'You will bear a child ...'

Here in the UK we have been treated to a wonderful four-part dramatization of the Nativity, broadcast on BBC TV in prime time each evening this week. The Nativity is writtten by Tony Jordan, who is something like royalty in the world of soap scriptwriting. It is co-produced by the BBC and CBC (Canadian) and I hope very much that it reaches the US somehow.

Jordan, interviewed last Sunday, said he was an agnostic until he started working on the script. Three years of research, writing and filming later, he now believes that the story of the Nativity is true.

For excellent reviews, see the Jesuit e-journal Thinking Faith's reviews of each episode here, here, here and here. As the last one says, the Nativity is a gift of imaginative contemplation.

Here is the scene where the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, played beautifully by Tatiana Maslany. Happy Christmas.