The tidings of great joy

Prayer for the Nativity

Jesus Christ, radiant centre of glory,

image of our God, the invisible Father,

revealer of his eternal designs,

prince of peace;

father of the world to come. . .

For our sake he took the likeness of a slave,

becoming flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,

without intervention of man;

for our sake, wrapped in swaddling bands

and laid in a manger

adored by the shepherds

and hymned by the angelic powers, who sang:

Glory to God in the heavens

and on earth peace and good to men.

Make us worthy, Lord, to celebrate and to conclude in peace the feast which magnifies the rising of your light,

by avoiding empty words, working with justice, fleeing from the passions and raising up the spirit above earthly goods.

Bless your Church, formed long ago

to be united with yourself through your life giving blood.

Come to the aid of your faithful shepherds,

of the priests and the teachers of your Gospel.

Bless your faithful whose only hope is in your mercy; Christian souls, the sick, those who are tormented in spirit and those who have asked us to pray for them.

Have pity, in your infinite clemency, and preserve us in fitness to receive the future, endless good things.

We celebrate your glorious nativity

with the Father who sent you for our redemption,

with the life-giving Spirit,

now and for ever and through all ages. Amen.

Syriac liturgy

Hymn for the Nativity

Sons of men, do you truly speak of justice? Dwellers on the earth,

do you truly judge with fairness?

We confess with unshakable faith

that God, who was made man

and who was given birth by a Virgin.

Before all time he was begotten.

of an immeasurable Father;

now we adore him who became incarnate

in a Virgin’s womb.

He is the creator of all,

himself remaining invisible and distinct from creation.

So we are able to say:

in you, Lord, is clemency; glory be to you.

O Holy God,

you have deigned to be born, a tiny child, from a Virgin. I

O God, holy and strong,

you have willed to rest in the arms of Mary.

O God, holy and immortal,

you have come to rescue Adam from hell.

O immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, full of grace,

Emmanuel, whom you have carried,

is the fruit of your womb.

In your maternal bosom you have nourished all men.

You are above all praise and all glory.

Hail, Mother of God, joy of the angels.

The fullness of your grace

goes beyond what the prophets foretold.

The Lord is with you,

you have given birth

to the Saviour of the world.

Fragment from an ancient eucharistic liturgy