My Lord and my God I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me.

I adore you with profound reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and the grace to make this time of Christmas fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my Father and Lord, my guardian angel and all the angels intercede for me.

Well, today's Mass will be taken from St. Luke, the reading, reading from St. Luke.

It says, to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord,

and this will be a sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped in swat and clothes and lying in a

manger. Well, I know we've heard these words so often, but these words were said dramatically

by a beautiful, beautiful angel enveloped in celestial light of the divine.

It was the most important message that mankind has ever heard.

The first ones to hear this incredible message of goodness of the Lord were shepherds.

And they saw this incredible appearance of God's glory around them,

and they were given a sign, not some strange, obtuse and complicated puzzle reserved

for the smartest people around. It was a very, very simple sign. It was a baby in a manger

in the city of King David, Bethlehem. Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds

as a sign. Of course, the angels were magnificent and the light was amazing, but they were just told

you will see a child wrapped and swaddling clothes. One who, like all children, needs a mother's

care, a child born in a stable on top of that,

who therefore lies not in a cringial, but in a manger.

God's sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty.

So why was this a sign?

Well, it was in Bethlehem, and in Hebrew,

Bethlehem meant the house of bread.

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