Birth of the Child Jesus
From the Writings of Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich
Mary told Joseph that the birth hour of the child would arrive on the coming night. It was then nine months since conception by the Holy Ghost. She begged him to do all in his power that they might received as honorably as possible this child promised by God, this child supernaturally conceived and she invited him to unite with her in prayer for those hard-hearted people who afford him no place of shelter....
When Mary told Joseph that her time was drawing near and that he should now betake himself to prayer, he left her and turned toward his sleeping place to do her bidding. Before entering his little recess, he looked back once more toward that part of the cave where Mary knelt upon her couch in prayer, her back to him, her face toward the east. He saw the cave filled with the light that streamed from Mary, for she was entirely enveloped as if by flames. It was as if he were like Moses, looking into the burning bush. He sank prostrate to the ground in prayer and looked not back again. The glory around Mary became brighter and brighter, the lamps that Joseph had lit were no longer to be seen. Mary knelt, her flowing white robe spread out before her. At the twelfth hour, her prayer became ecstatic, and I saw her raised so far above the ground that one could see it beneath her. Her hands were crossed upon her breast, and the light around her grew even more resplendent. Above Mary stretched a pathway of light up to heaven in which pathway it seemed as if one light came forth from another, as if one figure dissolved into another and from these different spheres of light other heavenly figures issued. Mary continued in prayer, her eyes bent low upon the ground. At that moment she gave birth to the Infant Jesus. I saw Him like a tiny, shining child lying on the rug at her knees, and brighter far than all the other brilliancy. Even inanimate nature seemed stirred. The stones of the rocky floor and the walls of the cave were glimmering and sparkling, as if instinct with life.
Mary’s ecstasy lasted some moments longer. Then I saw her spread a cover over the Child, but she did not yet take It up, nor even touch It. After a long time, I saw the child stirring and heard it crying, and then only did Mary seem to recover full consciousness. She lifted the Child, along with the cover that she had thrown over It to her breast and sat veiled, herself and Child quite enveloped. I saw angels around her in human form prostrate on their faces. It may, perhaps, have been an hour after the birth when Mary called St. Joseph, who still lay prostrate in prayer. When he approached, he fell on his knees, his face to the ground, in a transport of joy, devotion, and humility.... When Mary laid the Child in the crib, both she and Joseph stood by it in tears singing the praises of God.
Mary’s ecstasy lasted some moments longer. Then I saw her spread a cover over the Child, but she did not yet take It up, nor even touch It. After a long time, I saw the child stirring and heard it crying, and then only did Mary seem to recover full consciousness. She lifted the Child, along with the cover that she had thrown over It to her breast and sat veiled, herself and Child quite enveloped. I saw angels around her in human form prostrate on their faces. It may, perhaps, have been an hour after the birth when Mary called St. Joseph, who still lay prostrate in prayer. When he approached, he fell on his knees, his face to the ground, in a transport of joy, devotion, and humility.... When Mary laid the Child in the crib, both she and Joseph stood by it in tears singing the praises of God.
~ Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich
ENYA
"MARY'S BOY CHILD"
HARRY BELAFONTE
"MARY HAD A BABY"
JESSYE NORMAN
"STILL, STILL, STILL"
NANA MOUSDOURI - SOPRANO
"DORMI JESU" - JOHN RUTTER
CHOIR OF KING'S COLLEGE
"GESU BAMBINO" - PIETRO YON
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI AND VIENNA CHOIR BOYS
"QUEM PASTORES LAUDAVERE" - MICHAEL PRAETORIUS
GESUNGENE WEIHNACHSGESCHICHTE FUR FUNF CHORE
"AWAY IN A MANGER"
BOYS CHOIR
"BRING A TORCH JEANETTE ISABELLA"
ROBERT SHAW CHORALE
"AWAY IN A MANGER"
"JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING"- J. A. BACH, CANTATA 147
"ADESTE FIDELIS"
"O COME LET US ADORE HIM"
LUCIANO PAVAROTTI
"DIE HELLIGEN DREI KONIGE"
(THE THREE KINGS)
RICHARD STRAUSS, COMPOSER
ELIZABETH SCHWARZKOPF - SOPRANO
"WE THREE KINGS OF ORIENT ARE" - ROBERT SHAW CHORALE
"THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY"
"THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY - GIFT OF LOVE 1968"
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
"THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY - GIFT OF LOVE 1976"
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
"LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
BING CROSBY
BING CROSBY
"MI BURRITO SABANERO"
CAROL SUNG IN VENEZUELA AND PERU
"CELTIC PIPES OF CHRISTMAS"
"DANNY BOY" - FRANK PATTERSON, TENOR
MY BROTHER, DANIEL SANG THIS SONG EVERY CHRISTMAS FOR MY FATHER
"CHRISTMAS CAROLS SUNG BY WESTMINSTER ABBEY CHOIR"
CHOIR OF KING'S COLLEGE
"CEREMONY OF THE CAROLS" - BENJAMIN BRITTEN
R. RUDI - CONDUCTOR
R. RUDI - CONDUCTOR
"RIU, RIU, CHIU"
KING'S CHOIR, CAMBRIDGE
KING'S CHOIR, CAMBRIDGE
"NIGERIAN CHRISTMAS SONG SUNG IN IGBO"
"BETELEHEMU" AFRICAN CHILDREN'S CHOIR FROM NIGERIA
"GOOD KING WENCESLAS"
ROBERT SHAW CHORALE
"GREEK CHRISTMAS FOLK MUSIC"
IN MEMORY OF COUSIN CHRISTOPHER HARRIS,
AMAN FOLK ENSEMBLE GREEK/SERBIAN LEAD DANCER
"ARMENIAN CHRISTMAS CONCERT"
ST. MARY'S, TORONTO, CANADA
"BULGARIAN FOLK LORE DANCE"
"SERBIAN FOLK DANCE"
"BYZANTINE CHRISTMAS CAROLS"
"KANTKAION OF THE NATIVITY"
"SERBIAN, RUSSIAN, GREEK CHRISTMAS CAROLS"
"BOZICNA PESMA" - "THE PRE-ETERNAL IS BORN"
"LITURGY OF ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM" - SERGEI RACHMANINOV
"DIVNAJA NOVYNA"
"WYKONANIE"
"CAROL OF THE BELLS" - VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
"CAROLS OF THE BELLS"
DAUGHTERS OF ST. PAUL
"JOY TO THE WORLD"
DAUGHTERS OF ST. PAUL
SINGING NUNS
One Solitary Life
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant woman. He worked as a carpenter until he was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city…. H he never did one of the things that usually accompanies greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood.
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while he was dying – and that was his coat. When he was dead he was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was his human life – He rises from the dead.
Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the Centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of mankind upon this earth as powerfully as that One Solitary Life. ~ James C. Hefley
"HALLELUJAH CHORUS" - GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL
"THE NUTCRACKER BALLET"
MARINSKY THEATRE
"CONCERTO FOR FLUTE AND HARP" - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Posted for Susan Baake, R.N. of Mt. Washington Ayurveda, a Dear Friend
"Surely, this Concerto is so beautiful it must be Christmas Music" ~ Susan Baake
"Surely, this Concerto is so beautiful it must be Christmas Music" ~ Susan Baake
"Letter to a Friend"
by Fra Giovanni
"Letter to a Friend" by Fra Giovanni
I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach is joy. Take joy! Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty....that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all!....And so I greet you, with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
~ "Letter to a Friend" written by Fra Giovanni, Christmas Eve, 1513
"LIGHT THE CANDLES AROUND THE WORLD"
LIBERA
"LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH"
MORMON TABERNACLE CHOIR &
GALAXY CHILDREN'S CHOIR OF BEIJING
GALAXY CHILDREN'S CHOIR OF BEIJING
"WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS" IN JAPANESE
"FELIZ NAVIDAD"
JOSE FELICIANO
"DECK THE HALLS"
ROBERT SHAW CHORALE
"O TANNENBAUM" - "O CHRISTMAS TREE"
VIENNA BOYS CHOIR
"GLIMPSES OF CHRISTMAS AT SELF-REALIZATION FELLOWSHIP"
PARAMAHANSA YOGANANDA, FOUNDER
"AMEN"
Georg Frederick Handel - Composer
Georg Frederick Handel - Composer
"AMEN"
Georg Frederick Handel - Composer
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