the christmas mystery

"The Christmas mystery has two parts: the nativity and the epiphany. A deep instinct made the Church separate these two feasts. In the first we commemorate God's humble entrance into human life, the emergence and birth of the holy, and in the second its manifestation to the world, the revelation of the supernatural made in that life. And the two phases concern our inner lives very closely too. The first only happens in order that the second may happen, and the second cannot happen without the first. Christ is a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the glory of his people Israel. Think of what the Gentile was when these words were written--an absolute outsider. All cozy religious exclusiveness falls before that thought. The Light of the world is not the sanctuary lamp of your favorite church."

Evelyn Underhill, English mystic (1875-1941)