And the Glory of the Lord Shone Round About Them

Last weekend I had a chance to visit the Shepherd's Fields in Beit Sahour, just outside of Bethlehem. 

If you need a refresher on the event, I suggest Charlie Brown style.

Patricia and I stayed mostly at the Catholic site (the Orthodox have a different one nearby), but we saw some pretty beautiful things.

There's a really cool angel on the exterior of the church:

This is part of the interior of the church:

All the details of the church have to do with the angel's appearance to the shepherds, even down to the candlesticks:

Here's a look at the fields themselves, the area is full of just awesome views:

Finally we got a peek at some ruins of the Byzantine church that was once on the site, along with some caves:

I thought this was interesting; part of the first reading for the votive Mass celebrating the occasion/place:

Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God.

1 Corinthians 1:26:29