In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

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 prayer fruitful.

My Immaculate Mother, St. Joseph, my father and Lord,

my guardian angel intercede for me.

Well, finally, we're a few days away from Christmas,

and we've gone through all these Advent preparations

for this beautiful time in the liturgy.

The preparation has included the mystery of the Annunciation of Mary.

We saw her visitation, her beautiful, magnificent prayer.

We saw the approach of the shepherds in the field.

And now we arrive at that wonderful place

where the Lord is born with Mary and Joseph,

watching him as he is born in the stable.

Luke sums it all up in a brief phrase

that is very limited in detail, but still, each line

has a certain resonance for us. Of course, it's been translated in so many languages and

it's also been, well, translated in different ways in English. But the essential thing that we

look at in Luke 2, it says this, and she gave birth to her first

born son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no place

...