THE HIDDEN CHRISTIAN POOR IN THE FIRST CITY OF CHRISTENDOM
The greatest providence to humanity is surely that Almighty God should chose to become man.
The place of this wonder of wonders was not any of the cities of classical antiquity but five and a half miles south of Jerusalem, at the little town of Bethlehem. Here David was anointed king by the prophet Samuel (I Samuel 16) and here the Son of God was born of David’s line. The infant Christ was proclaimed by a chorus of angels over the Bethlehem hills to simple shepherds, who were the first to come and worship. This first place of Christian worship is at the very centre of Bethlehem, a crude stable cut into the recesses of the local rocky terrain, but now enclosed in the great Byzantine Church of the Nativity. In the year 326 the first Christian Emperor, Constantine, began the building of this the oldest church in Christendom, his mother, the Empress St. Helena, continued the work. During the Samaritan revolt in 529 the church was largely destroyed but was to be rebuilt on Constantine’s foundations by the Emperor Justinian, since when it has been a place of continuous Christian worship. Another possible disaster was narrowly averted at the time of the Persian conquest in 614, when Persian soldiers came to sack the church, but seeing a glorious mosaic of the magi dressed in Persian court dress convinced them that the church should be spared. Thus today at the heart of Bethlehem is the most historic monument to Christianity in the world.
Brother Mark Elvins is currently visiting Bethlehem.
Here is his first report from the Holy Land.
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Greetings from the Holy Land
After waiting two days at
Heathrow Airport , with two cancellations, I flew out to Tel Aviv on BA
flight 163 at 10.30 p.m. After a sleepless night I landed at Tel Aviv
at about 6.00 a.m. on the Sunday of the Baptism of Our Lord (the flight
had been delayed for half an hour at Heathrow with de-icing). I
sleep-walked off the aircraft and almost missed the cab driver who had
come to meet me. After half an hour's drive I arrived at Bethlehem.
The funeral will be held on Friday 5th February at 12 noon at Our Lady of the Angels, Erith.
Jubilees to be celebrated in 2010
Written by Administrator
Friday, 22 January 2010
Anniversaries of Profession
24th August:
25 years: Brother James Boner
8th September:
70 years: Brother Terry Moore
50 years: Brother Anthony McDowell
50 years: Brother John Cavanagh
Anniversary of Ordination
7th March:
40 years: Brother Stephen Innes
Brother Paschal's Jubilee
Written by Administrator
Monday, 11 January 2010
The 8th December was the day of Br. Paschal Burlinson's Jubilee. To view images of the occasion, go to the Gallery page and select 'Jubilees'. You can also click HERE to download text of the Homily given by Br. Eustace (pdf 55kb).
Final Professions
Written by Administrator
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Br. Martin Sanderson O.F.M.Cap and Br. Martin Mikuskiewicz O.F.M.Cap have made their perpertual profession into the hands of their Provincial Minister Br. James Boner O.F.M.Cap on the 12th September 2009. The joyous celebration took place at the church of St. Edmund of Abingdon and St. Frideswide, the parish church which is looked after by the British Province of the Capuchin Order.
