But this wondrous Birth has made it into one of the most hallowed places on earth, the other being the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  Now there is a splendid church built over it, with the east end above the spot where, according to very ancient tradition, the Saviour was born.  And beneath, reached by a flight of stone steps, the cave itself is lit by silver lamps and in the floor is set a silver star with a Latin inscription round it, “Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary”.

The reason why God the Son made man did not despise that stable was that he had come to save us from the power and consequences of our sins.  His love for us was so great that he did not shrink from coming into contact with the squalor of that stable which he filled instead with his own light and life.

And our souls, like that stable, are no fit place for the all-holy Lord, but he does not despise even them, because he has come to save and transform us.  For the salvation which Christ brings and which was his sole reason for becoming man, that salvation consists in clearing out of the soul all that is sinful and unholy, and replacing it with his own most holy presence.