Nativity of the Lord

From the very beginning, Christians celebrated what the Lord Jesus accomplished for the salvation of humanity. They did this every Sunday, the day of the Lord’s resurrection, and as an annual feast on the Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox, Easter Sunday.

At the beginning of the 4th century, the liturgical calendar began to evolve, giving value to the “historical” Jesus as well. Good Friday was added to recall Jesus’ death, and the Last Supper…. In that trajectory, the Nativity, the Birth of Jesus, was added. The first evidence of the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord dates back to the year 336. Soon after, in the Eastern Church, the Christmas feast of the Epiphany began to be celebrated on the 6th of January. The date was connected to the civil pagan festival of the birth of the invincible sun (Natale Solis Invicti), introduced by the Emperor Aurelian in 274 in honor of the Syrian Sun god of Emesa, celebrated on 25 December.

Christmas is the only liturgical celebration with four Masses, the Vigil Mass, the Mass during the Night, the Mass at Dawn and the Mass during the Day. The readings are the same for each of these Masses for all three liturgical years. This choice seeks to demonstrate and enhance, almost in slow motion, that Event that changed the course of human history: God became man.