I open an empty room.

For Mary,
who through the long night
suffered the pangs of birth
on the saddle of a donkey,
I open an empty room.

For Joseph,
whose weary eyes,
tired and tender,
wander through the faces of a strange city
and its indifference,
I open an empty room.

For the Holy One, Jesus,
who will bear the wounds and burdens
of all humankind,
the cradle of salvation itself,
Come.

Though our dwelling is narrow and poor,
enter, I pray.
Lay down here your weariness,
your pain,
the heavy load of your sorrow.

This night,
we—debtors to love—
welcome you,
the traveler and stranger.

O You who hunger,
who shiver without clothes,
who are mocked, rejected, and imprisoned,
come to this shelter
prepared by your holy saints.

Your torn wounds,
your broken heart—
we embrace them with burning love.
Come, O Emmanuel!

– TaeHun Yoon, December 1996, Christmas