Christmas Sermon, Stonyhurst 1904

Let us go over to Bethlehem, in company with the shepherds, and see this thing that has come to pass. It is but a mile or two from Migdol-Eder, the traditional site of the shepherds' watch-tower, to the cave in the scarp of the rock whereon the little city of Bethlehem is built; and there will be no difficulty in obtaining admittance, for it stands open to all the world. And what shall we find at the end of our short journey? A poor mother, forced by the crowded condition of the town to take refuge with her husband in the cave, and her new-born Child. It is indeed a pathetic scene, one to move our pity and commiseration; but is it a theme for angels' songs, an event to be hymned "by a great multitude of the heavenly host"? To the eye of faith it is indeed a theme and an event worthy of being hymned, not for a few moments only in the hearing of a few poor shepherds, but with the whole court of heaven for audience through all eternity.