Month of January
Dedicated to
Holy Infancy of Our Lord
“Mary brought forth her first born Son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes.” Luke 11: 7
PREPARATORY
PRAYER
O Divine Infant! I come to prostrate myself at the foot of your cradle,
to adore you as my Saviour and my God. You came into this land of exile to
partake of my miseries, to soothe my sorrows, and to be the faithful companion
of my pilgrimage. Grant that I may draw from your example consolation in my sufferings,
and that strength which is necessary for me in the numerous dangers by which I
am surrounded; give me your grace that I may correspond with the good
sentiments, and execute the holy resolutions with which I may be inspired
during this Meditation.
O most Holy Virgin, permit me to join with you in rendering homage to
this Divine Saviour. Offer to him my vows and my necessities, and obtain for me
the grace to imitate him on earth, in order that I may love him with you
eternally in heaven.
FIRST POINT
Have the humblest amongst the children of men ever experienced such privations?
What astonishing poverty! The Divine Infant has scarcely any clothes to cover
him; the cold has already chilled his delicate limbs, and his tender mother
eagerly bestows upon him her most loving and assiduous care. Who can express
with what sentiments of respect and veneration she takes her Divine and Beloved
Child in her arms. Her heart cannot contain the ardour of her love; she
contemplates him with the tenderest affection; her soul is overwhelmed with
wonder and gratitude.
O most Holy Virgin how rich
you are in your poverty! Jesus is our treasure, what more can you desire? Oh! how
opposed is the Spirit of God to that of the world! The world searches after
wealth, and the pleasures of this life; Jesus seeks poverty, and cherishes
privations. Ah ! now I understand that to possess Jesus is to possess all
things; and to be deprived of him is to be in the most abject poverty. Oh! how
much better it is to be poor with Jesus, than to be rich without him! my Jesus,
from this moment, I renounce all my luxuries and all my false pleasures; I only
ask to live in poverty with you, and to die for the love of you.
SECOND POINT
Consider the condition which Jesus Christ chose on coming into this
world, and the immense difference between what he is in heaven, and what he
appeared to us on earth, between the stable, the place of his temporal birth,
and the bosom of God the Father: in a word, between what he is as God, and what
he was as a weak child. As God he was born from all eternity, “in the splendour
of the saints.” “In splendoribus sanctorum genui te.” As a child, he was born
in the darkness which covers this land of misery; as God, he is surrounded by
eternal glory; as a child, he was enveloped in miserable swaddling clothes; as
God, he rules all, he sustains all; the pillars of heaven rest upon the strength
of his arm, and his all- powerful hand sustains the foundations of the world;
as a child, he was weakness itself, and he could not have supported himself had
he not been carried in the arms of his Holy Mother.
O Holy Infant! not less amiable in your poverty and weakness, than you
are when surrounded by the brilliant glory of your heavenly Father, not less
adorable in your cradle on the earth, than on your eternal throne in heaven, be
always my only treasure, my wealth, and heritage in time and eternity.
ASPIRATION
Infant Jesus, Father of the Poor, have mercy on us!
PRAYER
O Jesus! give me the spirit of poverty; thou art the Father of the
Poor, accept me as thy child; thou hast said that the kingdom of heaven belongs
to the poor in spirit, detach then, I beseech thee, my heart from the goods of
this world; grant that I may possess them as if I possessed them not, or that I
may use them only as a means of serving thee in the persons of the poor, thy
suffering members.
EXAMPLE
During the first years of my priesthood, says the Abbe Carron, I was
passing one day through the suburbs of Rennes, when I heard mournful sighs
proceeding from a stable: I entered, and looking through this wretched place,
saw a poor child covered with ulcers from head to foot, expiring on a bundle of
straw. O my child! I exclaimed, how I pity you! how great must be your sufferings!
What can I do to relieve you? Sir, replied the child, in a dying voice, but
with angelical sweetness, why do you pity me for my sufferings? There is no
cause to pity me. It is for God that I endure these sufferings, and they are very
sweet to me, when I think that He himself wished to die for me. But, my little
friend, why then were you weeping a few moments ago? Alas! I felt in self
dying, and I wished to die with the good God in my breast.
I interrogated the interesting
child; he knew the prayers of a Christian; he repeated several times, in my
presence, in the most affecting accents, these words: “Our Father who art in
Heaven.” His innocent heart was inflamed with an ardent love of Almighty God;
and with eyes full of tears he earnestly besought me to give him the Holy
Communion before he expired. I eagerly hastened to comply with his ardent
desires, and caused him to be removed from his wretched hut into more
comfortable shelter. After a few short instructions, this child of benediction
felt and understood the immense benefit and happiness he was about to receive; a
faint color illumed his pale and livid face; his dying eyes brightened with joy;
he kissed the crucifix in transports of love; he wept bitterly for the frailties
of his infancy, and more earnestly repeated his entreaties that he might be
allowed to receive his God; at length I placed the Holy of Holies on the lips
of this terrestrial angel: his eyes sparkled with holy joy, his heart
palpitated with love; he would have spoken but could not; I allowed him for
some moments to indulge in his holy transports, then approaching his bed, I
asked: my dear child are you happy now? Oh my father, in Paradise, yes in
Paradise with all its delights! I am dying with joy and happiness! Saying this
he sank down as if in a sweet sleep. His happy soul had taken its flight to
heaven.
PRACTICE
Support privations with resignation, and suffer with great love for
God; it is the most effectual means of softening and lessening all our
miseries.
PRAYER
O Jesus, living in Mary! come and live in our souls, in your spirit of
holiness, in the plenitude of your power, in the truth of your virtues, in the
communion of your divine mysteries: reign in us to the exclusion of the power
of our enemies, in the efficacy of your spirit, and for the glory of your
Father. Amen.
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