Merry Christmas from Bethlehem

To touch the Star of Bethlehem is to touch the genesis of salvation. The silver star, with 14 rays, overlies the exact spot where Jesus Christ was born 2,000 years ago.

To touch the Star of Bethlehem is, bar none, the most touching spiritual experience I have had in my life. After all, it is not every day that I will have the opportunity to come close, much more touch, albeit for only a few moments, the birth place of the Savior. The feeling is indescribable, moving, unforgettable. There’s a jamboree in my heart. It is a communion of emotions — joy, peace, awe, enthrallment.

It is a faith-lift experience — mysterious, surreal and divine. This and more I experience in Bethlehem, a city in the central West Bank, about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem in Israel.

That moment in time is the most joyful I can be. All the Christmas carols that I have been singing since I was a child — Silent Night, O Holy Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem — come alive. I sing them in my head as I walk through a narrow passage with curved stone steps that lead to a cave that is now a grotto. I sing them in my heart as I wait for my turn to touch the Star of Bethlehem, while I line up inside the Church of the Nativity. I sing them in my soul as my opportune time comes for me to touch the star.

The Star of Bethlehem marks the exact spot where Jesus was born.

A force, an energy seems to push me to kneel before the Star of Bethlehem, to cover it with my body. I kiss the star, whisper my prayers and endlessly murmur: “Thank you, thank you, Lord.”

I am all praises for the King as I train my sight to the Chapel of  the Manger, right across the Star of Bethlehem, where Mary is said to have laid the Child. That moment,  Christmas comes alive! And to this day, I hear jingle bells inside me.

In Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread” in Hebrew and “House of Meat” in Arabic, the soul is further filled with the instantaneous belief in God while the spirit is fed all the more with the nourishment of one’s faith. 

The Grotto of the Nativity, now bathed in soft yellow lights, makes Luke 2:7 breathe life where it describes how Mary “brought forth her firstborn son…and laid Him in a manger; because there was not room in the inn.”

The Grotto of the Nativity. Photo courtesy of Palphot Ltd./Garo Nalbandian

“Over this cave-like manger, the Church of the Nativity was built in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena. The church, to this day, is shared by the Armenians, the Greek Orthodox and the Latins,” explains Samer “Sam” Siam, the highly knowledgeable tour guide of our group of 45 that avail ourselves of the Holy Land Pilgrimage Tour beautifully planned by Adams Express Travel. 

Sam continues, “The 14 rays of the Star of Bethlehem mark the genealogy of Jesus — from Abraham to David. They also symbolize 14 generations from David to the deportation to Babylon; and from the deportation to Babylon to Jesus Christ. Everything is in Matthew 1.”

At the Franciscan Chapel of St. Catherine of Alexandria, right beside the Church of the Nativity, we hear a Mass celebrated by Fr. Nicolas Penados, a very insightful priest from Surigao who also joins us in the pilgrimage. Adams Express Travel tours manager Anna Lisa Ayo, with the voice of an angel, leads in the singing of Christmas carols. My best friend Christine Dayrit and I hold hands as we sing O Holy Night. Indeed, that moment, we feel, is holy.

Inside the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

With hearts filled with joy, we leave the holy ground of the Church of the Nativity to visit the Shepherds’ Field, the site where, as written in Luke 2, the shepherds heard the good tidings of Jesus’ birth from the angel of the Lord who told them to go to Bethlehem to adore the child. 

In a flash, I am filled with gratitude — for God, for the chance to be at His birthplace, for the people who have touched my life.

To touch the Star of Bethlehem is to rekindle spiritual ties with God’s beautiful gift to mankind — His only begotten Son.

I leave Bethlehem with renewed faith and a grateful, joyful heart. It’s the kind of joy that Christmas brings.

On the way to the Shepherds’ Field are (from left) Nanding and Dr. Nene Cubillan, Jonah Joven, Kar Gonzales, Kat Gonzales, Gloria Bradley, Daisy Go, Ailyn and Mike Siy, Anna Lissa Ayo and Nel Santander.

Merry Christmas from Bethlehem!

(For an unforgettable pilgrimage in the Holy Land, call Adams Express Travel at 522-3876 or 521-1651. You may also send an e-mail to adamstravelcorp@yahoo.com or log on to www.adamsexpresstravel.com.)

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com. I’m also on Instagram@bumtenorio. Have a blessed Sunday.)

The author and Christine Dayrit at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.