The Cross and the Crib

Blessed Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr!  The Cross is never far away from the Crib at Christmas nor at any other time.  Here at Bethlehem Monastery, we take care to decorate our crucifixes as well as our Christmas trees and Creche scenes.  As St. John's prologue puts it:  The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.


Here we would like to share our Christmas morning Mass petitions:

That all who have been reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism may celebrate this feast of the Lord's Nativity with surpassing joy, and walk always in the Light of Christ which shines upon them and through them, illuminating the darkness of the world.

That the great ones of this world may follow the lowly in simple faith to find their true King who rules in humility and governs in poverty.

That the afflicted in body or spirit, for whom this day is a temptation to despair, that they too may come to the manger where their sorrow will be turned into joy by the tears of the Infant Christ.

That we who have heeded the angel's song and have come to Bethlehem to see the great thing that has taken place, may like the shepherds, return to our daily lives, glorifying and praising God for all we have heard and seen:  God made Man for love of us.