CTS News

Midnight Mass in Saint Catherine’s Basilica in Bethlehem is a Mass unlike any other. First of all, it is in Bethlehem, right next to the grotto where the Baby Jesus was born. Then, it has a planetary flavor, most of the world’s media presenting its echoes and the numerous pilgrims coming from all five continents. It is marked by great solemnity, animated by Franciscans, sung by the Custody Choir and served by the Patriarchate’s seminarians. It gathers together some 2500 people, most standing, as well as political personalities of the rank of the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Consuls of France, Spain, Belgium and so on. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, is the main celebrant, with several bishops concelebrating. Yet even so, the miracle occurs. At the end of the celebration, most of the pilgrims have the sense of having experienced a unique moment, a moment of grace. In David’s city, they have welcomed the Prince of Peace, Jesus, and the message of Peace is renewed by the Patriarch in his homily. Although he did not miss the opportunity to denounce the situation in the country – the occupation and the internal Palestinian dissension – he also recalled the words of Saint Paul, saying, “‘Do not worry.’ This means,” Mgr Sabbah explained, “stay strong, do not collapse under the burden, and know that every day is Christmas in the life of every believer; that is, every day and in every event the God’s bounty is born in every believer who is willing to accept grace.” (Complete text of the homily here.) Only priests may continue in procession to the grotto, where the image of the Baby Jesus is placed first on the star that marks the place of his birth and then in the manger where his parents had placed him, swaddled. The pilgrims go their way, and only the regulars and those who remain in recollected in prayer see the procession return from the grotto and may then greet the Patriarch after the dignitaries have done so. It is 2:30 in the morning. The sacristans still have quite a job ahead of them to put everything in order for the morning’s Solemn Mass at 10:00 a.m., celebrated in Arabic for the local Christian community, joined by some of the pilgrims. It is Christmas, and the entire festive octave sings it.
MAB

 

  

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