Christmas Day - 25 December 2025
25th December 2025
“That same Jesus, Who was visited by the shepherds in the stable, is found here in our tabernacle. The only difference rests in this: that the shepherds saw Him with their eyes of flesh; we see Him only with the eyes of Faith.” - St John Bosco
A Christmas Reflection by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
Out to the hillside to a stable cave, where shepherds sometimes drove their flocks in time of storm, Joseph and Mary went at last for shelter. There, in a place of peace in the lonely abandonment of a cold windswept cave; there, under the floor of the world, He Who is born without a mother in heaven, is born without a father on earth.
Of every other child that is born into the world, friends can say that it resembles his mother. This was the first instance in time that anyone could say that the mother resembled the Child. This is the beautiful paradox of the Child Who made His mother; the mother, too, was only a child. It was also the first time in the history of this world that anyone could ever think of heaven as being anywhere else than “somewhere up there” when the Child was in her arms, Mary now looked down to Heaven.
In the filthiest place in the world, a stable, Purity was born. He, Who was later to be slaughtered by men acting as beasts, was born among beasts. He, Who would call Himself the “living Bread descended from Heaven,” was laid in a manger, literally, a place to eat. Centuries before, the Jews had worshiped the golden calf, and the Greeks, the ass. Men bowed down before them as before God. The ox and the ass now were present to make their innocent reparation, bowing down before their God.
There was no room in the inn, but there was room in the stable. The inn is the gathering place of public opinion, the focal point of the world’s moods, the rendezvous of the worldly, the rallying place of the popular and the successful. But the stable is a place for the outcasts, the ignored, the forgotten. The world might have expected the Son of God to be born—if He was to be born at all—in an inn. A stable would be the last place in the world where one would have looked for Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it.
No worldly mind would ever have suspected that He Who could make the sun warm the earth would one day have need of an ox and an ass to warm Him with their breath; that He Who, in the language of Scriptures, could stop the turning about of Arcturus would have His birthplace dictated by an imperial census; that He, Who clothed the fields with grass, would Himself be naked; that He, from Whose hands came planets and worlds, would one day have tiny arms that were not long enough to touch the huge heads of the cattle; that the feet which trod the everlasting hills would one day be too weak to walk; that the Eternal Word would be dumb; that Omnipotence would be wrapped in swaddling clothes; that Salvation would lie in a manger; that the bird which built the nest would be hatched therein —no one would ever have suspected that God coming to this earth would ever be so helpless. And that is precisely why so many miss Him. Divinity is always where one least expects to find it.
(Life of Christ)
A Christmas Prayer
Glory to God in the highest!
My precious Lord, Jesus, I adore you with profound love and rejoice in the celebration of Your birth. Your love for us is unfathomable, it is glorious, transforming, awe-inspiring, and deeply personal. You chose to come and dwell among us, being born into poverty, rejection, and humility. Yet Your mother knew whom she bore. Her heart was filled with the tenderest love as she adored her Child and her God. Help me, dear Lord, to come to love You with the heart of Your Mother. Invite me to adore You with St Joseph and the poor shepherds. Reveal to me the glorious power of Your birth and change my life on account of this perfect gift of Yourself. I love You, dear Lord Jesus. Help me to love You with all my heart. Newborn Saviour of the World, I trust in You. Mother Mary and St Joseph, Pray for me and for all. Amen.
Christ Candle
The fifth and final candle, is the Christ candle. The centre white candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, celebrating the arrival of He Whom we have been anticipating. Jesus is born and our season of waiting is at an end. With the lighting of the Christ candle, we remember the Light which shines in the darkness - the source of our hope, champion for peace, reason for our joy, and giver of love.
Octave of Christmas
Octaves in the liturgy mean every day within the octave is the feast all over again. There are subtleties, so unlike the Easter Octave it is more of a “little” Christmas rather than the actual Solemnity, but technically days in the octave is Christmas all over again. The Octave of Christmas is celebrated as an eight-day feast in the liturgical calendar which begins on the Nativity of Christ, 25 December, and continues to 1 January, the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God. The Church recognises that the days of the Christmas Octave are repeating the solemn nature of Christmas for eight days, concluding on a high note with another Solemnity that echoes the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. While Christmas is considered primarily a feast of our Lord, the Church both adores the Saviour and venerates His glorious Mother. The Octave gives us time to impress upon our souls the mysteries, joys and graces of Christmas.