In Bethlehem it is customary to celebrate the Midnight Mass at the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine and afterwards go in procession to the Grotto of the Nativity of the Lord where the Gospel of the Mass is again proclaimed and, as the Gospel narrates, Baby Jesus is wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in the Manger.

In Bethlehem the rite of the opening of the Great Jubilee of the year 2000 was celebrated during the mass and procession to the Nativity Grotto. These, together with the liturgical actions held in the Grotto, formed part the opening rite. Concelebrating with the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, were the Very Rev. Fr. Giovnni Battistelli, Custos of the Holy Land, the auxiliary latin bishops and the catholic bishops of the eastern churches of Jerusalem. Present for this celebration was the president of the Palestinian authority, Mr. Yasser Arafat, together with other heads of State among them the president of the Spanish Government Mr. José María Aznar and Mr. Massimo D¹Alema, president of the Italian Counsil. The Custody of the Holy Land, as is customary, offered to all those present, a book in seven languages containing the music of the hymns, printed in two colours by the Franciscan Printing Press and which served to help those present to better follow the celebrations.

The assembly participated fully in the festive singing. For this contributed the choir of the Custody of the Holy Land under the direction of Mro Armando Pierucci ofm who for the occasion wrote a new mass "Mater Misericordiae" unifying his music with the Gregorian melody of the "Missa de Angelis". The assembly sang a maronite and arabic melody.

After the communion prayer the Jubilee was proclaimed. The Patriarch pronounced a triple trinitarian laud to which the assembly replied with a trinitarian response. The Patriarch exhorted to listen to the Gospel. In this exhortation he reminded of the anniversary, 20 centuries - two millennia, from the birth of Our Lord, "the same yesterday, today and forever". He emphasised the exceptional particularity of this anniversary in the place where it took place. A fusion of time and space to where pilgrims from all over the world gather as if coming to a spring of fresh water.

A prayer preceded the proclamation of the Jubilee Gospel: the coming of the Son of God signs the beginning of the new time which is the motive for the joy of the Spirit. The Gospel proclaimed was that of Luke 4,14-21: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour."

The Gospel reading was followed by the proclamation of the Jubilee by the Patriarch followed by the Custos of the Holy Land with the acclamation of the choir singing: " Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth" (Psalm 99,4) and the people proclaiming "Glory to God in the highest". It is the proclamation of a great joy which consists in the birth of the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ. A birth foreseen in the History of Salvation, fulfilled by the Holy Spirit through the Virgin Mary, exactly at the place to where the procession starts moving to celebrate it at the same site. So doing all the liturgical action is adapted to the time and space. This is a motive of joy in heaven and earth. This anniversary day is the beginning of a year dear to the Lord, a year of mercy and grace, reconciliation and pardon, salvation and peace, a jubilee year!

The procession to the Grotto started in this atmosphere singing Psalm 117 " Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good" with the refrain " Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord". It is the same refrain which was sung by the faithful of the fourth century coming to Bethlehem from Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Epiphany around their bishop. It is the same refrain which accompanied and accompanies the procession of palm Sunday. This is because Easter starts at the Grotto of Bethlehem with the birth of the Lord and is consumed in Jerusalem during the Paschal triduum.

The procession goes out of the Church and into the cloister of St. Jerome from where it enters through a communicating door into the Justinian basilica of the Nativity which was erected on the Nativity Grotto. It is not the "Holy Door" which is opened and closed in the strict and traditional way. With the coming of Christ in This Holy Land he opened the door of salvation which cannot be closed. He came in a dark Grotto and illuminated it forever, the light over all lights. The Patriarch held in his hands the statue of Baby Jesus and the Custos carried the Gospel. When the procession arrived at the above mentioned communicating door, which was decorated for the occasion, the Custos turned and showed the Gospel to the assembly and then entered into the basilica. At the same time the antiphon " I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture" (Jn 10,9) was sung. and the Gospel was incensed by a deacon. The Word which was from the beginning became flesh!

The procession continued within the basilica and down to the Grotto with the chanting of the traditional hymn "Jesu, Redemptor omnium".

In the Grotto a deacon sung the Gospel of Luke (2,1-14). He interrupted the singing to wrap in swaddling cloths the statue of the child Jesus which was carried by the Patriarch and then laid him in the manger. The assembly joined in with the singing of the Glory of the angels proclaimed in the gospel. An alternate antiphon commemorated the events of this night as recounted in the Gospel: the birth of the Creator of the world in a humble grotto, the swaddling cloths, the crib, the visit by the shepherds and the Magi, the vision of the star and the singing of the angels. The proclamation of the Jubilee was concluded by the prayer of the Pope in this atmosphere of incense and the revelation of light in the dark grotto. The singing of the Te Deum accompanied the procession back to the Church of St. Catherine where the ecclesiastical authorities received the greetings of the civil authorities.