The Nativity

"On this Saturday, I invite you to contemplate this bit of wisdom from St.Ambrose of Milan: 'He took what is mine in order that He might impart to me what is His. He took it not to overturn it but to fill it.' If we are to ever escape the constant and consistent gravitational pull of mediocrity and pride, we will have to come to grips with the reality that God became flesh for our sake.

Stop. Take a moment. When you enter the sanctuary of your church, look around. Does it make visible the reality of the enfleshing of God? Is your life filled with constant reminders that God has become flesh? Do you believe in the Incarnation of God to the point that it changes your behavior toward others, toward God, even toward yourself.

This Christmas season is given to us to contemplate that very reality and to go further; to also contemplate the twin reality of the Incarnation, the enfleshing of God - We are called to be "engodded" as He is enfleshed.

Perhaps the times for excuses and half-measures are over in your life. Perhaps it's time to throw off the mundane and mediocre and actually stand in the face of the glory of the Manger and deal with the implications of that creation-changing event. Perhaps it's time to re-christianize Christmas in your life.

Just a thought. Do with it what you will." - Fr. Barnabas Powell

Christ on Earth

Christ is born on earth

to crush the power of evil,

to enlighten those in darkness,

and to free the captives.

Let us go forth to meet Him.

On The Date of Christmas

• Christmas has always been celebrated on December 25th
• St. John Chrysostom says that the Romans had records of the first enrollment under Cyrenius (Quirinius), which the Bible alludes to as the time when Christ was born. Since Chrysostom's time, those records were destroyed, but St. John is as credible a witness as anyone.
• Zacharias saw the vision in the Temple on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). This feast occurs on the 10th of Tishrei, which usually falls between mid-September to mid-October. In 2012 it was on September 25th. Zachariah and his wife, Elisabeth conceived John the Baptist at that time. Six months later, about March 25th, Christ was conceived in Mary. Nine months later Jesus was born on December 25th. If Christ was born in the spring, as some detractors contend, then the whole timeline is off.
• Regarding shepherds "watching their flocks by night". The weather in what was then Judea around December 25th is generally pleasant. The shepherds were out watching their flocks because of the census. There was no room for flocks in Bethlehem, so it is reasonable that the sheep were pastured, or even within temporary folds. No doubt the shepherds would have been watching them at night to ensure the security of their flocks.

(cf. The Nativity by Rev. W.P. Ten Broeck, 1889)