the world twice, but
I keep coming back to Israel again and again because
this is where it all began.” |
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Jan Kolb
Washington |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Jan Kolb singing at
Mary’s Well, Nazareth |
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“Imagine being an
American on a pilgrimage to Israel, learning about
Jesus by walking in His footsteps, following the
Good Shepherd as one of His faithful flock. We
happen to be on this trip in the days just after the
death of our beloved Pope John Paul II, and learn
his funeral Mass will be celebrated in Rome on
Friday, April 8, 2005. On
April 8, we are in Nazareth, the town where Jesus
grew up, visiting the Basilica of the Annunciation,
a church that was built to commemorate the home
where Mary, the mother of Jesus, lived when she said
“Yes” to God.
Slowly people begin to file into the church,
including what seemed like “flocks” of school
children, and the pews start to fill up. We
realize a Mass will begin shortly, a Mass to
coincide with the funeral of Pope John Paul II. |
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Photo: Gila
Yudkin |
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Nazareth schoolchildren in the
Church of the Annunciation |
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The language being
used is Arabic and the Mass is being co-celebrated
by 2 bishops, one a Roman Catholic, the other is
Greek Orthodox. Despite the language barrier,
there are parts of the ceremony that are
recognizable and some of the music sounds familiar.
We hear “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie
eleison” and know it’s a Latin version of
“Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have
mercy.” Because of the universal format, we
can follow along with the Gloria, identify the
responsorial psalm, know that a New Testament
passage is being read, followed by the Alleluia as a
prelude to the Gospel, and we understand that the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is being read.
We have traveled halfway across the globe, and are
participating in a universal ceremony that is being
celebrated at this very moment by millions of people
around the world, in all different languages,
praying the same prayers, at the same time, to
commemorate the life of a man who was the leader of
us all. It is, without a doubt,
a small world.” |
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Terri Verason |
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Mesa, Arizona |
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