Seccond Day in the Octave of the Epiphany

MEDITATION II: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

The time having now come when, according to the law, Mary had to go to the Temple for her purification, and to present Jesus to the divine Father, behold she sets out in company with Joseph. Joseph carries the two turtle-doves that they are to offer to God, and Mary carries her dear Infant: she takes the Lamb of God to offer him to the Almighty, in token of the great sacrifice that this Son should one day accomplish on the cross.

Consider the holy Virgin entering the Temple; she makes an oblation of her Son on the part of the whole human race, and says: Behold, O Eternal Father, your beloved only-begotten One, who is your Son and mine also; I offer him to you as a victim to your divine justice, in order to appease your wrath against sinners. Accept him, O God of mercy! have pity on our miseries; for the love of this immaculate Lamb receive men into your grace.

The offering of Mary is joined to that of Jesus. Be hold me (says also the holy Infant), behold me, O My Father; to you do I consecrate my whole life; you have sent me into the world to save it by my blood; behold my blood and my whole self. I offer myself entirely to you for the salvation of the world. He delivered Himself . . . an oblation and a sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:2).

No sacrifice was ever so acceptable to God as this which his dear Son then made to him; who had become, even from his infancy, a victim and priest. If all men and angels had offered their lives, their oblation could not have been so dear to God as was this of Jesus Christ, because in this offering alone the Eternal Father received infinite honor and infinite satisfaction.

If Jesus offers his life to his Father for the love of us, it is just that we should offer him our life and our entire being. This is what he desires, as he signified to the blessed Angela of Foligno, saying to her, "I have offered myself for you, in order that you should offer yourself to me."

Affections and Prayers.

Eternal Father, I, a miserable sinner, who have deserved a thousand hells, present myself this day before you, O God of infinite majesty, and I offer you my poor heart. But, O God, what a heart is it that I offer you? A heart that has never known how to love you, but has, on the contrary, so often offended you and so often betrayed you; but now I offer it to you full of penitence, and resolved to love you at all costs and to obey you in all things. Pardon me, and draw me entirely to your love. I do not deserve to be heard; but your infant Son, who offers himself to you in the Temple as a sacrifice for my salvation, merits for me this grace. I offer you this your Son and his sacrifice, and in this I place all my hopes. I thank you, O my Father, for having sent him upon the earth to sacrifice himself for me. And I bless you, O Incarnate Word, Lamb of God, who offered yourself to die for my soul. I love you, my dear Redeemer, and you alone will I love; for I find none but you that has offered and sacrificed his life to save me. It makes me shed tears to think how grateful I have been to others and how ungrateful to you alone; but you do not will not my death, but that I should be converted and live. Yes, my Jesus, I turn to you, and repent with my whole heart of having offended you, and of having offended my God, who has thus sacrificed himself for me. Give me life, and that life shall consist in loving you, the sovereign Good. Make me love you, I ask nothing more.

Mary, my Mother, you offered at that time your Son in the Temple even for me. Offer him again for me, and beseech the Eternal Father, for the love of Jesus, to accept me for his own. And you also, my Queen, accept me for your perpetual servant. If I am your servant, I shall also be the servant of your Son.

Epiphany

MEDITATION I: The Adoration of the Magi.

Jesus is born poor in a stable; the angels of heaven in deed acknowledge him, but men abandon and forsake him on earth. Only a few shepherds come and pay him homage. But our Redeemer was desirous of communicating to us the grace of his redemption, and begins therefore to manifest himself to the Gentiles, who knew him least. Therefore he sends a star to enlighten the holy Magi, in order that they may come and acknowledge and adore their Savior. This was the first and sovereign grace bestowed upon us, our vocation to the faith; which was succeeded by our vocation to grace, of which men were deprived.

Behold the wise men, who immediately, without delay, set off upon their journey. The star accompanies them as far as the cavern where the holy Infant lies: on their arrival they enter; and what do they find? They found the child with Mary (Matt. 2:11). They find a poor maiden and a poor Infant wrapped in poor swaddling-clothes, without any one to attend on him or assist him. But, lo! on entering into the little shed these holy pilgrims feel a joy which they had never felt before; they feel their hearts chained to the dear little Infant which they behold. The straw, the poverty, the cries of their little Savior. Oh, what darts of love! Oh, what blessed flames are they to their enlightened hearts! The Infant looks upon them with a joyful countenance, and this is the mark of affection with which he accepts them amongst the first-fruits of his redemption.

The holy kings then look at Mary, who does not speak—she remains silent; but with her blessed countenance that breathes the sweetness of paradise she welcomes them, and thanks them for having been the first to come and acknowledge her son (as indeed he is) for their Sovereign Lord. See also how, out of reverence, they adore him in silence, and acknowledge him for their God, kissing his feet, and offering him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Let us also with the holy Magi adore our little King Jesus, and let us offer him all our hearts.

Affections and Prayers.


O amiable Infant, though I see you in this cavern lying on straw poor and despised, yet faith teaches me that you are my God, who came down from heaven for my salvation. I acknowledge you, then, for my sovereign Lord and Savior; but, alas, I have nothing, to offer you. I have no gold of love, be cause I have loved creatures; I have loved my own caprices, but I have not loved you, O amiable infinite One! I have not the incense of prayer, because I have lived in a miserable state of forgetfulness of you. I have no myrrh of mortification, for I have often displeased your infinite goodness that I might not be deprived of my miserable pleasures. What then shall I offer you? I offer you my heart, filthy and poor as it is; accept it, and change it. You came into the world for this purpose, to wash the hearts of men from their sins by your blood, and thus change them from sinners into saints. Give me, therefore, I pray, this gold, this incense, and this myrrh. Give me the gold of your holy love; give me the spirit of holy prayer, give me the desire and strength to mortify myself in everything that displeases you. I am resolved to obey you and to love you; but you know my weakness; oh, give me the grace to be faithful to you!
Most holy Virgin, with great affection you welcomed and consoled the holy Magi; welcome and console me also, who come to visit your Son and to offer myself to him. O my Mother, I have great confidence in your intercession! Recommend me to Jesus. To you I intrust my soul and my will; bind it forever to the love of Jesus!

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

MEDITATION XII: The Abasement of Jesus.

The eternal Word descends on earth to save man; and whence does he descend? His going out is from the end of heaven (Ps. 18:7). He descends from the bosom of his divine Father, where from eternity he was begotten in the brightness of the saints. And where does he descend? He descends into the womb of a virgin, a child of Adam, which in comparison with the bosom of God is an object of horror; wherefore the Church sings, "You did not abhor the Virgin’s womb." Yes, because the Word, being in the bosom of the Father, is God like the Father—is immense, omnipotent, most blessed and supreme Lord, and equal in everything to the Father. But in the womb of Mary he is a creature, small, weak, afflicted, a servant inferior to the Father, Taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:7).

It is related as a great prodigy of humility in St. Alexis that, although he was the son of a Roman gentleman, he chose to live as a servant in his father’s house. But how is the humility of this saint to be compared with the humility of Jesus Christ? Between the son and the servant of the father of St. Alexis there was, it is true, some difference; but between God and the servant of God there is an infinite difference. Besides, this Son of God having become the servant of his Father in obedience to him, made himself also the servant of his creatures; that is to say, of Mary and Joseph: And he was subject to them (Luke 2:51). Moreover, he made himself even a servant of Pilate, who condemned him to death, and he was obedient to him, and accepted it; he became a servant to the executioners, who scourged him, crowned him with thorns, and crucified him: and he humbly obeyed them all, and yielded himself into their hands.

O God! and shall we, after this, refuse to submit our selves to the service of so loving a Savior, who, to save us, has subjected himself to so painful and degrading a slavery? And rather than be the servants of this so great and so loving a Lord, shall we be content to be slaves of the devil, who does not love his servants, but hates them and treats them like a tyrant, making them miserable and wretched in this world and in the next? But if we have been guilty of this great folly, why do we not quickly give up this unhappy servitude? Courage, then, since we have been delivered by Jesus Christ from the slavery of hell; let us now embrace and bind around us with love those sweet chains, which will render us servants and lovers of Jesus Christ, and hereafter obtain for us the crown of the eternal kingdom amongst the blessed in Paradise.

Affections and Prayers.

My beloved Jesus, you are the Sovereign of heaven and earth; but for the love of me you made yourself a servant even of the executioners who tore your flesh, pierced your head, and finally left you nailed on the cross to die of sorrow. I adore you as my God and Lord, and I am ashamed to appear before you when I remember how often, for the sake of some miserable pleasure, I have broken your holy bonds, and have told you to your face that I would not serve you. Ah, you may justly reproach me: You have burst my bands, and you said: I will not serve (Jer. 2:20). But still, O my Savior, your merits and your goodness, which cannot despise a heart that repents and humbles itself, give me courage to hope for pardon: A contrite and humble heart, O God, you will not despise (Is. 50:19). I confess, my Jesus, that I have offended you greatly; I confess that I deserve a thousand hells for the sins that I have committed against you; chasten me as you see fit, but do not deprive me of your grace and love. I repent above every other evil for having despised you. I love you with my whole heart. I propose from this day forth to desire to serve you and love you alone. Bind me by your merits with the chains of your holy love, and never suffer that I see myself released from them again. I love you above everything, O my Deliverer, and I would prefer being your servant to being master of the whole world. And of what avail would all the world be to him who lives deprived of your grace? My sweetest Jesus, permit me not to separate myself from you, permit me not to separate myself from you. This grace I ask of you, and I intend always to ask it; and I beg of you to grant me this day the grace to repeat continually to the end of my life this prayer: My Jesus, grant that I may never again separate myself from your love.

I ask this favor of you also, O Mary, my Mother: help me by your intercession, that I may never separate myself again from my God.

The Eleventh Day of Christmas

MEDITATION XI: The Poverty of the Infant Jesus.

O God! who would not feel compassion if he saw a little prince, the son of a monarch, born in such poverty as to be left to lie in a damp, cold cavern, not having bed, servants, fire, or clothes sufficient to warm him? Ah, my Jesus, you are the Son of the Lord of heaven and earth, and yet you lie in this cold grotto without other cradle than a manger, with nothing but straw for you bed, and miserable rags to cover you. The angels stand round you and sing your praises, but they do not relieve your poverty. My dear Redeemer, the poorer you are, the more amiable you render yourself in our eyes, because you have embraced so great a poverty for this end, to make us love you more. If you had been born in a palace, if you had a cradle of gold, if you had been assisted by the first princes of the earth, you would have acquired more respect from men, but less love; but this stable where you sleep, these miserable rags that cover you, this straw that serves as your bed, this manger that is you only cradle, oh, how do they attract our souls to love you, because you have made yourself poor in order to become more dear to us! "The viler he was for me," says St. Bernard, "the dearer he is to me." You have made yourself poor to enrich us with you riches; that is, with grace and glory: He became poor, that through His poverty you might be rich (II Cor. 8:9).

The poverty of Jesus Christ was for us great riches, inasmuch as it moves us to acquire the treasures of heaven and to despise those of earth. Ah, my Jesus! your poverty has induced so many saints to leave all—riches, honors, and kingdoms—in order to become poor with you! Oh, detach me also, my Savior, from all affection to earthly goods, so that I may be made worthy to acquire your holy love, and thus to possess you, the infinite Good!

Affections and Prayers.

Oh that I also could say to you, O holy Infant, with your dear St. Francis, "My God and my All!" and with David, What have I in heaven? and besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth? . . . God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever (Ps. 72:25); so that from this day forth I might desire no other riches but those of you love, and that my heart might be no more under the dominion of the vanities of the world, but that you alone, my love, might be its only Lord. But I even now wish to begin to say it: God of my heart, and the God that is my portion forever (Ps. 72:25). Miserable that I was, I have hitherto only sought after worldly goods, and have found nothing but thorns and gall. I feel more satisfaction at finding myself at your feet, to thank you and love you, than I have ever experienced from all my sins. One fear alone afflicts me—the fear that you have not yet forgiven me; but your promises of forgiveness to the penitent, the thought that you made yourself poor for the love of me, that you are still calling me to love you; the tears, the blood you shed for me, the sorrows, the ignominy, the bitter death you endured for me, all console me/and make me hope certainly for pardon. And supposing you had not forgiven me, what shall I then do? Do you desire that I should repent? I repent with my whole heart of having offended you, O my Jesus! Do you desire that I should love you? I love you more than myself. Do you desire that I should give up everything? Behold, I give up all and give myself to you; and I know that you accept me, otherwise I should not have sorrow, nor love, nor the desire to give myself to you. I give myself then to you, and you have already accepted me. I love you, and you also love me. Do not permit that this love between us should evermore be interrupted.

O my Mother Mary! obtain for me the grace that I may always love Jesus, and that I may always be loved by him!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

MEDITATION X: The Occupations of the Infant Jesus in the Stable of Bethlehem.

There are two principal occupations of a solitary,—to pray, and to do penance. Behold the Infant Jesus in the little grotto of Bethlehem giving us the example. He, in the crib which he chose for his oratory upon earth, never ceases to pray, and to pray continually, to the Eternal Father. There he constantly makes acts of adoration, of love, and of prayer.

Before this time the divine Majesty had been, it is true, adored by men and by angels; but God had not received from all these creatures that honor which the Infant Jesus gave him by adoring him in the stable where he was born. Let us, therefore, constantly unite our adorations to those of Jesus Christ when he was upon this earth.

Oh, how beautiful and perfect were the acts of love which the Incarnate Word made to his Father in his prayer! God had given to man the commandment to love him with all his heart and all his strength; but this precept had never been perfectly fulfilled by any man. The first to accomplish it among women was Mary, and among men the first was Jesus Christ, who fulfilled it in a degree infinitely superior to Mary. The love of the seraphim may be said to be cold in comparison with the love of this Holy Infant. Let us learn from him to love the Lord our God as he ought to be loved; and let us beseech him to communicate to us a spark of that pure love with which he loved the divine Father in the stable of Bethlehem.

Oh, how beautiful, perfect, and dear to God were the prayers of the Infant Jesus! At every moment he prayed to his Father, and his prayers were all for us and for each one of us in particular. All the graces that each one of us has received from the Lord, and our being called to the true faith, our having had time given us for repentance, the lights, the sorrow for sins, the pardon of them, the holy desires, the victory over temptations, and all the other good acts that we have made, or shall make, of confidence, of humility, of love, of thanks giving, of offering, of resignation,—all these Jesus has obtained for us, and all has been the effect of the prayers of Jesus. Oh, how much do we owe him, and how much ought we not to thank him and to love him!

Affections and Prayers.

My dear Redeemer, how much do I owe you! If you had not prayed for me, in what a state of ruin should I find myself! I thank you, O my Jesus; your prayers have obtained for me the pardon of my sins, and I hope that they will also obtain for me perseverance unto death. You have prayed for me, and I bless you with my whole heart for it; but I beseech you not to leave off praying. I know that you continue even in heaven to be our advocate: We have an advocate, Jesus Christ (I John 2:1); and I know that you continue to pray for us: Who also makes intercession for us (Rom. 8:34). Continue therefore to pray; but pray, O my Jesus, more particularly for me, who am more in need of your prayers. I hope God has already pardoned me through your merits; but as I have already so often fallen, I may therefore fall again. Hell does not cease, and will not cease, to tempt me, in order to make me again lose your friendship. Ah, my Jesus, you are my hope; it is you that must give me fortitude to resist; from you I seek it, and of you I hope for it! But I will not content myself only with the grace not to fall again; I desire also the grace to love you exceedingly. My death approaches. If I were to die now, I should indeed hope to be saved; but I should love you but little in paradise, because I have hitherto loved you so little. I will love you much in the days that remain to me, that I may love you still more in eternity.

O Mary, my Mother! do you also pray, and beseech Jesus for me; your prayers are all-powerful with your Son, who loves you so much. You so much desire that he should be loved, beseech him to give me a great love for his goodness, and let this love be constant and eternal.

The Ninth Day of Christmas

MEDITATION IX: The Solitude of Jesus in the Stable.

Jesus chose at his birth the stable of Bethlehem for his hermitage and oratory; and for this purpose he so disposed events as to be born out of the city in a solitary cave, in order to recommend to us the love of solitude and of silence. Jesus remains in silence in the manger; Mary and Joseph adore and contemplate him in silence. It was revealed to Sister Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament, a discalced Carmelite, who was called the Spouse of the Infant Jesus, that all that passed in the cave of Bethlehem, even the visit of the shepherds and the adoration of the holy Magi, took place in silence, and without a word.

Silence in other infants is impotence; but in Jesus Christ it was virtue. The Infant Jesus does not speak; but oh, how much his silence says! Oh, blessed is he that converses with Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, in this holy solitude of the manger. The shepherds, though admitted there but for a very short time, came out from the stable all inflamed with love to God; for they did nothing but praise and bless him: They returned, glorifying and praising God (Luke 2:20). Oh, happy the soul that shuts it self up in the solitude of Bethlehem to contemplate the divine mercy, and the love that God has borne, and still bears, to men! I will lead her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart (Hosea 2:14). There the divine Infant will speak, not to the ear, but to. the heart, inviting the soul to love a God who hath loved her so much. When we see there the poverty of this wandering little hermit, who remains in that cold cave, without fire, with a manger for a crib, and a little straw for a bed; when we hear the cries, and behold the tears of this innocent Child, and consider that he is our God,—how is it possible to think of anything but of loving him! Oh, what a sweet hermitage for a soul that has faith in the stable of Bethlehem!

Let us also imitate Mary and Joseph, who, burning with love, remain contemplating the great Son of God clothed in flesh, and made subject to earthly miseries,—Wisdom become an infant that cannot speak,—the Great One become little,—the Supreme One become so abased,—the Rich One become so poor,—the Omnipotent so weak. In short, let us meditate on the divine majesty shrouded beneath the form of a little Infant, despised and forsaken by the world, and who does and suffers everything in order to make himself loved by men, and let us beseech him to admit us into this sacred retreat;—there stop, there remain, and never leave it again. "O solitude," says St. Jerome, "in which God speaks and converses familiarly with his servants;" O beautiful solitude, in which God speaks and converses with his chosen souls, not as a sovereign, but as a friend, as a brother, as a spouse! Oh, what a paradise it is to converse alone with the Infant Jesus in the little grotto of Bethlehem!

Affections and Prayers.

My dearest Savior, you are the King of Heaven, the King of kings, the Son of God; and how is it, then, that I see you in this cave, forsaken by all? I see no one assisting you but Joseph and your holy Mother. I desire to unite myself also to them in keeping you company. Do not reject me. I do not deserve it; but I feel that you invite me by your sweet voice, speaking to my heart. Yes, I come, O my beloved Infant! I will leave all things to pass my whole life alone with you, my dear little hermit, the only love of my soul. Fool that I was, I have hitherto forsaken you and left you alone, O my Jesus, while I was seeking miserable and poisonous pleasures from creatures; but now, enlightened by your grace, I desire nothing but to live in solitude with you, who wills to live in solitude on this earth: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest (Ps. 54:7)? Ah, who will enable me to fly from this world, where I have so often found my ruin,—to fly, and to come and remain always with you, who are the joy of paradise and the true lover of my soul? Oh, bind me, I beg you, to your feet, so that I may no longer be separated from you, but may find my happiness in continually keeping company with you! Ah, by the merits of your solitude in the cave of Bethlehem, give me a constant interior recollection, so that my soul may become a solitary little cell, where I may attend to nothing but to conversing with you; where I may take counsel with you in all my thoughts and all my actions; where I may dedicate to you all my affections; where I may always love you, and sigh to leave the prison of this body to come and love you face to face in heaven. I love you, O infinite Goodness, and I hope always to love you, in time and in eternity.

O Mary, you who can do all things, pray to him to enchain me with his love, and not to permit me ever again to lose his grace.

The Eighth Day of Christmas

MEDITATION VIII: The Name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus is a divine name, announced to Mary on the part of God by St. Gabriel: and you shall call his name Jesus (Luke 1:31). For that reason it was called a name above all names (Phil. 2:9). And it was also called a name in which alone salvation is found: whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

This great name is likened by the Holy Spirit unto oil: Your name is as oil poured out (Cant. 1:2). For this reason, says St. Bernard, that as oil is light, food, and medicine; so the name of Jesus is light to the mind, food to the heart, and medicine to the soul.

It is light to the mind. By this name the world was converted from the darkness of idolatry to the light of faith. We who have been born in these regions, where before the coming of Christ all our ancestors were Gentiles, should all have been in the same condition had not the Messiah come to enlighten us. How thankful ought we not, then, to be to Jesus Christ for the gift of faith! And what would have become of us if we had been born in Asia, in Africa, in America, or in the midst of heretics and schismatics? He who believes not is lost: He that believes not shall be condemned (Mark 16:16). And thus probably we also should have been lost.

The name of Jesus is also food that nourishes our hearts; yes, because this name reminds us of what Jesus has done to save us. Hence this name consoles us in tribulation, gives us strength to walk along the way of salvation, supplies us with courage in difficulties, and inflames us to love our Redeemer, when we remember what he has suffered for our salvation.

Lastly, this name is medicine to the soul, because it renders it strong against the temptations of our enemies. The devils tremble and fly at the invocation of this holy name, according to the words of the Apostle: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth (Phil. 2:10). He who in temptation calls upon Jesus shall not fall; and he who constantly invokes him shall not fall, and shall be saved: Praising, I will call upon the Lord; and I shall be saved from my enemies (Ps. 17:4). And who was ever lost, who when he was tempted invoked Jesus? He alone is lost who does not invoke his aid, or who, while the temptation continues, ceases to invoke him.

Affections and Prayers.

Oh, that I had always called upon you, my Jesus; for then I should never have been conquered by the devil! I have miserably lost your grace, because in temptation I have neglected to call you to my assistance. But now I hope for all things through your holy name: I can do all things in him who comforts me (Phil. 4:13). Write, therefore, O my Savior, write upon my poor heart your most powerful name of Jesus, so that, by having it always in my heart by loving you, 1 may have it always on my lips by invoking you, in all the temptations that hell prepares for me, in order to induce me to become again its slave, and to separate myself from you. In your name I shall find every good. If I am afflicted, it will console me when I think how much more afflicted you have been than I am, and all for the love of me; if I am disheartened on account of my sins, it will give me courage when I remember that you came into the world to save sinners; if I am tempted, your holy name will give me strength, when I consider that you can help me more than hell can cast me down; finally, if I feel cold in your love, it will give me fervor, by reminding me of the love that you bear me. I love you, my Jesus! You are, and I trust you will always be, my only Love. To you I give all my heart, O my Jesus! You alone will I love! You will I invoke as often as I possibly can. I will die with your name upon my lips; a name of hope, a name of salvation, a name of love.

O Mary, if you love me, this is the grace I beg of you to obtain for me, the grace constantly to invoke your name and that of your Son; obtain for me that these most sweet names may be the breath of my soul, and that I may always repeat them during my life, in order to repeat them at my death with my last breath.

Jesus and Mary, help me; Jesus and Mary, I love you; Jesus and Mary, 1 recommend my soul to you.