Christmas Proclamation      

adapted from Roman Martyrology by The Reverend Bruce Jenneker

 

Today, the twenty-fifth day of December,

unknown ages from the time when God created the heavens and the earth

and in the fullness of time formed humankind in God’s image.

From the time when God created the universe, 13 billion years;

From the origin of life on earth, the first living cells, 4 billion years;

From the age of the dinosaurs, 230 million years;

From the time of homo erectus, using tools, 1 million years;

Several thousand years after the flood,

when God made the rainbow shine forth as a sign of the covenant.

Twenty-one centuries from the time of Abraham and Sarah;

thirteen centuries after Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Eleven hundred years from the time of Ruth and the Judges;

one thousand years from the anointing of David as king;

in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel.

In the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;

the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome.

The forty-second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace~

A fanfare sounds.

Jesus Christ, eternal God and Son of the eternal Father,

desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming,

being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months having passed since his conception,

was born in Bethlehem of Judea of Mary, the chosen handmaid of the Lord.

The People shout:

Glory to God in the highest and peace to God’s people on earth!