At centre stage is the new-born, resting among the straw and dung, protected by his devoted mother and ‘adopted’ father. Enter stage right the shepherds, these edgy, hardened shepherds.

Teenage virgin Mary had none of the earthly advantages of her priestly relative, but she scored over him in the only way that really mattered, her response to the Angel and the message brought.

Here was a man twice-blessed by virtue of his priestly inheritance and that of his wife’s too. But the greatest blessing was being chosen by God, through the lot, to perform a task that was to be the pinnacle of his career.