I am Mary, and I was just a young girl in Nazareth when an angel changed my life forever. Let me tell you about the night when heaven touched earth.
I was betrothed to Joseph, a carpenter, a good and righteous man descended from King David. We were planning our wedding when the angel Gabriel appeared to me. 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.'
I was troubled by his words. What kind of greeting was this? But Gabriel continued: 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.'
'How can this be,' I asked, 'since I am a virgin?'
'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God.'
I did not understand everything, but I surrendered to God's plan. 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.'
The months that followed were difficult. Joseph nearly divorced me quietly when he learned I was with child, until an angel appeared to him in a dream and explained everything. He took me as his wife but did not know me until after the baby was born.
Near the time of my delivery, Caesar Augustus decreed that all the world should be registered. Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, the city of David, because he was of David's lineage. Though I was heavy with child, we made the journey together.
Bethlehem was crowded with travelers. We searched for lodging, but there was no room in the inn. Finally, a kind innkeeper offered us his stable - a cave where animals were kept. It was there, among the hay and the oxen and the donkeys, that I gave birth to my firstborn son.
I wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger - a feeding trough for animals. The Son of God, the King of Kings, entered the world not in a palace but in a stable. Not among royalty but among shepherds and livestock.
That same night, shepherds came running from the nearby fields. They told us an incredible story: an angel had appeared to them, accompanied by a multitude of the heavenly host, announcing the birth of the Savior. 'Glory to God in the highest,' the angels had sung, 'and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!' They had come to see this thing that had happened, and they found us just as the angel had said - a baby lying in a manger.
I treasured all these things, pondering them in my heart. The prophecies of old, the angel's promise, the shepherds' wonder, the star that guided wise men from the East - they all pointed to this tiny child sleeping in my arms. He was Emmanuel, God with us. The Light of the World had come into the darkness.
Every Christmas, remember that the Creator became a creature, the Infinite became an infant, the Word became flesh. And He did it all for love.