Christmas isn’t just a single holiday day on the traditional church calendar but rather the entire season of Advent, which has just begun and will lead us to the coming seasons in this new year. Here is a portion of a sermon from the great church father St. Augustine on this First Sunday of Advent.

“Man’s maker was made man that he, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at his mother’s breast;

that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey;

that Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood;

that Strength might grow weak;

that the Healer might be wounded;

that Life might die.”

~ St. Augustine, Sermons 191.1