Christmas Day - Cycle C

Vigil:
Is 62:1-5
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Mt 1:1-25 or 1:18-25

Midnight:
Is 9:1-6
Ti 2:11-14
Lk 2:1-14

Dawn:
Is 62:11-12
Ti 3:4-7
Lk 2:15-20

Day:
Is 52:7-10
Heb 1:1-6
Jn 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14

There was no room for them in the inn. This should make us wonder, because the birth of Christ was foreseen and planned by God from all eternity. Hundreds of years before it happened, the prophets announced he would be born of a virgin (Is. 7:14) and that Bethlehem would be his birthplace (Micah 5:2). Many other details of his life and death were also foretold. How, then, could God have forgotten to make room for his only Son? Moreover, the child born at Christmas owns the inn, and Bethlehem, and the world, and the whole universe.

Obviously, God did this on purpose. There was no room in the inn, because this demonstrates that the child comes as a Savior, to reconcile a world that is at enmity with God and has rejected him. The lack of room in the inn symbolizes the lack of room we make for him in our hearts. Today he does not seek an inn; he seeks room in our own hearts and lives.

To welcome the Divine Child today is to welcome all that he will do and teach. We welcome the one who will preach the Sermon on the Mount, instruct us by parables, and establish his Church. In welcoming the baby in the manger, we welcome the Lord at the table giving the Eucharist, and we welcome the Lamb on the cross.

We welcome all he welcomes, and are to make room for all he loves, especially the most unwanted, marginalized, burdensome, or inconvenient. If we welcome the baby Jesus, we welcome every baby and we welcome his teaching that every life is sacred, and we live accordingly.