NOVENA
IN PREPARATION OF THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
THIRD DAY
“A child is born to us, and a son is given to
us.”—Is. ix. 6.
Consider that after so many centuries, after so many prayers
and sighs, the Messias, whom the holy patriarchs and prophets were not worthy
to see, whom the nations sighed for, ‘the Desire of the eternal hills,' our
Savior, is come; He is already born, and has given Himself entirely to us: “A
Child is born to us, and a Son is given to us.” The Son of God has made Himself
little, in order to make us great; He has given Himself to us, in order that we
may give ourselves to Him; He is come to show us His love, in order that we may
respond to it by giving Him ours. Let us, therefore, receive Him with
affection; let us love Him, and have recourse to Him in all our necessities: 'A
child gives easily,' says St. Bernard; children readily give anything that is
asked of them, Jesus came into the world a child, in order to show Himself
ready and willing to give us all good gifts: “In whom are hid all treasures” (Coloss. ii. 3). The Father hath given
all things into His hands. If we wish for light, He is come on purpose to
enlighten us. If we wish for strength to resist our enemies, He is come to give
us comfort. If we wish for pardon and salvation, He is come to pardon and save
us. If, in short, we desire the sovereign gift of Divine love, He is come to
inflame our hearts with it; and, above all, for this very purpose, He has
become a child, and has chosen to show Himself to us worthy of our love, in
proportion as He was poor and humble, in order to take away from us all fear,
and to gain our affections. So, said St. Peter Chrysologus, ‘should He come
who willed to drive away fear, and seek for love.' Jesus has besides chosen to
come as a little child to make us love Him, not only with an appreciative, but
even with a tender love. All infants attract the tender affection of those who
behold them; but who will not love, with all the tenderness of which they are
capable, a God whom they behold as a little child, in want of milk to nourish
Him, trembling with cold, poor, abased, and forsaken, weeping and crying in a
manger, and lying on straw? It was this that made the loving St. Francis exclaim:
‘Let us love the child of Bethlehem, let us love the child of Bethlehem. Come,
ye souls, and love a God who is become a child, and poor; who is so amiable,
and who has come down from heaven to give Himself entirely to you.’
AFFECTIONS AND PRAYERS
Oh, my amiable Jesus, whom I have treated with so much
contempt, Thou hast descended from heaven to save us from hell, and to give
Thyself entirely to us; how can We, then, have so often despised Thee, and
turned our backs upon Thee? Oh, my God, how different is the gratitude of men
towards their fellow-creatures! If any one makes them a gift, if any one comes
from afar to pay them a visit, if any one shows them a particular mark of affection,
they cannot forget it, and feel themselves obliged to
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