The Birth Of Jesus

  This is the time of year when we as Catholics as well as other religions celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. I always love watching the various movies on cable television about the birth of Jesus. I have always been fascinated how God made it known to Mary and Joseph through the work of the holy spirit that Mary would give birth to our saviour. I think if God spoke to me that way I may just faint.

  As a child growing up in the Catholic Church I remember all the green wreaths would go up on all the pillars in the church. You could just tell there was a special feeling in the air. I remember seeing the nativity scene set up in one corner of the church. The hymns all changed to beautiful Christmas music. Of course at that time they started with the guitars during the singing of the hymns. I think that’s where I really got my interest in guitars, but that’s another story.

  I remember my Mother and my Grandparents putting up their nativity sets. I remember looking at the different shepherds, wiseman and the various animals. Then they would put an angel up on the peak of the open barn. I that is the time of the year when I was outside looking up at the sky looking for the brightest star. Here is a good link to information on the nativity scene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nativity_scene . 

  The intervention of God guiding Mary and Joseph out of danger is awesome and shows how important Jesus is in the salvation plan. How do we know exactly when Jesus was born ? Here is an interesting article from 1991 written by E. L. Martin http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/chrdat.txt . Here is some excellent information on the virgin birth in theology http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15448a.htm . Also here is an article from the catholic news agency about Pope Francis giving his homily at the vigil Mass for Christmas http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/jesus-is-the-meaning-of-life-and-history-pope-preaches-on-christmas/   .
  Well Thank You for reading and Happy Holidays.