We arrived in Nazareth on Sunday evening. We stayed with the Sisters of Nazareth for two days and three nights.
Our first day in Nazareth we were so excited, we started our day with our mass in the Annunciation Church. It was a blessing to be there where Angel Gabriel visited Mary. I did not think about the time, I just wanted to be aware of God’s presence in each moment and I was able to enter to my inner self as a normal woman like Mary always listening to God’s word.
I was also very happy to find Mary’s images in the wall of the Basilica from the different countries especially from my country “Guatemala “when I saw it I was shouting with full of joy. After that we went to St Joseph Church, later we visited Mary’s house we arrived too early but sister Norika of Chemin Neuf Community welcomed us, she was very kind explaining to us and she invited us to the top of the building where we could find their church of unity that intended to have peace for the whole world. We also appreciated more the view of the whole Nazareth on the top of that building.
This day we visited seven places because those places are close to one another like the white mosque, Mary’s well and the Synagogue where Jesus used to preached. We had a very nice lunch in the Arabic Restaurant that gave us more energy to walk. Then, we decided to go to the place where we can read from the Gospel of Luke 4:16-30 where people wanted to throw Jesus of the cliff. The place is called the mount of Precipice, we prayed there and we remembered all the people especially  those people who have the courage to proclaim God’s words. In every place that we visited this day we had a moment of silence and reflection. We are also praying for our families, friends and for our congregation. This day is the Blessed day for everybody!

written by Alejandra

Day 1 Nazareth (Alejandra)
Nazareth is not cited in either the Old Testament or the Talmud. Josephus Flavius, a 1st Century Romano Jewish historian, referred to Sepphoris in his writing but made no mention of Nazareth. It must have been a small and unimportant place at the time. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” there were good geographical reasons for this question. Archaeological evidence indicates that it was a Jewish city during the time of Jesus and in that time the population more than 120-150 people. During excavations in Caesarea in 1962 a fragment of marble plaque was discovered with Hebrews Description which contained a list of priestly families, who has settled in Galilee during the late Roman era. Among them is mentioned a family in Nazareth and is the earliest reference to Nazareth in the Jewish epigraphy. So the designation of Jesus, the Natzorean, means in the first place that he was of Davidic lineage rather than came from Nazareth. “He will be called a Nazarene” (Mt 2:23) Should be taken to refer to Jesus as the netzer-shoot out of the tribe of David.