“As we gather about the crib of Bethlehem, we feel that we are in the presence of a new Paradise of Beauty and Love, and the name of that Paradise is Mary. And if we could have been there in the stable on that first Christmas night, we might have seen the Paradise of the Incarnation, but we should not be able to recollect whether her face was beautiful or not for what would have impressed us, and made us forget all else, would have been the lovely, sinless soul that shone through her eyes like two celestial suns. If we could have stood at the gates to that Paradise, we would have less peered at it as into it, for what would have impressed us would not have been any external qualities, though these would have been ravishing, but rather the qualities of her soul – her simplicity, innocence, humility, and above all, her purity. Christmas takes on a new meaning when the Mother is seen with the Babe. In fact, the heavens and the earth seem almost to exchange places. Years ago, we used to think of the heavens as ‘way up there.’ Then one day the God of the heavens came to this earth, and that hour when she held the Babe in her arms, it became true to say that with her we now ‘look down’ to heaven.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Manifestations of Christ)