The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Christmas is treated not as a biography of one saint but as the Church's solemn remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ for the redemption of mankind. The account covers Bethlehem, the crowded lodging, the stable and manger, the angelic message to the shepherds, and their adoration of the newborn Saviour.

It then turns from narration to meaning: the crib as Christ's first pulpit, the swaddling clothes and manger as a lesson in humility, and the whole mystery of the Incarnation as God's answer to human pride and misery. The exact historical day of Christ's birth is uncertain; December 25 became the feast through a development that can be traced, and the Church's three Christmas Masses grew from both liturgical history and spiritual meaning.