Christmas Comes Early in Queens, N.Y.

December 2, 2015

One Catholic church in Queens built its nativity scene just in time for the holidays –- and just in time for a small miracle. On Monday, a newborn baby was left in baby Jesus’ empty manger.

A custodian returning from his lunch break heard the cries coming from the nativity scene, which was just constructed that morning at the Holy Child Jesus Church in the Richmond Hill neighborhood of Queens, N.Y. He found the baby boy wrapped in a towel, with the umbilical cord still attached.

“The baby seemed fine,” said the church secretary. “He was a fortunate child. The mother made the right choice.”

The newborn baby, believed to be just four or five hours old, was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Queens and is in stable condition. The New York Police Department is investigating who the mother is and church surveillance cameras may have caught a brief image of her, police told ABC News.

“God has a way of working mysteriously because I believe when this woman who came in with this child, saw this crèche, this empty home, this home in which we’ll welcome Jesus in just a few short weeks, I believe she found in it, a home for her child,” Father Christopher Heanue told ABC News in New York.

As was their custom, the church in Queens constructed their crèche with the manger empty for Advent, in anticipation for Christmas Day when Jesus would take His place in the Holy Nativity. I am sure they did not expect, nor were they prepared, for it to be filled in the manner it was on Monday. Similarly, 2000 years ago, the Savior too came in a humble manner. Few were ready for Him to come as a helpless baby, and no one was expecting Him to be born in a lowly feeding manger. But arrive in humble circumstances He did, and lives have been changed by this event for two millennia.

Are your hearts ready to receive Jesus this Christmas? Make preparation in your heart today, because you never know what might come tomorrow.