Meditation for Christmas Day
Excerpt from the book Meditations for Advent and Easter
Christmas Day
“She brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger.” — Luke 2:7
“While all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course, the almighty word leaped down from heaven.” — Wisdom 18:14
“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the night.” — Canticle 5:2
1st Point
Today we can have only one thought and one subject; our prelude is our meditation, and our meditation our prelude. “She brought forth her first-born son, and laid Him in a manger.” O sweet Mary, bring Him forth tonight also, and lay Him in the little manger of our hearts. They are very lifeless and very cold, but thou wilt try to warm them for Jesus, for thy first-born. We have tried to prepare a lodging for Him, and, poor as it is, we know He will accept it if thou wilt come with Him.
We must try to make reparation to thee also, sweet Mother, for the unkindness of thy children, who keep the warm house for themselves, and drive thee to the stable. Alas! sweet Mother, how many there are now who are as cold and as cruel to thee! And as thou didst tell St. Gertrude that we are all thy children, that Jesus is called thy first-born, rather than first-begotten, because thou willest to include us all in thy family, and give us all a share in thy maternal love, we must act towards thee as children, and thou wilt act toward us as a mother.
2nd Point
Consider the time at which Jesus comes. In the night, when all things were in “quiet silence.” Yes, Jesus always comes to us in the night of sorrow, and when our hearts are still. But our silence must be a quiet silence, if we desire to entertain this gentle Child, for He cannot bear the rough noise of unquiet men, or the busy talkativeness of a heart exteriorly silent, but inwardly full of commotion. Oh, if we will but quiet our hearts and open them wide, He will “leap from His royal throne” into the midst of them, so great is His haste to come and save us!
Nay, He even asks us to open them for Him; and who could refuse anything to the little Babe of Bethlehem? He calls us “His sister and His love,” He even tries to persuade Himself we are His “undefiled;” and He comes with His head full of dew, full of the rich dew of the graces of His Divinity, that He may fertilize our souls; but, alas! He comes also wet with the drops of the night, with the griefs and tears of His adorable Humanity.
O little Babe of Bethlehem, come, leap into our hearts tonight. We will treasure the dew Thou bringest, and we will try to wipe away the “drops of the night” from Thy baby brow, and we will shut the doors of our hearts so close when Thou comest, that Thou wilt never be able to leave them again.
3rd Point
Let us try to enter into the spirit and intentions of the Church in celebrating the adorable Sacrifice three times on this great festival. She commemorates thereby the threefold salvation He has come to effect:
He saves those who were before the Law;
He saves those who were under the Law;
He saves those under the Gospel.
And farther, three spiritual nativities are commemorated:
the eternal nativity of Christ, born before all time, from eternity, of His Father;
His nativity in time from the womb of Mary;
His spiritual birth by grace in the souls of His children.
Hence, we might do well to offer the midnight Mass in thanksgiving to God for the eternal generation of His only begotten Son—offering to the sweet Infant Jesus all the love and sanctity of those who lived and served Him faithfully before the Law, and praying specially for all who are in mortal sin.
The second Mass, at break of day, in thanksgiving for His love in coming down into the womb of Mary, in thanksgiving for her perfect purity, offering Him all the love and devotion of those who served Him faithfully under the Law, and praying for those whom He is leading from darkness to light, that their entrance into the Church may be hastened.
Lastly, we may offer the Mass at midday in thanksgiving for all His love to us and to all whom He has permitted to live in the full light of the Gospel, in thanksgiving for His exceeding love in abiding with us in our very souls, praying fervently for all the just on earth.
Aspiration
O my sweet Infant Jesus, I love Thee; and because I love Thee, I am sorry that I have offended Thee.
Make a Christmas offering of your best resolution to the little Babe of Bethlehem. Examen of Meditation.
From the book Meditations for Advent and Easter (James Duffy, 1866, pages 75-78).