My own feeling is that writers who see by the light of their Christian faith will have, in these times, the sharpest eyes for the grotesque, for the perverse, and for the unacceptable. In some cases, these writers may be unconsciously infected with the Manichaean spirit of the times and suffer the much-discussed disjunction between sensibility and belief, but I think that more often the reason for this attention to the perverse is the difference between their beliefs and the beliefs of their audience. Redemption is meaningless unless there is case for it in the actual life we live, and for the last few centuries there has been operating in our culture the secular belief that there is no such cause.

The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs as you do, you can relax a little and use more normal means of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock, to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures.

—Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969) pp. 33-34 [my emphasis]

#Gospel of the Day (Luke 2,1-14)
“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.”https://t.co/QH4rR866QA pic.twitter.com/0NvQVE2GQa

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) December 24, 2019

Read it all.

Jesus is light, life and love.

Here's my Christmas Day sermon at Canterbury Cathedral this morning. #MerryChristmas #FollowTheStar 🌟https://t.co/u8r3ZNQFjc

— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) December 25, 2019

You may find the full text there (click on the “show more” under the video link).

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

Lyrics–The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be
of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

19 Apple Tree Varieties That’ll Knock Your Socks Off https://t.co/2o7VXWkNTE #apples #growyourown pic.twitter.com/cMjmLS83ls

— Gardener’s Path (@Gardeners_Path_) December 24, 2018

Miracles happen along this path. Apparently insignificant miracles, noticed by hardly anyone. The very finding of a Child wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger—is this not a miracle in itself? Then there is the miracle when a particular mission, hidden in a person’s heart, really reaches its goal, bringing God’s peace and joy where there were nothing but despair and resignation; when someone succeeds in striking a tiny light in the midst of an overpowering darkness. When joy irradiates a heart that no longer dared to believe in it. Now and again we ourselves are assured that the angel’s word we are trying to obey will bring us to the place where God’s Word and Son is already made man. We are assured that, in spite of all the noise and nonsense, today, December 25, is Christmas just as truly as two millennia ago. Once and for all God has started out on his journey toward us, and nothing, till the world’s end, will stop him from coming to us and abiding in us.

–from the sermon “Setting out Into the Dark with God” in You Crown the Year With Your Goodness: Sermons Throughout the Liturgical Year (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1989)

The annunciation to the shepherds, Luke 2:10-11 (NIV): “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” 15thC Book of Hours [MS 455] #ChristmasEve pic.twitter.com/337zT9Gz8i

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) December 24, 2018

“Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst.”

–Thomas Merton, “The Time of the End Is the Time of No Room” in Raids on the Unspeakable (New York: New Directions, 1966), pp. 51-52

“My idea of God has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself… Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of His presence? The Incarnation leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins.”
~ C.S.Lewis
—-
📷 Banksy ‘Scar of Bethlehem’ pic.twitter.com/x6n8pZrnKO

— Pete Greig (@PeteGreig) December 24, 2019

O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia
O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament, that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger! Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia!

Twas much,
that man was
made like God before,
But that God should
be like man
much more

–John Donne (1572-1631)

From my family to yours may this day of celebrating & rejoicing in the incarnation – God robed in humanity – be a day where His Presence is made manifest to your heart & spirit. May you find the peace & joy described by angelic hosts now available to all people.
Merry #CHRISTmas! pic.twitter.com/y73AvrOB8U

— Dave Pellowe 🇦🇺 (@DavePellowe) December 24, 2019

She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word
was revelation.

She said
they were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost. The lady rode
a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lited the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
to silver dollars.
The baby was God.

And she jumped in the air
whirled around, dove into the sofa
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.

–John Shea, The Hour of the Unexpected

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” Isaiah 9:6 (NIV). Merry Christmas from all of us @lampallib! However you choose to spend it, we hope you have a wonderful day. Image from Scenes of the Nativity, written & illuminated by Mr & Mrs A. Trevor, 19th century [MS 1563] pic.twitter.com/lSVWB00RR9

— LambethPalaceLibrary (@lampallib) December 25, 2018

We pray thee, O Lord, to purify our hearts that they may be worthy to become thy dwelling place. Let us never fail to find room for thee, but come and abide in us that we also may abide in thee, who as at this time wast born into the world for us, and dost live and reign, King of kings and Lord of lords, now and for evermore.

–William Temple (1881-1944)

Mattins of Christmas Day and the glorious mystery of the Incarnation.

We say of an Infant:

“Today if ye will hear his voice” (Venite);

“O Lord, my strength and my redeemer” (Ps.19);

“God, of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds” (Athanasian Creed). pic.twitter.com/jvjfg9InDG

— laudablePractice (@cath_cov) December 25, 2019

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

–Micah 4:1-5

¡Muchas gracias Érika!

Filippo Lippi 🇮🇹 (1457-1504)
“Adoration of the Magi”
c. 1496 pic.twitter.com/ykSiMS0Pug

— Dionisio Olavarrieta (@djolavarrieta) December 25, 2019