The great mystery of God becoming man is celebrated threefold by the Church in normal times. At the Night Mass, the birth is central, the intimacy of the three, for whom there was no room in the inn, only in the stable. At Dawn Mass, the focus is on the shepherds, the first witnesses of the miracle, and the choir of angels who had sent them on their way. In the Day Mass, the High Mass, the mystery is central. The Church, which tries to understand and articulate what God in his ‘love of man’ has brought about. And we are invited to reflect on what God has done with us. How he lives in us and wants to be human.
Gregory Brenninkmeijer SJ