A meditation preached by Fr. Eric Nicolai at Ernescliff College on December 16, 2022.

In the first of his Infancy Narratives, Pope Benedict XVI places us at the very end of Jesus’ life as he stands in front of his accuser, Pontius Pilate. Jesus has already been beaten, one eye is swollen, he is bruised all over, and already has a crown of thorns. It's a sad sight for a king.

While he was interrogating Jesus, Pilate unexpectedly put this question to the accused: “Where are you from?”.

That was the question that was placed to him by his accuser at the end of Jesus’ life, and yet we can start to see an answer right now at the beginning as we consider his coming into this world.

Music: Die Schonsten Deutsche Weihnachtslieder, from YouTube.Berliner Mozartchor  Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht. Berliner Mozartchor  Kling, Glöckchen, Klingelingeling.

Thumbnail: Gerrit Van Honthorst, Adoration of the child, 1619, from Uffizi Museum, Florence.