Mary of Nazareth

I am privileged to be a member of a church that sponsored a showing of the new movie "Mary of Nazareth" in our town.  It was one of only two showings in our entire state!  What a great Christmas gift for the people in my area!  The theater was sold out and I sat in joyful anticipation with my family.

May of Nazareth did not disappoint!  If you have a chance to view it, I would highly suggest it!

I try to never miss a chance to see a movie version of any of the stories from the Bible.  Even if I don't agree with the way the director and actors have depicted various events or people, I can almost always glean something spiritual from watching.  Sometimes a lot, sometimes just one little nugget, but I believe God is pleased with this attempt to tell the story of the Mother of His Son. 

The actress who played Mary (Alissa Jung) did a fantastic job!

Mary's faithful "yes" throughout the entire movie is spectacular!  At various different times she will frown in confusion, and then smile the most lovely and peaceful smile!  She trusts God to take care of things however He wishes and she just accepts whatever is happening as His will!!  It is beautiful!!!


I was overjoyed to see the Annunciation scene was set having Mary in a downstairs room making bread when the Angel Gabriel arrives. She stands and backs up in surprise - right into a small stairway!  A lot like the one I was fascinated with when I visited the Grotto of the Annunciation!  I have to say it really made my heart sing as I sat in the theater!!!  It made both the movie and my visit and the real event all connect for me!

Grotto of the Annunciation - Nazareth, Israel

When Mary is perplexed at the Angels' news, she leans back into the staircase for support for a moment before smiling that serene smile and telling the Angel that she is the "Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to God's Will" - I loved it!

Mary never waivers in her faith from that moment on.  She might be puzzled a moment, but she trusts God completely and continually assures others that all will work out according to Gods' Will.

One scene that really stands out in my mind is the way they portrayed Mary's Magnificat.  All the movies I have ever seen have Mary standing and mono-logging the prayer to Elizabeth.  But in this depiction, when she arrives in Ain Karim (or Ein Karem) to see Elizabeth and begins to share her news, she is very happy and goes joyfully from one person to another - all around the room with excitement and smiles - happily delivering her news!

For the first time ever, I understood why it's called the "Song of Mary"!! 


One scene which really opened my mind was when Jesus is preaching and someone in the crowd says that his mother and brothers are outside.  

While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him.

(Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.")

But he said in reply to the one who told him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.

 Matthew 12:46-49

Jesus barely hesitates before announcing that "who are my brothers?  Who is my mother?".  I never understood that, but after watching it in the movie, it made total sense to me!!  Yes - no one is more special to Jesus/God than anyone else!  He loves us all equally!  He wants salvation for us all equally!

Although the others in the scene get upset, Mary totally gets it.  She looks hurt at first, but then she understands.  She tells the others that he is correct.  Of course, the other family members are all scandalized and want to leave, but Mary insists on going in and sitting amongst the followers and listening to Jesus talk.  Jesus shares a look with her, and she smiles her understanding and he smiles back. 

The others try to talk her into leaving (Jesus has just disowned her in front of everyone!) and she says she's going to him because he is "My Lord"...WOW!!  So powerful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another scene I identified with was the evening of the Last Supper, right before they began.  Mary and Jesus have a conversation in the courtyard outside the Upper Room and it is very much like the   Cenacle which I visited on Mt. Zion.

The Upper Room (Cenacle) - Mt. Zion outside Jerusalem, Israel

I know that there is no Biblical reference to this scene, but I enjoyed it thinking that Jesus and Mary did enjoy many private moments together as Mother and Son, despite His public ministry (above).  As the mother of a grown son with his own life, I know these are precious times to be cherished, which I'm sure Mary did.

I personally only have one scene I did not like, and that was during the scourging of Jesus.  Although Mary was not present at the beating, in this movie she experienced each lash - falling to the ground in physical pain.

This is also not Biblical and I don't agree with the poetic license in this case.  I felt like it took away from the suffering Jesus did for us to have Mary experience his pain physically!  Our Mother would never want us to turn our eyes away from what Jesus did for us!  In fact, I believe she is mortified if anyone aligns her grief and heartbreak at His death with any of the suffering He did to save us.   It was just an unnecessary addition to the movie in my opinion.

The movie ends when Mary sees her risen Son and that smile, that grace-filled look of understanding and joy.  A perfect way to end such a wonderful movie experience!!

I thoroughly enjoyed Mary of Nazareth and would recommend it to anyone, of any faith!

Celebrating St. Anne and the Immaculate Conception

During Advent, we meditate on the events that happened before our Savior, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.  The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is December 8th and just happened to fall on the Second Sunday of Advent this year.

This is a very confusing feast to most, Catholics included.

Here it is in a nutshell:  The Immaculate Conception does not have anything to do with the Annunciation and the conception of Jesus;  the Immaculate Conception is referring to the conception of Mary in the womb of Saint Anne.

Just as we would never put our most precious processions into any kind of filthy storage container, neither would God allow his Son to come to us by way of a sinful human.

Mary was not like us, she was not a human being like any other human in history.  She was the Mother of God.  His blood mingled with hers in her womb, he formed in the amniotic fluid of her body's making.  The idea that the Lord of the Universe would reside in an impure body is ludicrous.

We don't know much about Saint Anne and her husband Saint Joachim.   But tradition of our church calls them the Grandparents of Jesus.


There is a church dedicated to Saint Anne just inside St. Stephen's or the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem.  It is traditionally held that this is where the Virgin Mary was born and lived as a child with her parents Anne & Joachim. 

St. Anne's Church, Jerusalem

It stands inside a garden courtyard which also contains a lot of ruins (including the Pools of Bethesda) looking very tall and strong-looking; sturdy and magnificent compared to many other ancient buildings and structures in Israel. 

 

This is because it was not destroyed in 1192 during one of the many captures of the city, it was instead used as a Muslim school, so it was saved.

The garden of St. Anne's is an oasis from the narrow, crowded streets of Old Jerusalem on one side and the bustle and traffic of the modern city on the other.

Here we were given time to rest in the shade and take in the beauty of the flowers and surrounding architecture.  Fr. T read from scripture, but sadly, I cannot remember which passage he read to us.

It is a lovely, restful place (with clean bathrooms) and many benches in the shade.

I enjoyed spending time there, although I spent more time marveling at the flowers (see what I call "Israeli Kudzu" (bougainvillea) in the photo above).

This was a good place to refill water bottles and chat with the priest-caretakers of the site, The White Fathers.

The are Missionaries of Africa and are called the White Fathers due to the color of the habit they wear.

The Church of St Anne is the best-preserved Crusader church in Jerusalem. It marks the traditional site of the home of Jesus’ maternal grandparents, Anne and Joachim, and the birthplace of the Virgin Mary.

We entered the Church through a gorgeous medieval-looking door and walked into the very high-ceiling Sanctuary.

Another pilgrim group was inside singing.  The Church of St. Anne is renowned for its remarkable acoustics and reverberating echoes. The voices of even a small choral group can sound like a large congregation in a vast cathedral.  Although the church was designed for Gregorian Chant, it is said that you can "play" it like a musical instrument with your human voice.

I was really looking forward to hearing Fr. T sing with his gorgeous voice, but he would only sing with the group.  (I have noticed off the altar, outside of participating in Mass, he seems very humble of his beautiful voice and won't usually sing.)

The high ceiling and construction did make everyone sound just beautiful and like there were many more people singing than actually were.  *btw - anyone can sing, but only religious songs are allowed!

It would have been fabulous to have Fr. T say Mass there!

After our song, we walked around the sanctuary.

Main Altar - St. Anne's Church in Jerusalem

In the back of the church was a lovely statue of St. Anne with little St. Mary.

 

Look how sweetly little Mary appears here.  And St. Anne looks over her with obvious love in her face, but I also see something else.  Protection?  Wisdom?  Knowledge?  Surely she understood that this little one was special and different from other children?

Like St. Anne, I am a Mother and a Grandmother.  How very special it is, how very blessed I am.

Lastly, we descended into the crypt which held the remains of the house of Anne & Joachim.

You can see the roof is the natural rock of the cave.

Inside is a painting which shows St. Anne and St. Joachim with newborn baby Mary.  The Greek initials on the top-left side is "ΜΡ ΘΥ".  ΜΡ is "Mary" in Greek and ΘΥ is "God-bearer".  

Also in the cave is an altar dedicated to Mary's birth behind an ornate gate.

This is a closeup of the icon behind the gate. 

I have searched the internet for several hours and cannot find any information regarding this version of this event.  There are lots of similar paintings out there, but so far I have not been able to find anything on this one. 

As we came up the stairs I could hear another group singing on the altar with some angelic harmonies that echoed beautifully throughout the room.  I could see the bright sunshine though the doorway and smell the fresh air blowing in.

 What a lovely place!  What an oasis of grace it must have been when Mary was growing up here! 

In the courtyard garden of St. Anne's Church, Jerusalem

Advent Thought

 

I stole this from the Divine Mercy Facebook page!!!   www.facebook.com/thedivinemercy

Anticipation on the First Sunday of Advent

This Sunday at Mass really gave me a lot to think about for the First of Sunday Advent.

As I mentioned in my Mass & Life Are Wiggly post, we sit at Mass each Sunday with 4 of my grandchildren.  We usually then go out to lunch together, but with busy lives and so many activities/work/school pulling our families in different directions, it generally means that we only see each other on Sunday.

We usually arrive at church ahead of our grandchildren and save nearly an entire pew for our large family near the back of the sanctuary.  Waiting for them to arrive- the expectation of seeing my Daughter and her family & of hugs and kisses before the Liturgy begins- is a sweet anticipation to be sure.  :)

On this First Sunday of Advent though, my Daughter's van would not start and they did not make it to the service we all usually attend together.


As we sat and waited, Mass began.  Even though I was able to completely focus on the Liturgy since I had few distractions, I realized I was unconsciously listening.   I was participating in the Mass, but was also completely aware of the door to the sanctuary behind me.

I could hear the ushers open it for late-arrivals and my ear was tuned for any familiar whispered voices.

My peripheral vision was acutely aware, scanning for the tiny heads bobbing up the aisle toward me.

Every time I sensed a movement behind me, I turned to see if it was my lovies arriving.

I found myself thinking of the people of the Old Testament.  How they awaited the arrival of the Messiah.  How they were hanging on with trust and hope in God.

Were they going about their days in constant anticipation of the Messiah's arrival?  Did they find themselves semi-distracted with any possibility of fulfillment?

Obviously Mary was very in-tune with the idea that the Messiah could come at any time as she was quick to understand the angel's words and seemed to have no doubts in the notion that prophecies were being accomplished. 

King Herod also believed in the real possibility of a new King coming for the Jews, or why else would he have taken such desperate measures?

Like me in the church, longing for the grandchildren to arrive, it seems the people of Israel were yearning for their Savior to come.

I just wonder at the expectant frame-of-mind the faithful of Israel had, the desiring, the craving, the hope.

 

God, during my time of waiting, please let me remain faithful in my Hope and faithful in my Trust of You and Your Plan.  Amen.