The Adoration of the Shepherds

Continuing Fouard's Life of Christ: III. The Adoration of the Shepherds

Luke ii. 8-20

To the east of Bethlehem their extend towards the Dead Sea the greenest of valleys.  In olden times there stood in that place "the Tower of the Herds,"(seeMigdal Eder. Gen. xxxv. 21)  near which Jacob had pitched his tent, there to mourn his dearly loved Rachel.  Ruth had gleaned in those happy fields, and the boy David tended there his father's flocks.  Today, in that same valley, the olive trees overshadow the lonely crypt.  consecrated to the Wholly Angels, this century marks the spot over which the heavens were opened to reveal to Birth coming of its Saviour. (Fouard favours the site of the apparition of the Angels as Deir Er-Ralouat)

Tidings of great joy unto you... J-J Tissot

"Certain of the shepherds," says Saint Luke, "were guarding their flocks and keeping their watches through the night.  Then suddenly the Angel of the Lord appeared unto them, the Glory of the Lord (Luke ii. 8-12. δόξα Κυρίον may also refer to the luminous cloud which overhung the Tabernacle; in the Old Testament, it is often called “the Glory of the Lord” (Exod. xl.32; 3 Kings vii. 10, 11 etc.) enveloped them in the light, and they were seized by a great terror." For to the sons of Israel no splendour could emanate from the skies; without recalling the flaming heights of Sinai and the dread Jehovah, Whom no man might look upon and live. (Exod xx. 18, 19.)

Straightway the Angel reassured them.  "Be not afraid," he said; " I am come to announce good tidings of great joy unto you and unto all your people.  Today, in the city of David, is born to you a Saviour, the Christ, the Lord;(Χριστὸς Κύριος : The only instance where the holy Records make use of these two titles associated in this manner) and behold the sign by which you shall know him: you shall find an Infant, wrapt in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

A manger, an infant, to work out their salvation!  What strange tidings are these!  The Wonderful, the Mighty God, the Father of Eternity, the Messiah, for Whose glorious coming Israel was in expectation, has revealed Himself at last in nakedness, in abandonment, in the midst of the straw of a stable!  What a sudden reversal of the most dearly cherished dreams of the Jews!  They must needs be simple and docile hearts who could receive this Message.  And so the Angel bought the glad tidings, neither to the Doctors of the Law nor to the great ones of earth, but to these shepherds; and in them he found that which he was seeking, the Faith of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob.

Their gentle souls were all aglow upon his words, and suddenly, while their eyes were still drinking in the celestial radiance, all at once they saw that the Angel was not alone; a multitude of spirits, all hosts of Heaven, surrounded them,6 and the Angelic choir entoned the chant whose echoes resound each day in the holy mystery of the Mass, –

"Glory to God in the highest of the heavens, and peace upon Earth on to all men beloved of God!" (Fouard follows Bossuet in his interpretation of hominibus bonae voluntatis, ἐν ἀνθρὡποις εὐδοκίας, as a reference to the good will God has for us)

The Adoration of the Shepherds. J-J Tissot.

The shepherds heard with rapture this concert of the Angels; and when it had faded away into the far depths of the skies, and the Messengers of God had gone from their sight, "Let us go to Bethlehem," they cried to one another immediately, "and see this which has happened, – see this which the Lord has made known to us."

And making haste to depart, they ascended the hill.  Upon its heights they found the cave; in the dumb beasts’ crib lay an Infant, wrapped in swaddling bands and laid amidst straw; over Him knelt a young Mother and a thoughtful, silent man.


It was the sign given from on High; they recognised it; and their faith bursting forth into joyous transports, they recounted to those who surrounded them all that had been said to them concerning this Child.  The sudden arrival of the shepherds, their search throughout the village had attracted attention.  Soon the throng of listeners grew in numbers, and "all were in admiration at this tale which the shepherds related."

Having rendered their testimony to the heavenly origin of the Babe, "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen, even as He had made known unto them.” Midmost of all this concert of delighted homage the Mother of Jesus was silent.  "treasuring up all these things, she pondered over them in her heart," until the day when Saint Luke wrote them down at her inspiration; for it would seem certain that in this portion of his Gospel, which is so entirely different from all the other accounts, we are reading the very words of Mary.  This story, at once so simple and so tender, betrays the Virgin's hand and the Mother’s heart.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam