The blog Messy Jesus Business has a post on Advent and our Christmas habits called the disturbing poor baby Jesus by Sister Julia Walsh FSPA Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Here is an excerpt I am even more disturbed when I read the Christmas story in the bible and let it challenge

Among all the grand titles we ascribe to Jesus perhaps root of Jesse is the least remarkable nbsp This title however serves to underline the humanness of Jesus he is born as one of many descendants in a history of generations of human beings nbsp As such root of Jesse forms part of that

Lord is the title given Jesus in the second antiphon nbsp before Christmas nbsp There are a number of times Jesus is called Lord in the Gospels and the New Testament nbsp Some scholars would like to read this title as honorific without reference to divinity and at times the title is used this

nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp It is instructive to compare the reading from St Paul and the reading from St Matthew nbsp St Paul in Romans tersely describes the coming of Jesus his Son descended from David according to the flesh nbsp As for today s Gospel nbsp St Matthew tells nbsp gives

Because we are so used to the Incarnation of the child who came to live among us and the manner in which it happened nbsp I think we take for granted its inevitability It was not necessary God could have redeemed humanity in some other way with more might more power more fireworks - think Holl

Beginning with December 17 and running through December 23 Evening Prayer of the breviary includes prayers that begin with O nbsp These are prayers or more specifically antiphons which indicate titles given to Jesus of Nazareth nbsp The first of these that of December 17 is O Wisdom nb