Sweet and hidden Child, I think of how many innkeepers will turn You away, again this Christmas, send You back into the winter cold with a "no room here" shrug—the way I have so many times—their heart-chambers spilling over with food and drink, with parties and people and new-wrapped things. What need have the full for a Child, a Savior?

But You will not insist; You will not demand a space. You will simply knock at the next door, my door.

My precious King, this is not the golden castle I’d hoped to prepare for You; not a spotless room; not, even, a room with a padded rug for You and Your Holy Parents to rest upon. It is only a stable, a little place out of the wind among the shifty, bawling cattle and the nervous sheep, among the straw and blankets I have strewn hastily across the swept earth. But, sweet King, only say the word and this craggy, contrite hollow of my heart shall be Yours.

By some miracle, You enter; it is not for Your good, but for mine, that You take shelter in this dark and blessed cave. It is for me, that You recline against the staunch post of Your foster-father, upon the soft cradle of Your Holy Mother. For my sake, she sets You, gently, in the manger, in this hard and splintered box that is my heart, lined with hay and swaddling bands.

In place of the sacrifice—of my burnt and feeble attempts at love—lay You: the Lamb of God; the wide-eyed way, the unstained truth; life, eternal. In this wooden soul, You rest, Your tiny fists clenched in mercy and the triumph of life eternal. Through the slats of this creche throne—my heart, cracked and resplendent, brimming with You—seeps a bright and uncontained joy, a peace, pleasing and warm, a light which is not overcome with the day’s passing, but stretches ahead like a lead rope for the blind, like a handrail for the weary.

For the Kingdom of Heaven has been renewed within: Love, Himself, has been born again this Christmas in the wintry, hopeful heart. In its hidden corner, the Infant Savior stretches, reaches toward resurrection, His sleepy arms up and out, wide with promise.