the nativity

Caesar Augustus had issued a decree for a census to be taken of the whole world. For this purpose, everyone must go to the city of his ancestors. And since Joseph belongs to the house and line of David, he goes with the Virgin Mary from Nazareth to the town of David called Bethlehem in Judea (Luke 2:1-5).

And in Bethlehem is born our God: Jesus Christ! There is no room in the inn; he is born in a stable. And his Mother wraps him in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger (Luke 2:7).

Cold. Poverty . . .. I am Joseph’s little servant. How good Joseph is! He treats me like a son. He even forgives me if I take the Child in my arms and spend hour after hour saying sweet and loving things to him.

And I kiss him—you kiss him too!—and I rock him in my arms, and I sing to him and call him King, Love, my God, my Only-one, my All . . .! How beautiful is the Child . . . and how short the decade!