The Church of the Annunciation in Galilee was one of my favorite churches in the Holy Land. It is new and has brilliant stained glass windows. Inside the church and in a large courtyard outside there were depictions of the Annunciation from a large number of countries in a wide variety of styles and materials. Each country usually depicted the figures to look like they belonged to that country. Most of them were really beautiful. My favorite was this one from the Phillipines.
By having Mary and the angel and Jesus look like they came from all these different countries helped me to think that when God took on our flesh, it wasn't just as the individual Jesus who walked the roads of the Holy Land. God entered into all flesh, all humanity, all the world. Teilhard de Chardin said, "By virtue of creation, and still more of the Incarnation, there is nothing profane for those who know how to see."
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