Daily Reading for December 25 • The Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Maker of the sun, he himself is made under the sun. Disposing all Ages in the bosom of the Father, he consecrates this unique day in the womb of his mother: in Him he abides, from her he goes forth. Creator of heaven and earth, he was born on earth under heaven. Wisdom too deep for utterance, wise now a baby asleep; filling all the world, he lies in his crib; ruler of the stars, he suckles his mother’s breast.

Great in his divine nature, he is become small to be our servant (Phil. 2:6); yet his greatness is not belittled by this smallness, nor is his smallness overshadowed by his greatness. For when he took these tiny limbs, he did not set aside his divine workings (Wis. 8:1). . . . And when, clothed in feeble flesh, he entered the Virgin’s womb, he was not a prisoner. For the food of wisdom was not taken from the Angels, while we ourselves were tasting how good the Lord is.

From a sermon for Christmas by Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Wisdom of the Cloister: A Monastic Reader, edited by John Skinner (Image Books, 1999).