Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament

December 25, 2025

Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

Isn’t Christmas a beautiful feast? Christmas is a feast of joy. What gives our Christmas celebration its charm, its joyful songs, uplifts our hearts? Isn’t it the Eucharist? Isn’t Jesus reborn among us, on our altars, though in a different condition? …-Peter Julian Eymard

Unless you become as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. In fact, the mystery of the Incarnation is so far beyond us that God presents it to us in the form of a little child! How else could we begin to celebrate something so far beyond our grasp?

The liturgy explodes before us by laying out a treasure of gospel texts. While most of us attend only one Christmas mass, the church liturgy explores the mystery with four different mass texts used according to the time of celebration. The vigil mass highlights Jesus’ genealogy, celebrating his human origins. Midnight mass invites us to ponder the majestic glories of angel songs, offering peace for all people of goodwill.

The mass at dawn brings on the scene of the shepherds, who pondered this incredible event with Mary and Joseph, and the mass of the day, lays out before us the majestic opening of Saint John’s Gospel, contemplating the mystery of Jesus, the Word of God, sent from the Father, Jesus creator of all things, come to live among us. “In the beginning was the Word, all was created by Him, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”

During his adult life, Jesus will ask his followers. Who do you say that I am? This Christmas feast presents the same question to each of us.

Prayer

Lord. We celebrate the mystery of your Son’s birth with our whole hearts. Grant us the grace to deepen our faith in this mystery and to communicate its meaning to family and friends. Amen.