25 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”” Luke 2:10–11
“To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Christmas is not a sentimental story about a baby; it is the announcement that God has become man. The eternal Son, through whom all things were made, is born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn.
The prophets had promised it. Isaiah: “Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel”; and “a child has been born for us, a son given to us… Prince of Peace.” Micah: from little Bethlehem will come one “whose origin is from of old, from ancient days”, who will feed his flock and “be the one of peace.” Paul gathers it all: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman… so that we might receive adoption as children.”
The first to hear the news are shepherds, poor and on the margins. The sign given them is humble: “a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Heaven sings, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours.” The shepherds go “with haste”, find the child, and return glorifying God. Mary “treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.”
The Syriac tradition loves to say that the One who feeds all creation lay in a feeding trough. Bethlehem, “house of bread”, gives us the Bread of Life. Christmas leads straight to the altar: the One born in a manger gives himself to us in the Holy Qurbana.
Theme: “To you is born this day a Saviour.”
Christmas: the Word made flesh, born in Bethlehem, announced to shepherds, laid in a manger, the Bread of Life.
“For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”” Luke 2:10–11
Apply: Kneel before the crib with your family and pray together.
“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” Micah 5:2
“This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12
Apply: Share a Christmas meal or gift with a poor family.
“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Micah 4:3
““Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”” Luke 2:14
Apply: Reconcile with someone today.
The Bread of Life lies in the manger and on our altar.
Let us adore, ponder, and share the good news.
Take-home resolution: Keep the twelve days of Christmas with daily prayer before the crib.
Dear brothers and sisters, a happy and holy Christmas to all of you! Tonight the angel speaks to us as he spoke to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
This is the heart of our faith. The eternal Son of God, through whom all things were made, has become a man. He did not come as a king in a palace, but as a baby in a manger, because there was no room for him in the inn. Isaiah had promised: “A child has been born for us, a son given to us… Prince of Peace.” Micah had promised that he would come from little Bethlehem. Tonight the promises are fulfilled.
Who heard the news first? Not the powerful in Rome or Jerusalem, but poor shepherds in the fields at night. God comes first to the little, the forgotten, those working through the night. And the sign is so humble: a child wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. If we look for God in power and noise, we will miss him. He is found in humility.
Bethlehem means “house of bread”, and the manger is a feeding place. Our Syriac Fathers loved this: the Bread of Life was laid where food is placed. In a few moments that same Lord will be on our altar, and we will receive him. That is our Christmas: Christ born in us.
So let us do what the shepherds did: go with haste, adore him, and then go back glorifying God and telling others. And let us do what Mary did: treasure these things in our hearts. May the Prince of Peace bring peace to your homes, to our country and to the whole world. A blessed Christmas to you all! Amen.
Bethlehem means house of bread. The Child born there was laid in a manger, a feeding trough. From the first day, He offered Himself as food.
📖 Micah 5:2–4
📖 Luke 2:4–7
Apply: At Communion today, remember Bethlehem.
📖 Isaiah 1:3
📖 John 6:35, 51
Apply: Kneel at the crib and then at the altar with the same faith.
📖 Isaiah 58:7
📖 Luke 2:15–20
Apply: Share a meal or a gift with a poor family.
The Child of Bethlehem continues to give Himself as Bread on our altars.
Christmas is fulfilled when we receive Him and share Him.
Take-home resolution: This Christmas I will receive Communion with the faith of the shepherds and share my bread with someone in need.
Dear brothers and sisters, a joyful and blessed Christmas to all of you! Tonight let us go in spirit to a small town in Judea. Its name was Bethlehem. In Hebrew, Bethlehem means house of bread. It was there, and nowhere else, that God chose to be born.
The prophet Micah had foretold it: from you, Bethlehem, small among the clans of Judah, shall come forth one who is to rule in Israel (Micah 5:2). God plans with care. The One who would say I am the bread of life (John 6:35) was born in the house of bread.
And where did Mary lay Him? In a manger (Luke 2:7). We have made the crib beautiful with lights and decorations, but a manger was a feeding trough, the place where animals came to eat. The prophet Isaiah had said that the ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not understand (Isaiah 1:3). The Son of God was placed where food is placed. From His first night on earth He was saying: I have come to be your food.
That is why Christmas leads us to the altar. In a few moments, on this altar, the same Christ born in Bethlehem will become present under the appearance of bread. The shepherds knelt at the manger; we kneel before the Lord in the Holy Qurbana. They saw a child; we see bread. In both cases faith sees God hidden in humility. Receive Him tonight with the faith of the shepherds.
And the shepherds did not keep the good news to themselves. They told everyone what they had heard (Luke 2:17). Bread is meant to be shared. This Christmas, share your bread with someone who is hungry, lonely or forgotten: a meal, a visit, a phone call. Then Christmas will not end tonight. It will continue in every house where Christ, the Bread of Life, is received and shared.
Christmas is not only a sweet story. It is the heart of our faith: God became man.
📖 Isaiah 7:14; 9:6
📖 John 1:1–14
Apply: Bow deeply at the words of the Creed: and became man.
📖 Isaiah 9:6–7
📖 Philippians 2:5–11
Apply: Call Mary Mother of God with faith in the Hail Mary.
📖 Exodus 34:6
📖 2 Peter 1:4
Apply: Thank God that He came to make you His child.
The Incarnation is the greatest proof of God's love.
God became man so that we might share His divine life.
Take-home resolution: This Christmas I will bow at the words of the Creed and thank God for becoming man.
Dear brothers and sisters, a blessed Christmas to you all! We have heard the familiar story again: the journey, the manger, the shepherds. But behind the story is the most astonishing truth ever proclaimed: God became man. Tonight let us look at this mystery as the Church teaches it.
St John writes: in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word became flesh and lived among us (John 1:1, 14). The Child in the manger is not a good man whom God later adopted, nor a god who only seemed human. He is the eternal Son of God who took to Himself a full human nature, body and soul, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. That is why, in the Creed, at the words and became man, we bow; on Christmas day, we kneel.
The early Church had to defend this truth against many errors. The Councils of Nicaea, Ephesus and Chalcedon taught that Jesus Christ is one divine Person in two natures, divine and human, without confusion and without separation (CCC 464–469). Because the Child is God, the Council of Ephesus proclaimed Mary Theotokos, Mother of God (CCC 495). This is not an exaggeration about Mary; it is a protection of the truth about Jesus.
Why did God become man? The Catechism gives four reasons. To save us by reconciling us with God. So that we might know God's love. To be our model of holiness. And to make us partakers of the divine nature (CCC 457–460; 2 Peter 1:4). The Fathers of the Church summed it up: the Son of God became a son of man so that we might become children of God.
So Christmas is not only for children; it is the foundation of our whole faith. At this Holy Qurbana the same Word made flesh comes to us. Let us receive Him with wonder, and let His love, so humble and so close, change the way we live.
On the night of the Nativity the sky over Bethlehem was filled with an army of angels singing glory to God and peace on earth (Luke 2:13–14). Two thousand years later the world still longs for that peace: in the Holy Land where Christ was born, in every land torn by war or communal conflict, and in many of our own homes.
Tonight the Prince of Peace is born. He does not bring peace by force, but by coming close to us, small and defenceless.
📖 Isaiah 9:6–7
📖 Luke 2:13–14
Apply: Ask the Child tonight for the gift of an inner peace that does not depend on circumstances.
📖 Genesis 33:4
📖 Matthew 5:23–24
Apply: Before the Christmas meal is over, take one step towards someone you are not at peace with.
📖 Micah 4:3
📖 Matthew 5:9
Apply: Pray each day of the Christmas season for one country at war.
The angels sang peace on earth among those whom God favours. God's favour rests on all who receive his Son. At this Holy Qurbana, let us exchange the sign of peace with sincerity, and carry it home.
Take-home resolution: This Christmas I will make peace with one person, and pray daily for one nation at war.
Dear friends, on the night of the Nativity the shepherds heard the angels sing: glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours (Luke 2:14). Glory to God and peace on earth go together. When God is given his glory, peace follows.
Isaiah had called the Child the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Strange prince: born in a stable, laid in a manger, threatened by a king. Yet he brings what no army can bring. St Paul says: he is our peace; in his flesh he has broken down the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14).
The world longs for peace. Tonight we pray for the land where Jesus was born, for all places torn by war, and for our own country wherever communities are divided. Christmas is not a holiday from the world's pain; it is God entering it.
But peace begins closer. In many families tonight there is an empty chair, not because of death, but because of a quarrel. Brothers who do not speak, sisters divided over property, a son estranged from his father. The Child in the manger asks: will you let me bring peace into your home?
Jacob, after twenty years of fear, ran to meet his brother Esau, and Esau embraced him (Genesis 33:4). Jesus taught: if your brother has something against you, go first and be reconciled (Matthew 5:24). Christmas is the best time to take that first step: a phone call, a visit, a slice of cake carried across the road.
At this Holy Qurbana, when we offer one another the sign of peace, let it be real. And let us go home as peacemakers, for blessed are the peacemakers; they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9). A blessed and peaceful Christmas to all. Amen.
The first to hear the news of Christmas were not kings or priests, but shepherds: poor, rough, often despised, working through the night. God chose them as the first witnesses of his Son (Luke 2:8–12).
Christmas is good news for all who live at the edges: migrant workers, night-shift nurses, fishermen, farmers, the homeless and the forgotten.
📖 Ezekiel 34:11–16
📖 Luke 2:8–12
Apply: Remember that God's first messengers went to those the world overlooks.
📖 Isaiah 61:1
📖 Luke 2:12, 16
Apply: Look for Christ this Christmas in a poor person near you.
📖 Isaiah 52:7
📖 Luke 2:17–20
Apply: Share the joy of Christmas with someone who has no one to celebrate with.
The Child who came first to shepherds comes now to us at this Holy Qurbana. Let us welcome him with simple hearts, and go out like the shepherds to tell others what we have seen.
Take-home resolution: This Christmas I will share a meal or a gift with a migrant worker, a night worker or a poor family.
Dear friends, on that first Christmas night, while Bethlehem slept, shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks in the fields. To them, not to the powerful in Jerusalem or Rome, an angel appeared and said: do not be afraid; I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people (Luke 2:10).
Shepherds in those days were poor and often looked down upon. Their work kept them away from the Temple and from respectable company. Yet God chose them. The prophet Ezekiel had promised that God himself would shepherd his people, seek the lost and bind up the injured (Ezekiel 34:11–16). The Good Shepherd announces himself first to shepherds.
The sign they were given was not a palace or a crown, but a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger (Luke 2:12). The poor recognised him because he was poor like them. God did not come to the world from above, but from below.
Think of the shepherds of our time: the migrant worker from another state who builds our houses, the nurse on night duty in a hospital abroad, the fisherman at sea on Christmas night, the security guard at the gate, the family in a rented room. Christmas is first their feast.
The shepherds went with haste, found Mary and Joseph and the child, and then made known what had been told them. They returned glorifying and praising God (Luke 2:16–20). The poor became the first evangelists. They had nothing to give but their joy, and it was enough.
At this Holy Qurbana, Christ comes to us as he came to the shepherds: simply, humbly. Let us receive him, and then, like them, go out with haste: to share our Christmas food, to visit someone alone, to bring good news to the margins. A joyful Christmas to all. Amen.
This homily is written for a congregation with many children and families. It uses simple words and three images the children can remember: the star, the crib and the gift.
Christmas is a family feast because God chose to be born into a family.
📖 Numbers 24:17
📖 Matthew 2:9–10
Apply: Let each family pray together tonight under the Christmas star.
📖 Isaiah 7:14
📖 Luke 2:7
Apply: Let the children place the Child in the home crib with a prayer.
📖 Isaiah 9:6
📖 John 3:16
Apply: Let each person give one gift of love tomorrow that costs no money.
The star shows the way, the crib shows God's humility, and the gift shows his love. May every family leave this Holy Qurbana with the Child in their hearts.
Take-home resolution: Our family will pray together before the crib every evening until the end of the Christmas season.
Dear children and dear families, a very happy Christmas to you! Tonight I want to talk about three things you can see around you: the star, the crib and the gift.
First, the star. Look at the stars shining in our homes and in the church. Long ago a star led the wise men to the place where Jesus was (Matthew 2:9–10). Our stars remind us that Jesus is the light of the world. And, dear parents, you are stars for your children: by your prayer and your example, you show them the way to Jesus.
Second, the crib. Look at the crib: Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the animals, and the little baby. Isn't it amazing? The great God, who made the sun and the stars and the sea, became a tiny baby. He did not choose a palace; he was laid in a manger because there was no room in the inn (Luke 2:7). Children, Jesus wants a place in your home and in your heart. Will you make room for him?
Third, the gift. Why do we give gifts at Christmas? Because God gave us the best gift: his own Son. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (John 3:16). So our gifts are a little copy of God's love. But the best gifts do not come from a shop: a hug, helping at home, saying sorry, sharing with a poor child.
And there is one more gift. At this Holy Qurbana, Jesus gives himself to us again. The baby of Bethlehem comes to us in Holy Communion. Bethlehem means house of bread, and Jesus is the Bread of Life.
So when you go home tonight, look at the star and say: Jesus, you are my light. Look at the crib and say: Jesus, come into my heart. And give one gift of love tomorrow. A happy and holy Christmas to every family. Amen.
Children, Happy Christmas! Today we celebrate Jesus' birthday!
Jesus is God's Son, but he was born as a tiny baby in Bethlehem. There was no room in the hotel, so his mother Mary laid him in a manger, where animals eat!
Angels sang, “Glory to God!” and shepherds came running to see him. Let's sing too! Say together: “Happy birthday, Jesus! I love you!”
Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Word made flesh, born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, we adore you. Fill our hearts with the joy of the angels, the humility of the shepherds and the faith of Mary, and give peace to our families and to the world. Amen.
Yalda, the Syriac word for birth, gives this feast its name, and the four readings tell how long that birth was prepared. Isaiah gives a frightened king a sign and gives a people in darkness a child. Micah shows the nations streaming to God’s mountain and a shepherd coming from Bethlehem. Paul traces the promise from Abraham through the law to the moment when God sent his Son. Luke then tells it plainly: a decree, a journey, a manger, shepherds at night. The line runs from a promise to a Person, and its key words are sign, peace and today.
Setting.
About 734 BC, Rezin king of Aram (Damascus) and Pekah king of Israel marched against Jerusalem to force Judah into an alliance against Assyria (Isaiah 7:1–2; 2 Kings 16:5). King Ahaz and his people shook “as the trees of the forest shake before the wind” (7:2). Ahaz was inclined to buy Assyria’s protection, which he went on to do (2 Kings 16:7). Isaiah comes to him with one message: trust God.
The second part of the reading (chapter 9) comes after the Assyrians had taken Galilee from the northern kingdom. It promises that the land which saw the darkness first will see the light first.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” (7:12)
It sounds devout and echoes Deuteronomy 6:16. In fact he has already decided where his help will come from. There is a false piety that uses God’s name to keep God at a distance.
“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” (7:14)
In Ahaz’s day the sign was probably a child soon to be born, perhaps in the royal house, who would show that God had not abandoned David’s line. The Church, with Matthew, reads its fullness in the virgin Mary’s Son, the one in whom God is with us in person.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;” (9:2)
Matthew quotes these verses when Jesus begins his preaching in Galilee (Matthew 4:14–16). On this night the Church hears them with shepherds in the dark and “the glory of the Lord” shining around them.
“The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.” (9:7)
Peace will not come from human cleverness. God’s own burning love will bring it about.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism reads Isaiah 7:14 through Matthew when it teaches that the conception of Jesus was the work of God beyond all human understanding: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son” (CCC 497). St Justin Martyr, in the second century, already discussed this verse with a Jewish teacher in his Dialogue with Trypho, showing how early Christians read it of Christ (in substance).
Setting.
Micah preached in the same years as Isaiah, when the Assyrian army came through Judah. The hope of 4:1–3 appears almost word for word in Isaiah 2:2–4. Between this vision and the Bethlehem oracle stands a Jerusalem under siege (5:1): the mountain of all nations is at this moment a city that has been humiliated.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (4:2)
The movement is first inward, nations coming to Zion, then outward, the word going forth. Christians hear in it the word that went out from Jerusalem through the apostles (Luke 24:47).
“they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation,” (4:3)
Weapons are not merely laid aside but remade to feed people. Peace begins where the nations let God be their judge (“He shall judge between many peoples”).
“And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,” (5:4)
“and he shall be the one of peace.” (5:5)
In Hebrew the words are very short, “this one shall be peace”. Peace is here a Person. Compare Ephesians 2:14.
How the Church reads it.
St Justin Martyr quotes this passage of Micah and says that Christians, once full of war and slaughter, have changed their swords into plowshares and their spears into farming tools (Dialogue with Trypho 109–110, in substance). Vatican II sees in “she who is in labor” a foreshadowing of Mary (Lumen Gentium 55). The Catechism says that God willed to prepare for his Son’s coming over centuries (CCC 522). The fierce image of the lion in 5:8–9 is a besieged people’s hope that God will not let them be destroyed. It is no licence for revenge: the Prince of Peace has taught his Church to love her enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Setting.
Paul is answering a real pastoral question. If God’s promise came through Abraham, and then the law came through Moses, must Gentile Christians now keep the whole law? He answers by telling salvation history as one story with three stages: promise, law, Christ. Christmas is the point at which the story reaches its goal.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring;” (3:16)
Christmas does not begin in Bethlehem. It begins with God’s word to an old man with no child.
“Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came,” (3:24)
Paul does not call the law bad. It is “holy” (Romans 7:12). It kept and guided God’s people until the one it pointed to had come.
“As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (3:27)
A picture of baptism, in which a person puts on new clothes. The Word has put on our flesh, and in baptism we put on him.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,” (4:4)
The story of 3:15 onward reaches its goal here. The eternal Son is born into the people of the promise and under their law, a son of Abraham indeed.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism calls the Old Law a preparation for the Gospel, and quotes St Irenaeus that it is “a pedagogy and a prophecy of things to come” (CCC 1964). The covenant with Israel has never been revoked (CCC 121). The white garment of baptism signifies that the baptized person has “put on Christ” (CCC 1243).
Setting.
Luke writes as a historian of salvation. He sets the birth under Augustus, who ruled the Roman world from 27 BC to AD 14. An inscription from Priene in Asia Minor (9 BC) calls the birthday of Augustus the beginning of “good news” for the world, and hails him as a saviour who brought peace. Luke uses the same language deliberately. The Emperor issues a decree and, without knowing it, sends a poor couple to the town where the Scriptures said the ruler would be born.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger,” (2:7)
No wonders are described. Mary herself does what every mother does. Solomon too, a king, was “nursed with care in swaddling cloths” (Wisdom 7:4): the Son of God does not ask for an exemption from being a baby.
“to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (2:11)
Three titles, each of them enormous, and “to you” addressed to shepherds. Savior is the word used of the Emperor. Messiah is the hope of Israel. Lord is the word that the Greek Old Testament uses for God.
“and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (2:14)
A note on the text. Older Greek manuscripts read “people of his favour”, which the NRSV and the Latin (“of good will”) follow, while many later ones read “good will among people”. The Syriac Peshitta, the Bible of our own tradition, reads “peace and good hope to the sons of men”. Peace is God’s gift to those he loves; it is not earned, and it is not a reward for good manners.
“But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” (2:19)
The Greek word for “pondered” means to put together, to place one thing next to another. Mary lays the angel’s words beside the manger. Everyone else in the scene is moving; she is the still centre, and she is the source of the Church’s meditation on this night.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism notes that Jesus was born in a humble stable into a poor family and that simple shepherds were the first witnesses, and it says that the mystery of Christmas is accomplished in us when Christ is formed in us (CCC 525–526). The angel’s message is the announcement of the Messiah promised to Israel (CCC 437). St Leo the Great, preaching on this day, said that there is no room for sadness on the birthday of life, and called out: “Christian, remember your dignity” (Sermon 21; CCC 1691). St Ephrem, in his Hymns on the Nativity, never tires of the paradox that the Lord of all lay as a small child at the breast of his mother (in substance).
Isaiah says “young woman” and the caption says “virgin”. Which is right?
Both words belong to the Church’s reading. The Hebrew ‘almâ means a young woman. The Greek Old Testament has parthenos, virgin, and Matthew quotes it (1:23). The NRSV and the POC translate the Hebrew, as they are entitled to do. The Church’s faith that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary does not rest on one word in Isaiah. It rests on the Gospels (Matthew 1:18–25; Luke 1:26–38) and on the constant faith of the Church (CCC 496–498).
Was Jesus really born on 25 December? And what about the census of Quirinius?
The Gospels give no date. The earliest clear record of 25 December comes from Rome in the fourth century, and scholars still discuss how the date was chosen. The Church is celebrating the fact of the birth, not a date of record. On the census, there is a real difficulty: Matthew and Luke place the birth in the days of Herod, who died about 4 BC, and Josephus records a census under Quirinius about AD 6. Various solutions have been proposed and none is agreed. Luke’s purpose is clear in any case: the world’s ruler issues a decree, and God’s plan goes forward.
Does “firstborn” mean that Mary had other children?
No. “Firstborn” is a legal title for the son who opens the womb, who is to be consecrated to God (Exodus 13:2; Luke 2:23). An only son is still a firstborn son. The Church teaches that Jesus is Mary’s only child, while her spiritual motherhood extends to all people (CCC 500–501).
In the Syro-Malabar Church the 25 Days’ Fast ends and the season of Nativity begins. Today’s Gospel touches our Holy Qurbana very closely: we begin it with the angels’ song, in the words handed down in our Syriac tradition, with its promise of peace and good hope. So every Qurbana opens on the fields of Bethlehem, and it brings us, like the shepherds, to the One who lay in the feeding trough and now gives himself as food. What the shepherds saw in the manger, we receive at the altar.