In a beautiful poem titled “A Little Litany,” G. K. Chesterton envisions Mary living out in daily life some of the titles traditionally ascribed to her in the Litany of Loreto. The title “morning star,” for example, provokes this meditation: “Star of his morning; that unfallen star / In that strange starry overturn of space / When earth and sky changed places for an hour / And heaven looked upwards in a human face.”

We picture the baby Jesus awaking in the arms of His mother and looking up into her eyes, eyes radiant with purity and love: she is His morning star.

The “strange overturn of space when earth and sky changed places” stands at the heart of the Incarnation, the paradox of God’s becoming man — and not just a man but a baby, sleeping in a poor little cave in a poor little corner of the Roman Empire. Could anyone ever have imagined that this would be the King’s chosen means of appearing on earth, that “heaven” would choose to look “upwards,” lying helpless in others’ arms?

The Christian life is a paradox of greatness in littleness, and we are called to live this paradox in our daily lives. Mother Teresa famously said, “Don’t look for big things; just do small things with great love.” And there are many “small things” each day: bearing with the complaining of a spouse or coworker, accepting patiently an unexpected change in one’s schedule. St. Josemaria Escriva said, “In our ordinary behavior, we need a power far greater than that of the legendary King Midas, who changed all he touched to gold. We have to change, through love, the human work of our usual working day into the work of God: something that will last forever.”

One tried and true method of making small things great is to sprinkle our day with aspirations.  Aspirations are mini prayers meant to call us back to — or to deepen — an awareness of God’s presence wherever we are: shopping, typing at the computer, walking to work.

One aspiration particularly appropriate for the Christmas season is, “Dear Infant of Bethlehem, I love and adore you. Come and take birth in my heart.” Others abound, many drawn from Scripture: “Create a clean heart in me, O God”; “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me”; “Not as I will but as you will.” One can simply speak the names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. These aspirations help us to transform our daily activities into prayer.

Heaven and earth met in the gaze of Mother and Child, and we, too, can find ourselves immersed in that gaze many times each day. It is a joyful meeting: “When God turned back eternity and was young, / Ancient of Days, grown little for your mirth ...” For our mirth, not for our grim long-suffering. One must admit, God’s becoming a baby is a stunning divine jest.

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Sr. Maria Veritas Marks is a member of the Ann Arbor-based Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.