From all eternity, God the Son, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, lived in perfect happiness, in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit. There was nothing that could increase His happiness, nothing that He could need or desire. Our salvation could not add anything to His perfection.

Yet He chose to act as though He could not be happy without us. In complete divine freedom, He came down to earth to visit us, to be born of a woman, to rest in a manger of straw, to be cold and hungry, to suffer pain, and eventually to be despised, insulted, scourged and crucified for our sake.

At Christmas time, we should make a spiritual journey to the stable of Bethlehem. This pilgrimage involves us in an act of faith first of all. The Shepherds, after visiting the infant Jesus, “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” (Lk 2.20) They had seen a small baby, lying in humble surroundings. Their praise and joy came from having seen deeper with the eyes of faith, having been taught by the angel that this child was Christ, the Lord, the Saviour, the living God who came to take away our sins.

God did not need to save us, but we certainly need His salvation. As we contemplate the nativity, we must renew our humble faith and thanksgiving to Him, resolving to live as the sons and daughters of God that He has made us to be. God loved us with such a great and unmerited generosity, and it is only fitting for us to love Him in return with all our heart and soul and mind.