And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12
A baby- Appearances can deceive. Yet, prophets like Isaiah and Micah foretold the Messiah being born a baby, from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and Isaiah prophesied a virgin giving birth to a son named Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14)
Q: How much did baby Jesus weigh?
A: Six pounds, seven ounces. We know this from the Christmas song a "weigh in a manger."
Christmas is for the purpose of humanity to become partakers of the divine nature.
The marvelous exchange of the Incarnation, where God became man so we could become "godlike," as St.
Athanasius described. Likewise, St. Gregory of Nazianzus famously stated, “God became man so that we might become God.”
Our nature is united to Christ, we share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. The gift of salvation at baptism humans partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), and in the Eucharist.
Christians did not initially exchange gifts on December 25. Instead, they celebrated the Mass dedicated to Christ’s birth (or “Christ-mass”)
Christian literally means “little Christ.” As Father Jose Maria Castillo once emphasized, when I look at my hand, I don’t look at a hand---I look at Jesus’ hand. The "humanity of God" is most clearly seen in human hands that serve, heal, and care for others.
This comes with a warning too. Jesus identifies with everything that is human, to the extent of saying, in the most famous text of the Last Judgement, Matthew 25:40, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Those are Jesus’ hands receiving the food and clothing and money you give Him.
2.Being wrapped in swaddling clothes by his mother Mary is an act that signifies affection tender care. Like a baby burrito.
Mary's mantle protects those she loves- which is everyone who turns to her. Like a loving child, run to your spiritual mother and hide under her mantle for comfort and protection. It’s a way for us to reduce the stimuli and even contagion of the world we are experiencing or unintentionally exposed to at times, a blanket of refuge and comfort. Mary’s mantel is like Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep the mind that is dependent on you in perfect peace, for it is trusting in you.”
3.Lying in a manger. To defeat evil, a Power had to be introduced from outside this world. We celebrate that at Christmas when Christ came to reclaim His creation.
The divine is hidden quietly inside the human. The holy is hidden in the physical and the material and he allows
Himself to be embraced and consumed in the Eucharist. I want to realize that you, lying in a manger are the bread of my life, said Dorothy Day.
From the Prayers of Mass, “The Nativity of Jesus by whose heavenly sacrament we receive both food and drink.”
He lies in the tabernacle and on the altar; the star over him is the little red light of the sanctuary lamp, wrote
Father William Faber.
Adore with grateful affection. As we pray at Benediction:
May the heart of Jesus, in the Most Blessed Sacrament, be praised, adored, and loved with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time.
The fruit of Jesus laying in a manager is that you can trust God’s plans for your life are good, even when you don’t
understand your current circumstances.
The line of the hymn from “O Little Town of Bethlehem” goes:
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”
Jesus was born to provide the hope for saving humankind from mortal fear with his peace.
St. Ambrose, “Every faithful soul is Bethlehem…That is true bread which, after it was broken into bits, has fed all.”
The light of the glory of God is shown.
Shining while spoken to Shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night.
The angel proclaimed, “Good tidings of great joy.” “Do not be afraid”
That it is good to be human, and God is on our side.
