The Nativity stinks

The nativity scene is very familiar to us. We know what it looks like: the Christ Child, the Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, the stable…

What we often forget is what it smelled like: all those animals and their you-know-what, and then the shepherds arrive on the scene, bringing their own special, er, aroma.

Yes indeed, stables – for all their picturesque charms – stink.

Yes, and you stink and I stink and the whole world stinks – with the foulness of sin.

Yet Christ was born in a stinking stable.

Christ was born one as one of us –stinking human beings that we are – like us in all things but sin.

No matter how bad things may seem or how badly we may feel about ourselves, God loves us.

Christ was born in a stable and Christ has come to be with us.

Come, let us welcome him and adore.