A few years ago I visited Jerusalem shortly before Christmas. The streets were cold and dreary; there was political tension in the air. Yet peace filled my heart to know that this was the city he loved so much, the very place of his eternal sacrifice; to know that here had lived he who was the Savior of all mankind.

I returned to the United States late on a Saturday evening. When the Sabbath dawned, my alarm awoke me to these words from “O Holy Night”:

The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend.
(Recreational Songs, 1949, pp. 142–44)

And I began to weep as I contemplated the perfect life and glorious sacrifice of the Redeemer of Israel—he who was born the friend of the lowly and hope of the meek. – Bruce D. Porter, “Redeemer of Israel,” Ensign (CR) November 1995