Standing at the Gate of the Year

God Knows

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:
What need our little life
Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.
God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.
Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures
Our mind shall fill.

"The Gate of the Year" is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins. The title given to it by the author was "God Knows". She studied and then taught at the London School of Economics in the first half of the twentieth century.

The poem, published in 1908, was part of a collection titled The Desert. It caught the public attention and the popular imagination when then-Princess Elizabeth handed a copy to her father, King George VI, and he quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire. (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Church of the Lord's Prayer

There are three churches built over three significant caves in Israel. These are the birth cave in Bethlehem (Church of the Nativity), the rock-cut tomb near Golgotha (Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and the cave on the Mount of Olives with which Jesus' ascension is linked. A church was built over this cave by Queen Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. Over time, this church become closely linked with the place where Jesus taught his disciples the Pater Noster, also known as "Our Father" or the Lord's Prayer. This is the Church of the Pater Noster.

This church contains mosaics of the Lord's Prayer in over 100 languages.

cloister of the Convent of the Pater Noster

LK 11:1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."

    LK 11:2 He said to them, "When you pray, say:

  " `Father,
  hallowed be your name,
  your kingdom come.

  LK 11:3 Give us each day our daily bread.

  LK 11:4 Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
  And lead us not into temptation. ' " (NIV)

Jesus also taught the Lord’s Prayer during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6: 9-13 by the Sea of Galilee.

  MT 6:9 "This, then, is how you should pray:

  " `Our Father in heaven,
  hallowed be your name,

  MT 6:10 your kingdom come,
  your will be done
    on earth as it is in heaven.

  MT 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.

  MT 6:12 Forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

  MT 6:13 And lead us not into temptation,
  but deliver us from the evil one. ' (NIV)

the Lord's Prayer in different languages

The Gospel account provides almost no information on the location of Jesus' teaching of the Lord's Prayer, also known as the "Our Father." The 3rd-century Acts of John (ch. 97) mentions the existence of a cave on the Mount of Olives associated with the teaching of Jesus, but not specifically the Lord's Prayer.

the unfinished walls of the church

 The 4th-century Byzantine church has been partially reconstructed

courtyard with mosaic of the Lord's Prayer in different languages

The unroofed church has steps leading down into the cave, which was partially collapsed when discovered in 1910. It is an interesting medley of ancient rock cuttings, concrete supports and marble furnishings. The cave cuts partly into a 1st-century tomb.

This cave is the traditional site on the Mount of Olives where Jesus met his disciples and taught them.

in Braille

links to some of my sermons on the Lord's Prayer

The Rainbow of Prayer (dynamics of actions)

 Praying the Jesus Way (Matt. 6:5-8)

 Acknowledging: Thy kingdom come (Matt. 6:10)

 One Day at a Time (Give us this day)

 Our God Gives (Our Daily Bread)

 Accepting: Thy will be done

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The Beatitudes in Latin (Vulgate)

Stained glass windows at the base of the dome of the Church of the Beatitudes

3 beati pauperes spiritu quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum

  MT 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 beati mites quoniam ipsi possidebunt terram

  MT 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

 

5 beati qui lugent quoniam ipsi consolabuntur

  MT 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

 

6 beati qui esuriunt et sitiunt iustitiam quoniam ipsi saturabuntur

  MT 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

7 beati misericordes quia ipsi misericordiam consequentur

  MT 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

 

8 beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt

  MT 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 beati pacifici quoniam filii Dei vocabuntur

  MT 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

10 beati qui persecutionem patiuntur propter iustitiam quoniam ipsorum est regnum caelorum

  MT 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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Listening at the Church of the Beatitudes

MT 5:1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them, saying:

  MT 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

  MT 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

  MT 5:5 Blessed are the meek,  for they will inherit the earth.

  MT 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

  MT 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

  MT 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

  MT 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.

  MT 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    MT 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The Church of the Beatitudes is on a small hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee near Tabgha and Capernaum in Israel. It was built on the traditional site of Jesus' delivery of the Sermon on the Mount.

the altar at the centre of the church

beautiful stained glass windows with the words of the Beatitudes

The natural formation of the land near the Sea of Galilee makes a wonderful amphitheater

Apparently if you speak at a certain site in the natural amphitheater, your voice may carry far. Jesus may have sat and preached from a rock such as these above.


    MT 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

    MT 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

My posts on my Holy Land pilgrimage so far

Israel

• Facing our Jerichos (Jericho)
• Why will you climb a tree (a sycamore tree)
• Mount of Temptation
• A good deed remembered (Bet She'an)
• David and Saul at Ein Gedi
• Tel Megiddo
• Water System in Tel Megiddo
• The "Jesus Boat" and the Storms of life
• A Town Cursed by Jesus
• Visiting Nazareth
• Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth
• Inside the Basilica of the Annunciation
• Museum of the Basilica of the Annunciation
• Joseph, father of  Jesus (St. Joseph Church, Nazareth)
• Singing Gloria in Excelsis at the Shepherds' Fields
• Views from the Shepherds' Fields
• The Church of the Nativity
• The Grottos of the Nativity
• St. Catherine Church in Bethlehem
• St. Jerome's Cave
  

Jordan

• Rabbath Ammon
• Mabada
• Mt.Nebo
• Petra

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St. Jerome's Cave

statue of St Jerome in the courtyard of St. Catherine Church

 St Jerome (also known as Hieronymus, the Latin version of Jerome) spent more than 36 years in the Holy Land. He was well-known for his ascetic lifestyle and his passionate involvement in doctrinal controversies such as one with Rufinus and another with the Pelagians.

At his feet is a skull, a symbol of the transience of human existence.

In the caves below the Church of the nativity, St. Jerome spent almost 30 years translating the Scriptures into Greek and Greek into Latin. His translation is known as the Vulgate. He started in 386 AD

Jerome died in 420 and was buried in one of the caves. His body was subsequently moved to Constantinople and then to Rome, where his bones rest today in the Basilica of 
Santa Maria Maggiore.
 

chapel in St. Jerome's Cave

The Chapel of the Holy Innocents. This is said to be the burial place of infants killed by King Herod in his attempt to eliminate the newborn “King of the Jews”.

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St. Catherine Church in Bethlehem

This church is the traditional site where Jesus appeared to St. Catherine and informed her that she will be martyred. Her body is buried on Mt. Sinai. A beautiful church built upon the foundations of a Crusader church. The front facade has a statute of St. Catherine.

St. Catherine Church is beside the Church of the Nativity and is accessible by a doorway.

A small staircase at the side of this church leads back to the grottos underneath the Church of the Nativity Church and to St. Jerome's cave.

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