Friends, how these days have passed. Christmas is said to be the celebration of the birth of the Child God, which is a time of love and peace, where one must forget grudges and forgive. But Christmas is Christmas. Each one celebrates it and lives in his own way. For some, Christmas is a time of rest, vacations, while others have to work more than usual. I hope you are not one of the latter.

What we have to agree on, beyond the way we celebrate it, Christmas is the feast of the birth of Jesus. Jesus, the son of God, came as a fragile child born in a stable next to Mary and Joseph. Hence we can say that Jesus is the center of Christmas. Christmas cries out to men the Love that God has for us.

It is for this reason that I wanted to make this post with the 5 famous paintings that speak of some significant moments in the life of Jesus. I would have liked to select more, but sometimes it is good to set a limit, and in this post I have tried to select the 5 most outstanding moments. I hope you enjoy the selection.

Nativity by Sandro Botticelli

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As with all beginnings, we must begin with birth. Son of Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, Jesus was conceived in Galilee. His conception was announced to his father Joseph by the Angel Gabriel, who appears to him in a dream and says: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to receive Mary, your wife, because the child in her is through the Holy Spirit, she will give birth to a child and you will call him Jesus because he will save the people from their sins". After this apparition, Joseph accepts Mary and together they go to Bethlehem in Judea about 120 km from Nazareth. This trip was due to a decree promulgated by Caesar Augustus by which all the inhabitants of the empire were to be registered (census) in the city of their lineage. The humble couple of very low resources, sleeps in the outskirts of Bethlehem, taking refuge in one of the caves used by the shepherds. There, Mary gives birth to her first-born son who lies in a manger because there was no room in the inn.

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The Massacre of the Innocents, by Rubens

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This is the biblical scene known as the "Slaughter of the Innocents," present in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 2. This painting depicts how King Herod's soldiers kill the newborn babies of Judea so that no one becomes the Messiah. The story says that when the Roman King Herod, at the time of the birth of Jesus, orders to kill all newborn Jewish children, to make sure to annihilate the theoretical messiah about which he had been warned, against this event the putative father of Jesus, Joseph, exiles in Egypt until the danger passes. According to the story, the Jewish people were decimated to the extreme killing all male children up to 2 years.

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The Resurrection of Lazarus, by José de Ribera

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This is perhaps one of his best-known miracles. Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was laid over it.
Jesus said, "Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, "Lord, it already stinks, because it is four days old.
Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
Then they took away the stone from which the dead man had been laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, thank You that You have heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but I said it because of the multitude around, that they might believe that you sent me.
And when he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!
And he that was dead came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped in a shroud. And Jesus said unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

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Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper

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The Last Supper took place on the night of the preparation of the Jewish Passover, a very sacred time for the Jewish nation in remembrance of when God saved the Jews from the plague of death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Jesus intentionally arranged the supper, instructing His disciples where to celebrate it. His twelve disciples were with Him during and after the meal. This is when Jesus makes the prediction that Peter would deny knowing Him three times before the cock crowed in the morning, which was true. Jesus also predicted that a disciple, Judas Iscariot, would betray him, which was also true. The Last Supper was a meeting for Christ to fraternize with His disciples for the last time before His arrest and crucifixion.

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Crucified Christ, by Diego Velázquez

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In this canvas we find a Christ represented frontally, with the head bowed to our left side. Christ as the Light that imposes itself on the darkness. It is a work that provokes us to recollection, in which pain appears contained. It is in this supernatural calm where all the potential and transcendent greatness of the work resides. In this work that represents the death of Jesus, we only notice a few threads of blood that flow from his hands and feet slipping through the wood of the cross. The wound on the side is barely suggested, as is the crown of thorns, from which only light drops of blood sprinkle on the forehead, mouth and chest.

And on the third day, according to the Holy Scriptures, Jesus rose again and, appearing to his disciples, encouraged them to preach the word of God.

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As you have seen, the humble and simple manger that welcomed Mary and Joseph is considered the home of the son of God and the representation of the place of miracles. There is no place more beautiful than that where there is love and peace. They have also seen that every act, every miracle, is done on the basis of faith and the certainty that God accompanies us. May the birth of Jesus allow us to see, in the midst of adversity, the light of hope that is renewed every day and that there is no fog that obscures our path.