Gaudete in Domino semper

St. Catherine’s parish
Church of the Nativity

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice...  The Lord is near. (Philippians 4:4-5)

Today, we celebrated the Sunday Mass in the parish of Saint Catherine, which is the Catholic side of the Church of the Nativity here in Bethlehem.

Yes, Mass was in Arabic.  No, I did not understand a word, nor do I read the Arabic language.

It was nice to have an easy Sunday.  After Mass, we met with the Franciscan pastor and some of the parishioners and talked about parish life for a while.

I arrived early for Mass and took a couple pictures of the Orthodox liturgy in progress on their side of the church.  It was quite something, since the Greeks were going in the main sanctuary and the Armenians (I assume) were in the grotto of the Nativity – both chanting away.  At one point, three masses were occurring simultaneously.  It was a beautiful thing just to be caught up in the sung prayer while I walked through.

Happy Gaudete Sunday to you all.  The Lord is very near indeed.  And so is Christmas!