Midnight Mass in Bethlehem

Not perhaps as romantic as it sounds.

It was wet. Very wet. Not that we should complain - this country needs the rain.

We came by coach with a load of Salesians and fellow-travellers, arriving in Bethlehem at about 9pm on Christmas Eve, and were immediately herded towards the church. Not that any of us were keen to stay out in the rain. But the urgency of the organisers was to get us inside and through the security checks before the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, arrived.

Practically speaking, for us priests that meant that we had to be vested and on the sanctuary two hours before Mass started. Having plenty of time to pray in preparation is a good thing, of course - but two hours late in the evening, when I was still slightly damp, taxed my endurance.

Once things kicked off with the Office of Readings, however, it was all worthwhile. There was a lot of good singing (to my untrained ears) and a joyful and hopeful atmosphere (despite the political circumstances). The following two-and-a-half hours went surprisingly fast. Most of the proceedings were in Latin, but with healthy doses of Arabic (which is of course the local language), English, and Italian, and occasional bits in French, German, Spanish, and Hebrew. I was relieved that the homily was in English - I guess the bishop was aware of the international mix of the congregation and of the fact that the service is broadcast internationally. He preached wisely and well, sensitive to the Gospel message and the particular circumstances (including the presence of Mahmoud Abbas, who stayed until the end of the homily and departed before the liturgy of the Eucharist - as is traditional for the unbaptized).

You can watch and listen to the Mass here:

The bishop's homily is from 00:53:40 to 1:08:40. Exactly 15 minutes - I don't know how he did that. You can also spot yours truly at 2:10:55, if you want proof that I was there!

Of course the most important thing was the fact that we were celebrating in the same place where the original Christmas story actually happened. This was emphasised several times during the liturgy: in various prayers or antiphons when the birth of Jesus was mentioned there was an added "HERE" or "in THIS PLACE" (or the Latin equivalent thereof). The finale of the service was a procession next door and downstairs into the Grotto of the Nativity, where we venerated the place of Jesus' birth.

The heavy rain continued throughout the service and for our walk back to the coach station - I had to splash through a small river running down the road at one point - and we weren't home in Jerusalem until nearly 3am; but it was all worth it.

One final detail: on our way across the border between Israel and Palestine we were stopped at the checkpoint - but only so that a representative of the Israel Ministry of Tourism could wish us Merry Christmas and hand out bags of sweets. A nice gesture. Although a couple of the Salesians joked together about whether the sweets originated with Mossad and contained tracking devices so that they could follow our movements.

On St Stephen's Day some of us paid another visit to Bethlehem - a dry and sunny one this time! Photos in the next post.