Paul Claudel who lived in the 19 century was a French poet, a dramatist and a diplomat. His family was a very catholic family but he was an unbeliever in his teenage years, but he experienced a sudden conversion at the age of eighteen on Christmas Day 1886 while listening to a choir sing Vespers in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.  As he walked on the footpath outside Notre Dame Cathedral everyone who passed by wished him happy Christmas but he could not experience that joy and happiness that everyone was wishing each other. He heard the monks singing vespers in the cathedral and he felt an urge to enter and in his own words he says: “In an instant, my heart was touched, and I believed.” He would remain a strong Catholic for the rest of his life. The part of Christmas that we all like is when everything begins to wind down, the shops begin to close and people are not in such a mad rush, when you can hear the singing of Christmas carols and Christmas bells ringing. Christmas brings mixed emotions. It is a time of great busyness, often of stress and this year especially with the inclement weather – the beast form the East and the long drought, a time to enjoy being with family and friends, and yet it is often tinged with loneliness at the memory of loved ones who have died, or sadness as we think of those who have chosen to separate themselves from our lives and those who have been forced to separate themselves from our lives because of external circumstances. It is a time when we eat and drink and celebrate the fact that another year has passed and we are still around to enjoy it. This is what Christmas means for most people in the western hemisphere. There is a great danger of domesticating Christmas, turning it into a nice family occasion and there is nothing wrong with this but we should not reduce Christmas to this; Christmas means much more. St. Luke’s account of the nativity begins in the reign of Cesar Augustus. No one was more powerful than Cesar Augustus; he was emperor of the greatest empire that existed in the world. He came to power after the death Julius Cesar. St. Luke says that Cesar Augustus ordered a census of the whole empire and this was the way Kings kept a control over their people, so that they could tax their people. St. Luke tells us that he is not interested in this Old King but he is interested in the arrival of a new king. This new Kling wasn’t born in a palace, there was no room for him in the hostels of Bethlehem he was born in a stable. Who was the greatest and freest King at this time? It was Cesar Augustus, he could order something and it would be carried out in Rome, in Spain all over the Empire; but St. Luke tells us that the real king is born in swaddling clothes. The true king is not the one who has world power but the one who makes himself weak, who is bound up in love for the sake of others. Who was the best fed person in the Roman Empire, it was Cesar Augustus who lived in his palace on the Palatine Hill, he had just to snap his fingers and his servants would immediately attend to him. St. Luks tells us that the real king was laid in a manger, a place where animals feed from. The real king who would offer himself as food for the whole world is placed in a manger. Luke speaks about angles, the typical response to angles in the Bible is fear, this is why the first words of the angles is “Do not be afraid” The angles bring us the good news that a new King has been born. St. Luke tells us that there was a whole army of angles. Who had the greatest and most powerful army at this time it was Cesar Augustus’s army. St. Luke’s tells us that this new King is accompanied by an army of angles, an army which is more powerful than Cesar Augustus’s army. Which King do you follow, which army are you with. Sometimes we follow the way of power, success, money; pleasure; but Gods way is a way of love and compassion. Don’t domesticate Christmas, reflect on the true meaning and it will change your life as it changed the life of Paul Claudel. May the baby Jesus bring you and your loved ones his joy, his peace and his light this Christmas.