Christmas Bread

25Dec24 (24Christmas). Family traditions are important to form what is important about the season. My Grandmother also gave our family this beautiful poem about Jesus to meditate. Lastly was born in a manger (feeding trough), born in Bethlehem (House of Bread), He declares He is the Bread of Life, and says that we much eat His Flesh. He came to be present to us and he continues to do so in the Most Holy Eucharist. JESUS Manifest Infirmity, wondrous Humility, in which all the greatness of God lay hidden: He is both great in the nature of God and small in the form of a servant. But His greatness is not diminished by His smallness, nor His smallness overwhelmed by His greatness. He Himself with the Father and the Holy Spirit precedes all spans of time, but on this day, issuing from His mother, He stepped into the tide of the years. * * * * * He who made man, was made Man; He was given existence by a mother whom He brought into existence. He finds no room in the inn, but He builds a temple for Himself in the hearts of those who believe. Unspeakably wise, He is wisely speechless; filling the world, He lies in a manger. He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, but He gives us a garment of immortality. John the Baptist baptized Christ, the Giver of Baptism, in waters made holy by the One Who was baptized. * * * * * In Him we see our God made visible, and so are caught up in the love of the God we cannot see. He came to pay a debt He didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. Such is the love of our God! Then let us be kindled with love, that we may come to His eternity! By Marie E. Barfknecht (1926-2019)