Bethlehem In Bethlehem, Father Faber charts the spiritual meaning for us of Our Lord's Incarnation, birth, infancy and early life. Nothing the God-man did or allowed Himself to undergo is without meaning - and the author explores those hidden meanings of the Early Life of Our Lord with a profundity and breadth that one would hardly believe possible. "The Incarnation lies at the bottom of all sciences, and is their ultimate explanation. It is the secret beauty in all arts. It is the completeness of all true philosophies. It is the point of arrival and departure to all history. The destinies of nations, as well as of individuals, group themselves around it. It purifies all happiness and glorifies all sorrow. It is the cause of all we see, and the pledge of all we hope for. It is the great central fact both of life and immortality, out of sight of which man's intellect wanders in the darkness and the light of a divine life falls not on his footsteps." More than a meditation on the Savior's birth and early years, Bethlehem is, in typical Father Faber style, a wide-ranging discourse on almost our whole Faith from the point of view of Our Lord's Sacred Infancy. Father Frederick William Faber was born in Yorkshire, England in 1814. He was converted from the Anglican ministry to Catholicism in 1845. Ordained a priest in 1847, he joined the Oratorians in 1848 and worked with John Henry Cardinal Newman. In addition to numerous fine hymns, Fr. Faber authored nine books, including the following (which are available in this series): Spiritual Conferences, All for Jesus, Growth in Holiness, The Blessed Sacrament, The Foot of the Cross, The Precious Blood and The Creator and the Creature. Fr. Faber died in London in 1863.
