Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Praying Before the Stable


 God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God!


Blessing Before a Christmas Stable by Father Peter John Cameron, O.P.

Lord Jesus, as I kneel before your manger in adoration, let my first Christmas word be: thank you. Thank you, Gift of the Father, for coming to save me from my sins.

Without You I do not know even how to be human. The characteristics of Your human body express the Divine Person of God's Son. And in that wondrous expression, Lord, You reveal me to myself. Thank you for that saving revelation in Your sacred humanity. As the Christmas liturgy proclaims, in Christ we experience "the holy exchange that restores our life." Thank you for coming as one like myself to save me from myself.

You come as a baby because babies are irresistible and adorable. You come as a baby because You want our first impression of God Incarnate to be that of one who does not judge. How I long to be united with You in every way. May I never be attracted to the allurements and charms of the world. May I love You always, at every moment, with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. May the tenderness, the dependency, and the mercy that You reveal in Your infancy become the hallmarks of my life.

Newborn Savior, the very silence of Your Incarnation proclaims that the answer to the misery, the strife, and the meaningless we often experience in life cannot be found within us. You alone are the Answer. As I kneel before You, Eternal King, I surrender to You all my selfishness, self-absorption, self-indulgence, self-righteousness, self-assertion, and self-exaltation. Even as I adore You on this night of Your birth, rid me of the nagging desire to be adored.

Word became flesh, You make Your dwelling among us. And You do not live Your life for Yourself, but for us. And You enable us to live in You all that You Yourself lived. Help me to embrace this truth with all my mind and heart. Come and live Your life in me. Empty me of my willfulness, my petulance, my hardness, my cynicism, my contemptuousness. Fill me with Your truth, Your strength, Your fortitude, Your purity, Your gentleness, Your generosity, Your wisdom, Your heart, and Your grace.

O Emmanuel, may the assurance of Your unfailing Presence be for me, the source of unending peace. May I never fear my weakness, my inadequacy, or my imperfection. Rather, as I gaze with faith, hope, and love upon Your incarnate littleness, may I love my own littleness, for God is with us. Endow my life with a holy wonder that leads me ever more deeply into the Mystery of Redemption and the meaning of my vocation and destiny.

Longed-for Messiah, Your servant St. Leo the Great well wrote that in the very act of reverencing the birth of our Savior, we are also celebrating our own new birth. From this night on, may my life be a dedicated life of faith marked by holy reliance, receptivity, and resoluteness. May I make my life a total gift of self. May my humble worship of Your Nativity manifest how much I seek the Father's kingship and His way of holiness. The beauty of Your holy face bears the promise that Your Father will provide for us in all things. This Christmas I renew my trust in God's goodness, compassion and providence. I long for the day when You will teach us to pray "Our Father."

May Your presence, Prince of Peace, bless the world with peace, the poor with care and prosperity, the despairing with hope and confidence, the grieving with comfort and gladness, the oppressed with freedom and deliverance, the suffering with solace and relief. Loving Jesus, You are the only real joy of every human heart. I place all my trust in You.

Oh, Divine Fruit of Mary's womb, may I love You in union with the holy Mother of God. May my life be filled with the obedience of St. Joseph and the missionary fervor of the shepherds so that the witness of my life may shine like the star that leads the Magi to Your manger. I ask all this with great confidence in Your Holy Name. Amen.

Venite adoremus! 

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Divine Intrusion


"...live in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing,
in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God."
~Colossians 1:10


Well-known gifted author Sister Melannie Svoboda, who blogs at Sunflower Seeds, has posted a soul-searching sort of poem that she wrote for Christmas.  It's called "A Christmas Prayer for Divine Intrusion," but, as she points out, it can be prayed any time throughout the year.  It's my kind of prayer:  no-nonsense and no-frills, straightforward and unafraid.  I am reluctant to post this little gem in its entirety without Sister's permission, so look for it here.  I hope it stretches your heart and your mind as much it did mine.  Meanwhile, I find myself repeating these few lines:
"Free me from my tendency to wrap around myself."
"Enlarge my world. Direct my attention to all that really matters."
"Accept me as I am, but keep nudging me to be a better version of who I already am."
"Help me to live less cautiously."
"Keep telling me to grow up. Keep telling me to be more childlike."

Welcome, Son of Mary!  Come and be my Divine Intruder!  Amen, amen!

Monday, December 26, 2016

"to each and everyone He comes"


"For a child is born to us, and a son is given to us."  ~Isaiah 9:6


“A Child is born. To some He comes on this Christmas Day, even in the remorse that follows ‘there is no room’; to some He comes when their hearts are saddened by a life that has been taken away, and can be gladdened only by a Life that is given; to some He comes when their hearts like conscious mangers cry out ‘Lord, I am not worthy’; to others He comes as their study of science reminds them that the only star worth studying is the Star that leads to the Maker of the Stars; to others He comes when their hearts are broken, that He might enter in to heal with wings wider than the world; to others He comes in joy amidst the Venite Adoremus of the angels; to others He comes because they are so young they can never remember another Christmas -- but to each and everyone He comes as if He had never come before in His own sweet way, He the Child who is born, He, Jesus the Savior, He Emmanuel, He, Christ at Christ’s Mass on Christmas –- Merry Christmas!!”  ~Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in The Fullness of Christ

Venite adoremus!

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christmas Joy!


Joy, joy, for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.


Venite adoremus!

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas Eve


How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!


Venite adoremus!

Christmas Eve Day


This day you shall know that the Lord is coming,
and tomorrow you shall see His glory.
~from the Divine Office for December 24


O Come, Divine Messiah!

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Eve of Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday


Rejoice, Jerusalem, with great joy,
for your Savior will come to you, alleluia.
Antiphon for Lauds from the Divine Office
for the Third Sunday of Advent


Everyone should open their heart very wide to joy, should welcome it and let it be buried very deeply in them; and they should wait the flowering with patience.  Of course, the first ecstasy will pass, but because in real joy Christ grows in us, the time will come when joy will put forth shoots and the richness and sweetness of the person who rejoiced will be Christ's flowering.  ~Caryll Houselander in The Reed of God


O Jesus living in Mary,
come and open our hearts
to the joy that is You!