The liturgy of Christmas is redolent of holy joy; were it not for the violet vestments it would seem that the feast had already begun. The Hodie scietis, “This day you shall know” is a recurrent them, repeated time and again, insistently, which expresses the Church’s joy: the great event that she is making ready to celebrate took place in the past, but our Savior’s coming is always in the present by the redemption that it brings to mankind of all times. The Son of David makes Himself one of us to bring us with Him one day to His kingdom. The Christmas liturgy must be understood in this wide sense; taken as a whole it causes us to celebrate the work of redemption which Christ bears in His Person from the moment of His appearance in this world.