The Nativity: How God was Born to Saint Mary

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home › resources › literature › The Nativity: How God was Born to Saint Mary

It is a very great miracle that God became man. It is called The Incarnation.

It happened that there lived a maiden named Mary in the city of Nazareth. (A maiden is a young woman who is not married). The angel of the Lord, named Gabriel, came to her one day and said: "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" Mary did not know what the angel meant so he said, "Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest." Mary was not sure how this was going to happen so the angel Gabriel said, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God."

So Saint Mary first went to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with child but she was old. St. Elizabeth is St. John the Baptists mother. Even though St. John the Baptist was in his mothers womb he recognized that Saint Mary was carrying the Son of God in her and he jumped joyfully inside his mother. Then the Holy Spirit filled St. Elizabeth and she recognized that in front of her was Saint Mary, the Mother of God.

Afterwards Saint Mary went home and when the time was right, she was going to give birth. But the king wanted everyone to go and register in their own city. So St. Joseph the Carpenter, the one who was taking care of Saint Mary, took her to a small town called Bethlehem. In Bethlehem they looked for a place to stay but there was none available. Finally they found a manger, also called a barn, where animals were kept. There was fresh hay there and Saint Mary gave birth to the Son of God in the manger. She named Him Jesus who became Christ, the Anointed Holy One of God.

At the same time an angel appeared to shepherds that were watching their sheep and told them that in the City of David, in the small town called Bethlehem, there is born a Savior today. And suddenly a large number of heavenly angels appeared and all were saying,

Glory to God in the Highest.
Peace on earth, good will to men.

And from the east came three wise men following a great star in the sky. They came bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The gold was a symbol that the Lord Jesus Christ is the King of all kings. The frankincense was a symbol that He was the High Priest of all mankind. The myrrh was the symbol that He will face the heavy pain and sorrow of the Holy Cross.

All this happened on the very first Christmas day. The day our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ was born. He was born because He loved us so much that He was willing to pay the price for our sin (the sin that started when Adam and Eve disobeyed Gods commandment). Every time we disobey God we too commit sin and each time we sin, the Lord Jesus Christ pays the price so lets remember not to disobey God in what we say or do that we may not hurt the Lord Jesus by our actions.

For the full story of the Incarnation, read in the Holy Bible the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapters 1 and 2.

(Written by a servant from Clearwater, Florida)