2023-05-04 03:19:00
May 3, 2023 / 8:19 p.m
As part of the celebration of the month of Mary, Kathleen Nichols, a Regnum Christi consecrated person, shared images of the house of the Virgin Mary located in Nazareth, in the Holy Land.
In a video shared with ACI Prensa, Nichols explains that the Basilica of the Annunciation of said city “is built on the house of Mary”, the latter being divided into two floors: the “upper part, where José lived”, and “the lower part”, where “María lived, which is the area of the cave”.
The director of the Annual Meeting for Women in Magdala also commented that “the Byzantines built a church in front of the grotto as seen in the mosaics.” In addition, she added, “the baptismal font, which indicates a very lively Christian community,” is of great relevance.
As highlighted by the consecrated, Master of Theology, another very significant element is an inscription that says “Ave Maria” which is located next to the cave. “That quotes the Gospel of Luke, the words that the Angel said to Mary: Hail Mary,” he said.
No less remarkable is the fact that Mary lived there, so “this tells us that the first Christians were here praying, in this very place, which they kept as important and holy,” said Kathleen Nichols.
Finally, Nichols invited to reflect on the announcement of the Angel of the Lord to Mary by expressing a prayer to open the possibility of a deeper meditation on this mystery of faith.
“What was the last invitation that God made to me? How did I hear it? What did he invite me to? Here I want to say like You, Maria, ‘be done’. Today more than yesterday, may the will of God act in my life and in the lives of the people around me. ‘Fiat’, let it be done, come, Lord Jesus”, expressed the consecrated woman.
Brief history of the Basilica of the Annunciation
The Basilica of the Annunciation was built in the 1960s so that pilgrims could visit the place where the Blessed Virgin Mary pronounced her fiat to the work of redemption by accepting to be the Mother of God.
It was built on the place where before there were successively three ancient churches and a synagogue.
The first church was built by Count José de Tiberias in the 5th century, but the inscription in honor of the Virgin Mary could be older.
The Crusaders replaced that Byzantine church with a cathedral, which was destroyed in 1263 by Mamluk Baybars, the last sultan of Egypt.
In the year 1620 the Franciscans obtained possession of the ruins, but they were not allowed to build a new church until 1730, the same one that was enlarged in 1877 and demolished in 1955.
Thanks to excavations carried out in 1755, the grotto of the Annunciation and part of the external area of the Byzantine church were discovered, together with the remains of the synagogue in front of them, in which Jesus is believed to have taught.
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