What fierce evil drove Herod to order the slaughter of Bethlehem’s children! Only Mathew, the Gospel writer in the New Testament of the Bible recorded this gruesome crime. Were the other three – Mark, Luke and John, too timid to remember and recount this harrowing story? Or perhaps God told them to remain silent and let the women’s weeping echo without words or utterance. Mathew continued the story of Christmas; how baby Jesus was saved from the clutches of Herod.

In years past, I have sent happy Christmas cards to friends and relatives; cards that pleased my sense of beauty and joy. The cards I chose said “Merry Christmas”, or “Joy to The World”. My faith was obvious with serene scenes of Baby Jesus in a manger or in the arms of Mary, and at times with barn animals looking glad to meet their Maker.

But lately I have had some restless thoughts. Why would God’s Son consent to be concieved in the womb of Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit? When Father R. two Sundays ago, described the untidy reality of Jesus being born, it did not resemble the cards I had bought all those years. I saw another picture, here was the Majesty from heaven coming to earth in humble humanity. I sighed with reverence.