When Christ was born in that stable in Bethlehem it was never the same again.  He transformed it and ever since it has been a holy shrine.  And the same must happen to our souls if it has not already happened.  For Christ’s response to the soul that is devoted to him is to enter that soul and dwell there.   “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (NRSV, John 14:23).

And the result of that indwelling is in St Paul’s words, “…to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (NRSV, Ephesians 3:19).

In other words, the miracle of Christmas has to be re-enacted within the soul and Christ has to be born again within the inmost being of the faithful Christian (cf Galatians 4:19).  Otherwise Christmas will be at best the bare commemoration of an event in the remote past, or at worst nothing more than the occasion for sharing in the world’s holiday spirit and merrymaking.

For there are two Christmasses – the outer and the inner.  The outer consists of the familiar, traditional festivities.  The inner is the soul’s renewal of its union with its Saviour for whom it has prepared a home with humility and love.

In the words of the Christmas hymn:

“Our sinful pride to cure
With that pure love of Thine,
O be Thou born within our hearts,
Most Holy Child divine”. (1)

And so thy birthday morn
Our birthday too shall be.
New-born in thee we celebrate
Our King’s Nativity. (2)