The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding.

–Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth.

–Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light;
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

–Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

Merciful and most loving God, by whose will and bountiful gift Jesus Christ our Lord humbled himself that he might exalt mankind; and became flesh that he might restore in us the most celestial image; and was born of the Virgin that he might uplift the lowly: Grant unto us the inheritance of the meek, perfect us in thy likeness, and bring us at last to rejoice in beholding thy beauty, and with all thy saints to glorify thy grace; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Almighty God, as we keep the festival of the divine humility of thy Son Jesus Christ, we beseech thee to bestow upon us such love and charity as were his, to whom it was more blessed to give than to receive, and who came not to be ministered unto but to minister; that in his name we may consecrate ourselves to the service of all who are in need; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

O Father, who hast declared thy love to men by the birth of the Holy Child at Bethlehem: Help us to welcome him with gladness and to make room for him in our common days; so that we may live at peace with one another and in goodwill with all thy family; through the same thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Check it out.

Among the oxen (like an ox I’m slow)
I see a glory in the stable grow
Which, with the ox’s dullness might at length
Give me an ox’s strength.

Among the asses (stubborn I as they)
I see my Savior where I looked for hay;
So may my beastlike folly learn at least
The patience of a beast.

Among the sheep (I like a sheep have strayed)
I watch the manger where my Lord is laid;
Oh that my baa-ing nature would win thence
Some woolly innocence.

–C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

The Christmas story is certainly filled with feeling and emotion””Mary, Joseph and the Child in the stable setting; with joy””angels singing as they announce the birth to the shepherds; and generous gift giving””the Magi visiting and presenting their gold, frankincense and myrrh.

However, there is another element in the story that the Gospels of Luke and Matthew present: it is the element of fear. The angel Gabriel tells Mary when she hears the news of God’s invitation to her, “Do not be afraid Mary;” Joseph is told in a dream “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife;” the shepherds are told by the angel “Do not be afraid; we bring you tidings of great joy.”

We might ask, “Is there something that we should be afraid of?” Is it the child? Is it the miraculous power of God? Is it the presence of the Holy Spirit? Or perhaps, is it a combination of all these things and the challenges that this magnificent event of history will present to us?
I tend to believe that there is a certain anxiety in responding to the great challenges that the Christmas story offers us. Just think of it: God chooses to become a human being so that we might be able to come freely to the realization of God’s love and presence in our own lives and in our world. God chooses to become a human being so that we might experience more fully the bond between the human and divine.

In so choosing, Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, experiences all that we do: birth, joy and happiness, suffering, pain and death, all because God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son. And this God, through the life and teaching of Jesus, tells us that we should love one another as He loves us! We should be willing to give ourselves away for the sake of others as Jesus gives himself away for the life of the world.

I can understand being somewhat fearful of all the implications of this wonderful and sacred event. The sweet, gentle baby born in the humblest of circumstances will grow up to present a challenge to us to participate fully in the building up of the Kingdom of God by being people who will sacrifice much to achieve this end.

There is a Christmas carol that asks the question: “Mary did you know that this child you would deliver will soon deliver you? Did you know that He would save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy will give sight to the blind? The dumb will speak, the lame will walk, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again. Mary did you know?” Did anyone know?

But they all knew that somehow God was breaking into our world and the angels proclaimed that there was nothing to be fearful of; we should rejoice and be glad as we sing God’s praises and realize that human life would never again be the same. He shows us that vulnerability and human weakness is to be embraced with trust and confidence that God is indeed with us””Emmanuel.

The Child encourages us to trust Him; to acknowledge our own weakness; and to recognize that without His help we cannot survive and that joined to Him, love and peace will be given a chance. This Christmas, may we all be blessed with the faith that will recognize Him in the poverty of our own lives as Mary and Joseph, the angels, shepherds and the wise men recognized Him in the poverty of Bethlehem. And may we too heed the words of the angels: do not be afraid; this day we bring you tidings of great joy.

Merry Christmas and the choicest of God’s blessings in 2010!

–(The Most Rev.) Robert E. Guglielmone is Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina

We give thee thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to thy Son Jesus Christ, who standeth at thy right hand: where he liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.

But the object of divine action in the Incarnation is man. God’s free decision is and remains a gracious decision; God becomes man, the Word becomes flesh. The Incarnation means no apparent reserved, but a real and complete descent of God. God actually became what we are, in order actually to exist with us, actually to exist for us, in thus becoming and being human, not to do what we do-sin; and to do what we fail to do”“God’s, His own, will; and so actually, in our place, in our situation and position to be the new man. It is not in His eternal majesty”“in which He is and remains hidden from us”“but as this new man and therefore the Word in the flesh, that God’s Son is God’s revelation to us and our reconciliation with God. Just for that reason faith cannot look past His humanity, the cradle of Bethlelhem and the cross of Golgotha in order to see Him in His divinity, Faith in the eternal Word of the Father is faith in Jesus of Nazareth or it is not the Christian faith.

–Karl Barth (1886-1968)

Ever since I first heard it, my favorite Christmas song–KSH.

”¦[T]here must be no weakening or obscuring of the saving truth that the nature which God assumed in Christ is identical with our nature as we see it in the light of the Fall. If it were otherwise, how could Christ really be like us? ”¦ God’s Son not only assumed our nature but He entered the concrete form of our nature, under which we stand before God as men damned and lost”¦.

–Karl Barth (1886-1968)

Each year at Christmas, Vatican Radio asks leaders of Christian Churches, ecclesial communities and charitable organizations to share their greetings and reflections on the significance of the season with listeners. This evening, we bring you a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams….

Listen to it all (2 1/2 minutes).