“Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you Good News of a great joy . . . This day is born the Savior,” that is, he who, as Son of God and Son of the Father, has traveled (in obedience to the Father) the path that leads away from the Father and into the darkness of the world. Behind him omnipotence and freedom; before, powerlessness, bonds and obedience. Behind him the comprehensive divine vision; before him the prospect of the meaninglessness of death on the Cross between two criminals, Behind him the bliss of life with the Father; before him, grievous solidarity with all who do not know the Father, do not want to know him and deny his existence. Rejoice then, for God himself has passed this way! The Son took with him the awareness of doing the Father’s will. He took with him the unceasing prayer that the Father’s will would be done on the dark earth as in the brightness of heaven. He took with him his rejoicing that the Father had hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to babes, to the simple and the poor. “I am the way,” and this way is “the truth” for you; along this way you will find “the life.” Along “the way” that I am you will learn to lose your life in order to find it; you will learn to grow beyond yourselves and your insincerity into a truth that is greater than you are. From a worldly point of view everything may seem very dark; your dedication may seem unproductive and a failure. But do not be afraid: you are on God’s path. “Let not your hearts be troubled: believe in God; believe also in me.” I am walking on ahead of you and blazing the trail of Christian love for you. It leads to your most inaccessible brother, the person most forsaken by God. But it is the path of divine love itself. You are on the right path. All who deny themselves in order to carry out love’s commission are on the right path.

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.

Read it all.

The Word was God in the beginning and before all time. Today he is born to us, the Saviour of the world.#Vespers #EveningPrayer #Antiphon #Prayer #OctaveofChristmas #Christmas #ChristIsBorn pic.twitter.com/u15O3Q4d8i

— PrayeroftheChurch (@Neddamred) December 26, 2022

This mediator must represent God to humankind, and humankind to God. He must have points of contact with both God and humanity, and yet be distinguishable from them both. The central Christian idea of the incarnation, which expresses the belief that Jesus is both God and man, divine and human, portrays Jesus as the perfect mediator between God and human beings. He, and he alone, is able to redeem us and reconcile us to God.

—“I Believe”: Exploring the Apostles’ Creed (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1998), p.48

Christus natus est! pic.twitter.com/Wi6Vj4TWPG

— Levi Roach (@DrLRoach) December 25, 2022

“Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the Feast of Stephen” 🎶
26th December is St. Stephen’s Day. His dedicated flower is Purple Heather. This day is also known as #BoxingDay after the tradition of giving money or gift boxes to the poor or to workers in gratitude for their service. pic.twitter.com/NLkx1pSY1c

— VenetiaJane's Garden (@VenetiaJane) December 26, 2022

Look through them all.

In pictures: World celebrates #Christmas.https://t.co/fLJjhtQQcH

— High Days, Holidays & Holy Days (@DaysHolidays) December 25, 2022

Almighty God, who hast revealed the glory of thy love in the in the face of Jesus Christ, and called us by him to live as thy children: Fill our hearts, as we remember his nativity, with the gladness of this great redemption; that we may join in the heavenly song of glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, and goodwill towards men; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Day two: the arrival of awkward, eager shepherds to see this very tiny babe fails to interrupt the circle of courtly devotion in Hugo van der Goes’s Portinari Altarpiece, 1470s. pic.twitter.com/3kFkXXQ22L

— Dr. Peter Paul Rubens (@PP_Rubens) December 26, 2022

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may steadfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first martyr, Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only mediator and advocate. Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Stephen, Deacon, First Martyr https://t.co/qA6uIQ6qEx

Image: 'Devout Men Taking the Body of Saint Stephen', commissioned 1776 for St Stephen Walbrook by its Rector, Revd Thomas Wilson, & now on display in Boston, MA https://t.co/ixqFZUVg2b pic.twitter.com/zM5UiaQlae

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) December 26, 2022

Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch′orus, and Nica′nor, and Timon, and Par′menas, and Nicola′us, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.

And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.

–Acts 6:1-7

Today, December 26, is the feast of Saint Stephen.
Deacon and the First Martyr. pic.twitter.com/XisqsHvNuA

— Lester Hallig (@soundfactory72) December 25, 2022