FILTERING THROUGH THE SMOKE OF SATAN SO YOUR FAITH CAN BREATHE EASY

Christ was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a stable at Bethlehem,

Mary and Joseph had to repair to their native place of Bethlehem to be enrolled in the census which was being held by command of the Emperor Augustus. They were obliged to seek refuge in a stable, because there was no room for them in Bethlehem (Luke ii. 7). As in the conception, so in the birth of Christ, was exception made to the ordinary course of nature. Mary was free from the penalties described in Gen. iii. 16, because, as St. Bernard says, she alone had conceived without carnal pleasure. St. Augustine exclaims: “Behold He Who rules the world lies in a manger. He Who feeds the angels is suckled by His Mother. Strength becomes weak, that weakness may be made strong;” and again, “A great Physician came down from heaven to heal a great disease on earth; He healed in a way hitherto unheard of, for He took our ills on Himself.” “Being rich He became poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich” (2 Cor. viii. 9). Every circumstance attending the birth of Christ has a deep meaning. Christ was born at Bethlehem (the house of bread) because, as St. Jerome says, Pie is the living bread. He is born far away from His home in Nazareth because He descended from heaven, His true home, and is a stranger among men. He is born amid the shepherds and their flocks, because He is to be the “Good Shepherd” (John x. 11) of a great flock. He is born in a stable, because the earth in comparison of heaven is but a stable.