The Holy Land

On our honeymoon, Brian and I made a bucket list of goals/dreams for our marriage. Among them were try a new recipe each week (haha, we've maybe tried a new one per year ;), pray the Rosary each day  (some months we have succeeded), and visit the Holy Land. I thought the last one was a huge long shot that maybe we'd do in our older age after our children were grown. But God had plans for us far grander than I could ever have imagined. So here we've found ourselves - living in Austria, taking a three hour direct flight to Tel Aviv and traveling around the Holy Land with our two precious children less than four years from when we dreamt up our list. God is good.

And that good God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, was born, lived, died, rose, and ascended into Heaven from these very places we just visited. It's mind blowing. And humbling. And hard to capture in a blog post - but I'll try. 

Nazareth 

Nazareth is the site of Mary's home and the town where Jesus lived as a child (Mt 2:23).  We visited:

The Church of the Annunciation to Mary (Lk 1:26-35).

Church of St. Joseph - where Joseph's workshop may have been. 

And the Orthodox Church built over Mary's Well.

It was also in Nazareth that Brian Francis realized he could stand up in a crib (at bedtime, of course, when we're all trying to go to sleep in one room)!

Galilee

We visited Capernaum, on the Sea of Galilee, from where Jesus launched His Ministry (Mt 4). 

The synagogue where Jesus taught (Mk 1:21-29) (what has been built over it).  

And the church built over the site of Peter's home. 

After visiting Capernaum we drove a short distance to Tabgha, to a site known as "Peter's Primacy." Here, after His Resurrection, Jesus met with His disciples (Jn 21).  The disciples were out fishing when they saw Jesus standing on the shore. Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to our Lord as the other disciples came to shore by boat. This was Peter's "awkward" or maybe over eager moment as described by Fr. Matt during our wedding homily - when he instructed us (or at least Brian) to stay awkward during our marriage.  So here we are... It was at this location that Jesus told Peter "to feed my lamb; feed my sheep." (Jn 21:9). 

Cana

We stopped in Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle at the request of His mother, changing water into wine (Jn 2:1-11).

Bethlehem 

To get to our next stops we rode with a Palestinian taxi driver because cars from Israel (including our rental car) cannot enter Palestine. Our driver and everyone we met in all parts of the Holy Land were extremely kind and helpful - several told us they don't care what religion someone practices, they just want peace in their land and everyone's heart. 

In Bethlehem, we went to the Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest Christian churches. We went down to the Grotto of the Nativity, which marks the spot of Jesus' birth (Mt 2:1-18). Beneath the Altar there is a silver star with the Latin inscription: HIC DE VIRGINE MARIA JESUS CHRISTUS NATUS (Here Jesus Christ was born to the Virgin Mary).

We then walked up to the Milk Grotto, a cave where Mary likely nursed Baby Jesus. I prayed for all my friends/relatives with infants, those who have lost children, and those wishing to have a baby. 

Our taxi driver drove us a short distance to see the cave at Shepherds' Field (Lk 2:8).  The caves have soot marks of the fires that shepherds lit to keep warm while watching over their flocks. (Ellie loved holding up her "Star of Bethlehem" that one of the shop owners gave her and insisting I take her picture).

Judean Wilderness

He then drove us through the Judean Wilderness where Jesus spent 40 days fasting, and it is in this area that John the Baptist lived (Mt 1) and baptized Christ. We renewed our Baptismal vows at the Baptismal site on the River Jordan (Mt 3:13-17).

Jericho

From there he drove us to Jericho, the world's oldest continuously inhabited city.  

We saw the huge sycamore tree, similar to the one that Jesus spotted Zacchaeus in before he spent time with Our Lord and was converted (Lk 19:1-10).  

From Jericho we had a view of the Mount of Temptation, where Jesus was tempted by Satan in the Judean Wilderness (Mt 4:1-11).

Ein Karem

One of our mornings in the Holy Land we drove to Ein Karem, the hill country right outside Jerusalem. Here we walked to the Church of the Visitation, marking the spot where Mary visited Elizabeth and proclaimed the Magnificat (Lk 1).

We walked across the valley to the Church of St. John the Baptist stopping at Mary's Spring - the cave where John may have been hidden as a baby during the massacre of the Holy Innocents. 

At the Church of St. John the Baptist we saw his birthplace.

 We spent the longest amount of time in Jerusalem - so I will share more about that part of our trip in a subsequent post. We met up with my parents there, as they were on the Dr. Scott Hahn tour. They are now back in Austria with us (pictured here in front of St. Stephen's in Vienna) for a little visit!

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas...Epiphany!

Today we celebrated the Feast of the Epiphany - celebrating the revelation of God to man!

Unlike in the U.S. where the Feast is moved to Sunday, Austrians celebrate it on January 6 - following the twelfth day of Christmas.  It is a public holiday - no work, no school, stores are closed.  We went to Mass at Kartause this morning - and enjoyed seeing the Three Wise Men statues now bowing before Baby Jesus. 

At night, we went to the nearby city of Scheibbs (where we do our regular grocery shopping) - and joined in their procession of the Three Wise Men following the Star of Bethlehem to Baby Jesus - on horse back.  (I guess no camels were available?! :)

We ended at the Parish Church before the elaborate Nativity Scene (which most churches we've been in this Christmas have displayed).

Before departing, the Magi bowed before Baby Jesus at the Altar.

We were so moved by the Three Wise Men's traveling to Bethlehem -- that we decided to follow in their footsteps!  At the end of the week we'll be leaving for our trip to visit Bethlehem and other places in the Holy Land!  If you have any special prayer intentions that you'd like us to bring on our pilgrimage, we'll write them down and leave them at the Western Wall - just message us.  Please pray for our safe travels!

A 'Bad' Day in Austria

Today we went to the Solebad in Gostling, about a 20 minute drive through the mountains from us (and I drove us both ways without stalling!!)  Sole means salt water in German.  Bad means spa or pool or swim or bathroom.  Yes, all those possible meanings for one word.  Knowing this helps makes sense of the translation that Google Translate offers on the pool's website:

Family Action Reduction --

From 2 full paying adults pay adolescents (6-15 years) only € 6.50 or € 10.50 incl. Sauna and can spend the whole day in the bathroom.

Luckily, we chose to spend our whole day in the pool and not the bathroom :)

The spa experience is apparently a very Austrian thing to do.  And I see why!  At this spa there were indoor and outdoor pools, with salt water that is 90-93 degrees, a huge slide, and a children's area.  You can also get a massage, go tanning, or go to the sauna.  But a little FYI about the sauna area -- almost everyone is naked.  Fortunately, we were warned of this little fact before we had to make the decision of whether we wanted to pay for solebad & sauna, or just solebad - we opted for the latter.  We've heard from friends that if you do decide to go to the sauna you can keep your towel wrapped around you, but that no one else will be covered.  Even the locker rooms are a little different than the average back home -- they're co-ed, but there are little private changing rooms and separate bathrooms for men and women.

Our family had a blast at the Bad!  Not a bad day at all!

Ellie took swim lessons at Francis' age, he just hangs out at the spa.

Children's area - snake slide! (not sure why that old man is up there)

2 indoor pools

You can swim out to the outdoor pool - with a view of the surrounding mountains

Here's one view from outside - you can see the large slide

Mom, why can't we go in the sauna??

Christmastime in Austria

Merry Christmas!  We had a great first Christmas as a family in Austria. Here's our Christmas card photo taken a few weeks ago when we actually had some snow (now it's all gone - except for on the mountaintops!)

On Christmas Day it was just our family, our neighbors with three young boys, the four Sisters, one of the professors, and one priest. We had Mass at the Kartause and later that day had dinner at our neighbors' house. It was a relaxing and lovely day concluding with us all singing Silent Night (which was written in Austria, by the way).

On Christmas Eve Day, we distributed the Christmas cookies we made, decorated the Christmas tree, and made a gingerbread house. 

Christmas morning Ellie was very excited to discover that Rudolph had been to our house and eaten some of the carrot she left for him. And to find the choo-choo train and truck she had requested. Borrowing the idea from a friend, we each received three main gifts (like Baby Jesus received from the Wise Men) - J.O.Y.
J - a gift to bring you closer to Jesus. 

O - a gift to share with others. 

Y - a gift just for you.
There was a lot of joy in giving/receiving the presents!

We then sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, had birthday cake for breakfast, and walked to church. 

Today we drove about two hours away to Strobl, a village on Lake Wolfgangsee. Three villages around the lake have large Advent/Christmas Markets and the way you travel between them is by boat! We boarded a boat in Strobl and crossed the lake to St. Wolfgang. They all have huge and unique Nativity Scenes. Floating in front of St. Wolfgang is the huge Light of Peace Latern. We bought a little latern while we were there so that we can bring the Bethlehem Light into our home. There is a candle at the Kartause that was originally lit in Bethlehem during Advent and has made its way to Vienna and all throughout Austria and neighboring countries. You can read more about this beautiful tradition on the TOR Sisters' blog.

Happy Feast of the Holy Family from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas!!