To all Catholics, tonight is Christmas Eve.
Usually full of tourists, the Holy Manger Square and in front of the Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem, where according to Christian belief Jesus was born, is empty today due to the war in the Gaza Strip.
In the Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, the nativity scene looks different this Christmas because, instead of a crib with baby Jesus in a manger full of hay, there is a Jesus Christ doll wrapped in the famous black and white Palestinian keffiyeh and lying among broken stone blocks, the London Guardian reports.
Christmas celebrations have been canceled across the Holy Land this year of war, as more than 20.000 Palestinians are mourned in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
"This is the reality of Christmas for Palestinian children." If Jesus was born today, he would have been born under the ruins of Gaza," said Munter Isaac, pastor of the Lutheran Church, as reported by the Guardian.
Two days ago, Aljazeera reported the decision of the municipality of Bethlehem that this year Christmas will pass without lights, a traditional Christmas tree and a nativity scene.
In all churches of the Roman Catholic faith, on Christmas Eve and Christmas, parts of the Gospel are read about the birth of Christ, an event in Bethlehem that changed the history of mankind. Believers come to present the Nativity scene, which is traditionally improvised in all temples, as a memory of the three wise men from the East who, according to tradition, arrived in Bethlehem following the brightest star that stopped right above the cave of Christ's birth for 40 days.
Belgrade Archbishop and Metropolitan Ladislav Nemet said today in a guest appearance on RTS that "Christmas time should be a time when friends celebrate together, when the family meets again, but it is necessary to leave the phone at those moments. We should calm our souls and hearts, because the huge amount of information we receive suppresses our desire to notice the beauty around us," said Nemet.
"The greatest message of Christmas is to spread love, warmth and light around us, not darkness and hatred," said Archbishop Ladislav Nemet.
S.Ć./RTS
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