In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
OPENING PRAYER
Grant almighty God, that as we are bathed in the new radiance of the birth of your Son Jesus, who restores our human dignity, may we come to share in his divinity.
SCRIPTURE
Read from the Gospel of Luke 2:15-20:
‘So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Everyone was astonished at what the shepherds had to say.’
Let us be astonished too – a baby born in a stable. Seemingly more astonishing is that God sent his Son into our world, born in poverty, greeted first by the poorest.
ADMIRABILE SIGNUM
Pope Francis tells us:
Unlike so many other people, busy about many things, the shepherds become the first to see the most essential thing of all: the gift of salvation. It is the humble and the poor who greet the event of the Incarnation. The shepherds respond to God who comes to meet us in the Infant Jesus by setting out to meet him with love, gratitude and awe.
CLOSING PRAYER
In these troubled times, we pray for those trapped in poverty, and for those in social services and charities who work with the poor.
O God, we thank you for sending your Son Jesus into the world as our Saviour. We pray that we will always reach out to the poor, through whom we come to know the new born Christ, who humbled himself to become one of us
ACTIVITY
You may like to say this grace before your Christmas meal:
“Love brought our Saviour, born in a stable,
Love brings us here around this table.
We give thanks for Jesus and his mother,
For the gift of food and each other. Amen”