December 25, 2020 THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD-B

Isaiah 9:1-6

Psalm 96

Titus 2:11-14

Luke 2:1-14

“…you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  Lk. 2:12

Lord, you chose to enter our world as a fragile baby, lying in a feed trough in the cold of the night. You chose to put on skin, have a human heart, feel pain and hunger, fight temptation and be rejected by most of those you met. You left the timeless heavens to enter time with me. You existed without limits then took on the limits of a body like mine. You loved me so much you couldn’t stand being separated from me any longer. As you stretched your arms and legs and tried out your lungs with cries only a few smelly shepherds greeted you with adoration. Only your angelic choir sang songs of praise. One day the people for whom you took on this humanity would hang you on a cross. My sins would hang there with you. Today, little baby, I offer my heart to you. I pray to you. I adore you. I join the angels and sing: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”  Amen.