But Jesus the man loved to mix with despised people, and Jesus the child was born among them. The despised recognised that Jesus could satisfy their deepest needs while the highly respected only saw him as a threat.

The story, the greatest ever told (you'll surely agree with that dear reader) starts with an oriental equivalent of going down to the post office to fill in a tax form or similar. Only for Mary and Joseph it's a rough journey of days. In a stable a newly born baby is in an animal's trough. Round his limbs, to keep them straight, Mary has placed the usual cloth-like bandages. Just an ordinary baby in rough circumstances? It's the despised shepherds who are able to see below the surface.

In Saint Luke's version of the birth of Jesus, he concentrates very much on the shepherds because he realises that this birth wasn't a great joy only for one couple, but was to "bring great joy to all the people." So here we are, with the simple people of life being able to recognise in this ordinary baby the splendour of God's own power and the joy this would bring to all.

The need for human beings to stop and just "be" has long been understood. There's a whole industry to service this need. We know it ourselves in our busy, busy lives. There is so much going on around us: at home, as it were, and in the world, that it takes some effort to see in this tiny child and in the story of his birth which we re-tell each year, the real meaning of being human, being alive.

In this greater consciousness of ourselves and the people around us, we can reflect with wonder and gratitude at the fact that God calls us and comes to us as the ordinary people we are. Can we ever sufficiently appreciate that love?

This year the chance: stop and think about being ordinary but at the same time, special! Be a sign of God's love, for it is through us that His love works: pick up the phone, send a card, invite someone in, mend a broken relationship … you know what I mean … don't mess about, just do it and God will bless you even more.

Father Tony McSweeney