The Nativity of the Lord

The Nativity of the Lord, the solemnity of Christmas, celebrates the birth in time of the eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh, born of the Virgin Mary in a stable at Bethlehem and laid in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. On this holy day the Church proclaims the central mystery of the faith: that God so loved the world that he became man, sharing our human nature to make us sharers in his divine life.

Heralded by angels to the shepherds and adored by them and later by the Magi, the newborn Christ is the light that shines in the darkness, the Prince of Peace and Savior long promised to Israel and awaited by all the nations. Kept on 25 December since at least the fourth century, and celebrated with a vigil and the great Midnight Mass, the solemnity of the Nativity ranks with Easter as one of the two poles of the Christian year and is honored as a holy day of obligation, filling the faithful with the joy of God dwelling among us.