The Pope and the Patriarch at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Holy Father Pope Francis is scheduled to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land May 24-26, 2014.  There he will meet with representatives from all of the ancient churches in Jerusalem including the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The Pope states that he was inspired to do this by Bartholomew’s invitation at his installation (the first attended by a Patriarch of Constantinople in more than a millennium) last March.  Deo gratias! and wonderful news!

The Courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that covers the ground where our Lord was crucified, died, and rose from the dead in Jerusalem (taken by me August 1, 2011).

The Courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that covers the ground where our Lord was crucified, died, and rose from the dead in Jerusalem (taken by me August 1, 2011).

Pray the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary on Monday for the See of Constantinople, the Sorrowful Mysteries on Tuesday for the See of Antioch, the Glorious Mysteries on Wednesday for the See of Jerusalem, the Luminous Mysteries on Thursday for the See of Alexandria, and the Sorrowful Mysteries on Friday for the See of Carthage; for their liberty and their salvation and the restoration of their ancient position as pillars of the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church in communion with the See of Peter in Rome; for the conversion of the Jewish people and the conversion of the Muslim peoples that peace be brought to this earth.

Merry Christmas!!!

Today is the celebration in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church of the Solemnity of the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord: Merry Christmas!  Today the Creator of all things comes as a frail and helpless little child to live among us.  The turn of the age was when Mary, the Mother of God, said yes to God through the Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation and today that change is manifested in the form of an infant lying in swaddling clothes in a manger in a cave on a hillside.  There is much to this.

 

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  The wire star above and to the right of the doorway marks the spot under which Jesus Christ was born (Taken by me August 3, 2011).

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The wire star above and to the right of the doorway marks the spot under which Jesus Christ was born (Taken by me August 3, 2011).