At Christmas we remember the love of God for us in Jesus Christ.

He entered into the world he had made.

He was born in humble circumstances.

He came to identify with us in our weakness and to give himself in love for us.

True love forgets self and focuses on the need of others.

Princess Alice was the third child of Queen Victoria.

In 1878 diphtheria spread through Alice’s family.

Four of her children and her husband all fell ill.

Her youngest child, Marie, succumbed to the disease on November 16.

She was just four years old. Princess Alice kept the news from the other children for two weeks.

Then when she finally told ten year-old Ernest, who also had the disease, he was distraught.

The doctors had told the princess not to have any physical contact with her sick children for fear that she also would catch the disease.

But as she sat with her distressed and weeping son she was overcome with love and compassion.

Without thinking of herself she bent down to comfort him and kissed him.

She was infected with diphtheria and died two weeks later.

Real love forgets self. Real love knows no danger.

Real love sacrifices all for the object of love.

Jesus showed real love for us as he stooped down to earth, was born in a stable, took upon himself our likeness and then as an adult kissed death in our place.

Such sacrificial love is not something that can be earned it must simply be received.

May we all experience that real love in Jesus this Christmas.