We are lucky at St. Clement’s to have a congregation particularly full of a wide variety of people with remarkable life experiences and stories to tell. None more so than Arturo Ochoa, who, born a Catholic in Ecuador, studied there at the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana at Quito, majoring in Teaching Studies with a particular emphasis on Philosophy. He then became a Missionary in Wasakentsa, a remote Amazonian community in Ecuador, and then Moatize in Western Mozambique’s Tete province. In 2007 he started his studies in Theology at the Universidâ Pontificia Salesiana in Jerusalem, Israel, being ordained a Deacon in March 2011 and a Catholic Priest in May 2012. He is now in the process of seeking ordination as an Anglican priest and has kindly agreed to share his experiences of the Holy Land as an inspiration and prologue to our long-held dream of organising a St. Clement’s Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Below you will find his articles as they become available, and we wish you happy, inspirational reading!
“THE WAY TO JERUSALEM”
This series of articles are designed to serve as a journey along the paths that Jesus himself trod in the Holy Land. My intention is to accompany readers on their spiritual reading and a journey of biblical reflection on the places where Jesus was born, grew up, lived and walked, according to the four Gospels, which are the legacy of the life of our Salvation and the living testimony of our Christian faith.
We will thus be taking a biblical journey through the Holy Land together, supported by the liturgical calendar.
Join us on this journey of faith and reflection. Merry Christmas!
Arturo Ochoa.
Biblical Studies in Jerusalem
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THEME 1.
BETHLEHEM AND THE NEW STAR.
In this Christmas season, the birthplace of Jesus becomes very important to us, engendering within us a special feeling of affection and tenderness.
The Basilica of the Nativity in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem is the focus of attention and pilgrims from all over the world. Here, under the high altar, in a small grotto, there is a 14-pointed star that marks the exact place of the birth of Jesus. In the centre of the star, there is an inscription in Latin which reads: “Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est” which can be translated as: “Here from the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was born”. The Star has a deep and symbolic meaning that is intertwined with the meaning of the coming of Christ.
As the prophet Isaiah says: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called “Wonderful”, “Counsellor”, “The mighty God”, “The everlasting Father”, “The Prince of Peace”. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah:9, 6-7). In this way the promise of the Old Testament is fulfilled with the testimony of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, from the descendants of David. The 14-pointed star in the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem testifies and confirms that God’s promise has been fulfilled, that God has indeed become man and that Jesus is the awaited Emmanuel.
THEME 2.
THE MILK GROTTO
Continuing on our way to Jerusalem, we arrive in Bethlehem as we continue through the Holy Land, and here we visit one of the places that fills us with emotion and makes our heart beat faster – the Milk Grotto.
Personally, I have always felt a real admiration for the magical and special nature of the divine gift that is a mother breastfeeding her child. A few steps away from the Basilica of the Nativity, there is a beautiful grotto of calcareous origin, where, according to tradition, the holy family took refuge from Herod’s persecution before fleeing to Egypt. “After the wise men returned to their country, an angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up. Escape to Egypt with the child and his mother, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod is going to look for the child to kill him. That night Joseph escaped to Egypt with Mary and the child, and stayed there until Herod died.“ (Matthew 2:13-15)
The Milk Grotto is a Byzantine temple, currently under the care of Catholic Franciscans, visited especially by Christian, Orthodox and Muslim women with fertility problems. In the lower part of the chapel there are three small grottoes, at the end of which there is a painting that welcomes us with the attentive gaze of the little child Jesus suckled by the mother who looks attentively at her little Son, saviour of the world.
The testimonies of the miracles granted are reflected in the writings and commemorative plaques of thousands of families and women from all over the world.
We will now continue our journey to Jerusalem.
THEME 3.
THE JUDAEAN DESERT
The desert has been considered a place of purification and penance, of absence of life and solitude, for millennia. Continuing our journey in the Holy Land and preparing ourselves for this time of Lent, I invite you to get to know together the Judean desert, which stretches from east of Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.
In the Bible, the Judean desert has been a place of wonder, refuge and salvation for many persecuted people. Thus we remember when God showed the Promised Land to Moses, who went up to Mount Nebo, situated in the land of Moab which is opposite Jericho. (Deuteronomy 32:48-50)
In this same place David fled from King Saul and took refuge in the wilderness of Judea. “Then David went from there and fled to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they came to him there“. (1 Samuel 22:1)
King Herod the Great built two fortresses in this Judean desert: Herodium and Masada.
John the Baptist lived and preached in the Judean desert. “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he of whom the prophet Isaiah spake, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight“. (Matthew 3:1-3).
Jesus was tempted 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness of Judea. “Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, and there was tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry“. (Luke 4:1-2).
The desert continues to reflect in our lives that time of loneliness and drought, of coldness and searching. In this time of Lent, let us make ‘our deserts’ a path of true conversion and preparation for our salvation.
We continue our Way to Jerusalem.
