Editor's Note: The following well-known illustration is usually used in the context of speaking about the church ministering in the world. But it's also a powerful image about Christ's birth and the Incarnation.

In spite of his best efforts, surgeon Richard Selzer had to cut a nerve in the young woman's cheek in order to get at the tumor. The result was that her mouth was permanently misshapen. Dr. Selzer was uncertain as to how her husband would respond to the change. Therefore, he was encouraged when the young man came in and was warm and caring to his wife, even joking about her new cute look. But when he saw what happened next, Dr. Selzer's encouragement turned to awe. The young husband bent down towards his wife, twisted his lips to fit her crooked mouth, and gently kissed her.

Christmas is all about the Incarnation; about the Divine Word "making himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:7). In so doing, God bent down, 'twisted his lips" and kissed the crooked lips of a world, misshapen by sin and despair, with His love and grace.