Merry Christmas! The Nativity and Celebrating Christmas Well

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Christus natus est! Christ is born! More than 2000 years ago, in a cave in Bethlehem used to stable animals, God became man to save us from sin.

The story of the first Christmas is so rich, so full of food for meditation and thought. The God-man was born a Jew in the ancient land of the Israelites, the Messiah promised to Adam and to all the Chosen People (Jews) afterwards. The first people to hear about the birth of the Messiah (see Luke 2) were the shepherds, humble and poor working men. They were in the fields when angels brought them the good news that the millennia of waiting were over—the Messiah had come, he was there in Bethlehem! And so the shepherds came to adore the Divine Child. But we must remember that though shepherds were humble folk, King David, the greatest king of Israel, was a shepherd before he was a king; just as Jesus, of the line of David, was both a poor laborer and a king.

But Jesus did not come only for the Jews. Pagan kings came (see Matt. 2) to see and adore the God-man. Before they had adored creatures, but now finally, through a star, they found the Creator. Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, gathered around the rough manger where Mary gently placed her Son.