What a multitude of people in Bethlehem! Joseph and his wife, Mary, who is pregnant, try to weave their way through the crowds. It has already been several days since they set out from their home in Nazareth, in Galilee, to come to the town of Bethlehem, in Judea. They have come to be enrolled in the census in the city of the family of Joseph, because Emperor Augustus has ordered the counting of all the inhabitants of the empire. Exhausted from the journey, Mary is riding on a donkey. The time for the birth of her baby has almost arrived. Joseph has knocked on every door, trying to find somewhere to stay. His face is grave andworried. “Our baby can’t be born in the street . . . But, there’s no place for us anywhere in Bethlehem, even at the inn . . .” The Nativity 75 December 24
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