This will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12; cf. 2:16). God’s sign, the sign
given to the shepherds and to us, is not an astonishing miracle. God’s
sign is his humility. God’s sign is that he makes himself small; he
becomes a child; he lets us touch him and he asks for our love. How we
would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God’s
power and greatness! But his sign summons us to faith and love, and thus
it gives us hope: this is what God is like. He has power, he is
Goodness itself. He invites us to become like him.
Yes indeed, we
become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign; if we
ourselves learn humility and hence true greatness; if we renounce
violence and use only the weapons of truth and love.
Benedict XVI - Homily at the Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord 2009
