Thursday, January 28, 2016

Stella Maris Monastery

DAY 1: STOP 3.  I'm two days behind on updates so I'm still posting for yesterday. After Caeserea, we went to Haifa, a gorgeous Mediterranean seaside city.  We visited the Stella Maris (Carmelite) Monastery.  We celebrated mass in a chapel at the back of the monastery (1 Kings 18: 42-45).

The monastery serves as a center of Carmelite spirituality throughout the world.  During the erection of the church, friars were assaulted by their neighbors.  As a result, the monastery's ground floor is built out of thick walls with few and small openings covered by bars.

The monastery's main church resembles the shape of a cross. The ceiling has an image of Elijah rising to the heavens.

Above the altar stands the statue of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus on her knees. The statue is called "our mistress the Carmel". The platform stairs lead to a quarried cave in which a stone altar was built on top of the statue of Elijah.

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