For the poor and homeless, Christmas Day can be just another day without food or shelter.
As we read the scriptures, we gain an insight into how difficult the first Christmas was for Mary and Joseph.
It is almost certain that Joseph and Mary reached Bethlehem in the late afternoon or early evening. Had they arrived earlier, lodging would not have been so difficult to find.
The picture of Joseph going from door to door, desperately begging shelter because Mary was in labour, has always struck a poignant chord in the Christmas story.
And the nameless innkeeper who refused them refuge - or was it his sympathetic wife - who remembered the cave behind the inn, where animals were sheltered, and he threw it open to the hapless couple.
From all accounts of the Nativity, it seems that no one assisted Mary at the birth of Jesus - not even Joseph, for husbands were not to play the role of midwives. Self-delivery was by no means uncommon at the time. The women of Palestine, unlike neighbouring mothers, prided themselves on delivering their babies rather easily and were quite able to take care of themselves in the absence of a midwife.
Luke simply relates that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in bands of swaddling cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, which must have had the sweetish, grainy smell of hay, barley, and oats.
All in Bethlehem must have rustled with news about "that poor girl from Galilee" who had no sooner arrived in town than she bore a child, since the shepherds and, later, the Magi had no trouble finding the Holy Family. Clearly, they must have been directed by the townspeople.
Let us remember the homeless and the lonely, at Christmas and pray, that like Mary and Joseph, they will find refuge and comfort.
Fr Gary Walker
Regional Director
Australia & New Zealand
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