The lesson of the manger is that the smaller we are the closer we are to God. The larger we are, and the more we focus on ourselves, the less we can see. We obscure Jesus. It is the "littleness" that gives us supernatural vision. This is why pride halts many who feature themselves as intellects from appreciating His miracles. He manifests around us. He shows Himself in ways that are simple. It was the message of Bethlehem. The skeptics -- the Pharisees, the Sadducees -- might ask: How could God be among that couple from Nazareth -- that couple not even worthy of an inn? How could God be in an infant? Greatness comes with the simplicity of humility and the humility of simplicity; listen not to the judgment of worldliness. It is vapor. It ridicules because it fears its lack of perception -- the inability to recognize His Presence. Speak and think as Jesus spoke and thought -- as quietly as Joseph did, as the Blessed Mother has taught. Stop staring at yourself; look to His Light. When you are simple, you are powerful. Ego is the air in a balloon, subject to a pinprick (ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth). It cannot enter Heaven. "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," we should say, as did the Publican, when proud thoughts enter, when we complicate. "The simplicity of humility frees us from constantly investigating ourselves, from looking at our misery and shortcoming," writes Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourette of Upstate New York.  "Instead, it points our eyes to the loving glance of Jesus, to that glance full of mercy and compassion which can alone provide us complete forgiveness. Jesus loved the humble of heart." He was not of great stature at a university. He quoted not philosophers. He played no politics. But He came more than two thousand ago to be the turning point in history.

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