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And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart (Luke 2: 19) In the Cathedral’s North Transept are windows by Charles Connick representing the Nativity of the Lord, dating from 1917-19. In the center window, we see Joseph, and Mary holding the child Jesus. In the left hand window, the shepherds hasten to the scene; and in the right hand window, the wise men kneel in adoration, bearing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Nativity windows are placed where they never get direct sunlight, and the Latin inscriptions in these windows remind us why: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.” On the darkest days of the year, we celebrate the coming of Christ, the light of the world. MEDITATION I believe that our mother the Church has elevated women to a great honor in the presence of God by proclaiming Mary the Mother of the Church. God so loved the world that he gave his Son. This was the first Eucharist: the gift of his Son, when he gave him to Our Lady, establishing in her the first altar. Mary was, from that instant on, the only one who was able to affirm with complete sincerity, This is my body. She offered her body, her strength, her whole being, to form the body of Christ. It was on her that the power of the Holy Spirit rested, and in her that the Word became flesh.... Our Lady--the most beautiful among all women, the greatest, the most humble, the purest, the holiest--in the moment when she felt flooded by grace, full of Jesus, ran in haste. Immediately she shared what she had just received. To say it in another way, she hastened to share the Eucharist. --Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, 7 August 1976 PRAYER God of love, Father of all, The Sacramentary – Alternative Opening Prayer for Christmas Day
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IN THE NORTH TRANSEPT