On December 25, five thousand, one hundred and ninety-nine years after the creation of the world, in a little stable in the town of Bethlehem, six miles southwest of Jerusalem, of a beautiful young virgin, fifteen years, three months and seventeen days old, took place the birth of all births in the history of the world. The Eternal and Everlasting God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, generated in the bosom of the Father before all ages, having taken a human nature (a human soul and a human body) came forth like light from the womb of Mary of Nazareth, in the town of Bethlehem in Judea. Mary was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus. The nativity of Jesus did not in any way alter the virginal character of her body. Jesus issued from Mary’s womb as light comes through a window. Mary at once wrapped Jesus in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the straw of a manger, where an ox and an ass had been eating. Angels at once began to sing on the hilltops, to tell innocent shepherds what had happened. A star which began to shine on March 25, nine months before, was leading Kings from the East to show them where God was born. It was Christmas Day. The crib in which Our Lord was laid when He was born is now kept in the Church of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
See also: Christmas postings.
Nativity, by Jacob de Backer
