Joyful Mysteries · 3 of 5
The Nativity
Scripture: Luke 2:1-20
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord."
Spiritual fruit: Poverty of spirit
Traditionally prayed on: Monday and Saturday
The Nativity of the Lord is the third of the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. It commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, the central historical event of the Christian faith and the inauguration of the new covenant in time and history.
The mystery
The narrative is recorded primarily in Saint Luke (2:1-20), with the supplementary witness of Saint Matthew (1:18-25; 2:1-12). The Word, who is God from all eternity and who took flesh in the womb of the Virgin at the Annunciation, is born in time at the city of David, fulfilling the prophecy of Micah (5:1-4) that the ruler of Israel would come forth from Bethlehem.
The setting is humble: a stable, a manger, swaddling clothes. The first witnesses are shepherds, the lowest stratum of first-century Palestinian society. The angelic proclamation, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will" (Luke 2:14), is heard not by the powerful but by these shepherds keeping watch by night.
Meditation on poverty of spirit
The traditional spiritual fruit of the Nativity is poverty of spirit. The mystery presents the paradox at the heart of the Catholic understanding of God: the One who is omnipotent is born in poverty; the One who governs the cosmos is laid in a feeding trough; the King of Kings is greeted by shepherds rather than by emperors. Saint Leo the Great, in his Christmas Sermon, observes that Christ chose poverty at his birth in order to teach the spiritually poor the fundamental nature of the kingdom: that it belongs to those who do not cling to created goods.1
The first of the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3), is proclaimed in advance by the manger of Bethlehem. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the very condition of Christ's birth is a teaching about the disposition required to receive him.2
Praying the Nativity
To pray the third Joyful Mystery: announce "The third Joyful Mystery, the Nativity," pray an Our Father, ten Hail Marys while meditating on the birth of Christ at Bethlehem, and conclude with a Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer.
For the Christmas season, in which the Catholic Church liturgically celebrates this mystery for twenty days, see the liturgical calendar entry. For the previous mystery, see the Visitation. For the next mystery, see the Presentation.
Sources
Footnotes
Last reviewed: May 1, 2026. Sources verified.