Birth of Jesus Christ
1 BC
📂 BIBLICAL
📖 About This Event
The birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem is the Incarnation — the Word becoming flesh. The angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear a son whom she was to call Jesus, 'for he will save his people from their sins' (Matthew 1:21). Mary traveled with Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census ordered by Caesar Augustus, and while they were there, Jesus was born. 'She wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn' (Luke 2:7).
Angels appeared to shepherds in the fields, proclaiming, 'Today in the town of David a savior has been born to you, who is the Messiah and the Lord.' The shepherds went to Bethlehem and found the child just as the angel had described. From the East, wise men (Magi) followed a star to Bethlehem, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh — symbols of Jesus' kingship, divinity, and mortality. To escape King Herod's massacre of the infants, Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt, fulfilling the prophecy 'Out of Egypt I called my son' (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15).
The Catholic Church celebrates the Nativity at Christmas, the greatest feast of the liturgical year (after Easter). The Incarnation is the foundation of salvation: God became man so that man might become god. 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth' (John 1:14). Key Scripture: Matthew 1-2; Luke 1-2; John 1:1-18; CCC 461-480
📜 Key Facts
Date
1 BC
Category
Biblical
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