A Christmas Parable

What must be done to make us clean,
We cannot do alone.
The law, to be a law, requires
A pure one must atone.
He taught that justice will be stayed
Till mercy’s claim be heard
If we repent and are baptized
And live by every word.
That is the never-ending gift
That came that Christmas day
When Mary first held close her son
And shepherds came to pray.

By President Boyd K. Packer (from his book, A Christmas Parable)