Christmas

We apply the name of Christmas to the forty days which begin with the Nativity of our Lord, December 25, and end with the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, February 2. It is a period which forms a distinct portion of the Liturgical Year, as distinct, by its own special spirit, from every other, as are Advent, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost. One same Mystery is celebrated and kept in view during the whole forty days. Neither the Feasts of the Saints, which so abound during this Season; nor the time of Septuagesima, with its mournful Purple, which often begins before Christmastide is over, seem able to distract our Holy Mother the Church from the immense joy of which she received the good tidings from the Angels[1] on that glorious Night for which the world had been longing four thousand years. The Faithful will remember that the Liturgy commemorates this long expectation by the four penitential weeks of Advent.

The custom of celebrating the Solemnity of our Saviour's Nativity by a feast or commemoration of forty days’ duration is founded on the holy Gospel itself; for it tells us that the Blessed Virgin Mary, after spending forty days in the contemplation of the Divine Fruit of her glorious Maternity, went to the Temple, there to fulfil, in most perfect humility, the ceremonies which the Law demanded of the daughters of Israel, when they became mothers.

The Feast of Mary’s Purification is, therefore, part of that of Jesus’ Birth; and the custom of keeping this holy and glorious period of forty days as one continued Festival has every appearance of being a very ancient one, at least in the Roman Church. And firstly, with regard to our Saviour's Birth on December 25, we have St John Chrysostom telling us, in his Homily for this Feast, that the Western Churches had, from the very commencement of Christianity, kept it on this day. He is not satisfied with merely mentioning the tradition; he undertakes to show that it is well founded, inasmuch as the Church of Rome had every means of knowing the true day of our Saviour’s Birth, since the acts of the Enrolment, taken in Judea by command of Augustus, were kept in the public archives of Rome. The holy Doctor adduces a second argument, which he founds upon the Gospel of St Luke, and he reasons thus: we know from the sacred Scriptures that it must have been in the fast of the seventh month[2] that the Priest Zachary had the vision in the Temple; after which Elizabeth, his wife, conceived St John the Baptist: hence it follows that the Blessed Virgin Mary having, as the Evangelist St Luke relates, received the Angel Gabriel's visit, and conceived the Saviour of the world in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, that is to say, in March, the Birth of Jesus must have taken place in the month of December.

But it was not till the fourth century that the Churches of the East began to keep the Feast of our Saviour's Birth in the month of December. Up to that period they had kept it at one time on the sixth of January, thus uniting it, under the generic term of Epiphany, with the Manifestation of our Saviour made to the Magi, and in them to the Gentiles; at another time, as Clement of Alexandria tells us, they kept it on the 25th of the month Pachon (May 15), or on the 25th of the month Pharmuth (April 20). St John Chrysostom, in the Homily we have just cited, which he gave in 386, tells us that the Roman custom of celebrating the Birth of our Saviour on December 25 had then only been observed ten years in the Church of Antioch. It is probable that this change had been introduced in obedience to the wishes of the Apostolic See, wishes which received additional weight by the edict of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian, which appeared towards the close of the fourth century, and decreed that the Nativity and Epiphany of our Lord should be made two distinct Festivals. The only Church that has maintained the custom of celebrating the two mysteries on January 6 is that of Armenia; owing, no doubt, to the circumstance of that country not being under the authority of the Emperors; as also because it was withdrawn at an early period from the influence of Rome by schism and heresy.

The Feast of our Lady's Purification, with which the forty days of Christmas close, is, in the Latin Church, of very great antiquity; so ancient, indeed, as to preclude the possibility of our fixing the date of its institution. According to the unanimous opinion of Litur gists, it is the most ancient of all the Feasts of the Holy Mother of God; and as her Purification is related in the Gospel itself, they rightly infer that its anniversary was solemnized at the very commencement of Christianity. Of course, this is only to be understood of the Roman Church; for as regards the Oriental Church, we find that this Feast was not definitely fixed to February 2 until the reign of the Emperor Justinian, in the sixth century. It is true that the Eastern Christians had previously to that time a sort of commemoration of this Mystery, but it was far from being a universal custom, and it was kept a few days after the Feast of our Lord's Nativity, and not on the day itself of Mary's going up to the Temple.

But what is the characteristic of Christmas in the Latin Liturgy? It is twofold: it is joy, which the whole Church feels at the coming of the divine Word in the Flesh; and it is admiration of that glorious Virgin, who was made the Mother of God. There is scarcely a prayer, or a rite, in the Liturgy of this glad Season, which does not imply these two grand Mysteries: an Infant-God, and a Virgin-Mother.

For example, on all Sundays and Feasts which are not Doubles, the Church, throughout these forty days, makes a commemoration of the fruitful virginity[3] of the Mother of God, by three special Prayers in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. She begs the suffrage of Mary by proclaiming her quality of Mother of God and her inviolate purity,[4] which remained in her even after she had given birth to her Son. And again the magnificent Anthem, Alma Redemptoris, composed by the Monk Herman Contractus, continues, up to the very day of the Purification, to be the termination of each Canonical Hour. It is by such manifestations of her love and veneration that the Church, honouring the Son in the Mother, testifies her holy joy during this season of the Liturgical Year, which we call Christmas.

Our readers are aware that, when Easter Sunday falls at its latest—that is, in April—the Ecclesiastical Calendar counts as many as six Sundays after the Epiphany. Christmastide (that is, the forty days between Christmas Day and the Purification) includes sometimes four out of these six Sundays; frequently only two; and sometimes only one, as in the case when Easter comes so early as to necessitate keeping Septuagesima, and even Sexagesima Sunday, in January. Still, nothing is changed, as we have already said, in the ritual observances of this joyous season, excepting only that on those two Sundays, the fore-runners of Lent, the Vestments are purple, and the Gloria in excelsis is omitted.

Although our holy Mother the Church honours with especial devotion the Mystery of the Divine Infancy during the whole season of Christmas; yet, she is obliged to introduce into the Liturgy of this same season passages from the holy Gospels which seem premature, inasmuch as they relate to the active life of Jesus. This is owing to there being less than six months allotted by the Calendar for the celebration of the entire work of our Redemption: in other words, Christmas and Easter are so near each other, even when Easter is as late as it can be, that Mysteries must of necessity be crowded into the interval; and this entails anticipation. And yet the Liturgy never loses sight of the Divine Babe and his incomparable Mother, and never tires in their praises, during the whole period from the Nativity to the day when Mary comes to the Temple to present her Jesus.

The Greeks, too, make frequent commemorations of the Maternity of Mary in their Offices of this Season: but they have a special veneration for the twelve days between Christmas Day and the Epiphany, which, in their Liturgy, are called the Dodecameron. During this time they observe no days of Abstinence from flesh-meat; and the Emperors of the East had, out of respect for the great Mystery, decreed that no servile work should be done, and that the Courts of Law should be closed, until after January 6.

From this outline of the history of the holy season, we can understand what is the characteristic of this second portion of the Liturgical Year, which we call Christmas, and which has ever been a season most dear to the Christian world. What are theMysteries embodied in its Liturgy will be shown in the following chapter.

 

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[1] St Luke ii 10.
[2] Lev. xxiii 24 and following verses. The seventh month (or Tisri) corresponded to the end of our September and beginning of our October.—Tr.
[3] The Collect, Deus qui salutis æternæ beatæ Mariæ Virginitate fæcunda humano generi, etc.
[4] ℣. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti. ℟. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis.

 

Everything is Mystery in this holy season. The Word of God, whose generation is before the day-star,[1] is born in time—a Child is God—a Virgin becomes a Mother, and remains a Virgin—things divine are commingled with those that are human—and the sublime, the ineffable antithesis, expressed by the Beloved Disciple in those words of his Gospel, The Word was made flesh, is repeated in a thousand different ways in all the prayers of the Church;—and rightly, for it admirably embodies the whole of the great portent which unites in one Person the nature of Man and the nature of God.

The splendour of this Mystery dazzles the understanding, but it inundates the heart with joy. It is the consummation of the designs of God in time. It is the endless subject of admiration and wonder to the Angels and Saints; nay, is the source and cause of their beatitude. Let us see how the Church offers this Mystery to her children, veiled under the symbolism of her Liturgy.

The four weeks of our preparation are over—they were the image of the four thousand years which preceded the great coming—and we have reached the twenty-fifth day of the month of December, as a longdesired place of sweetest rest. But why is it that the celebration of our Saviour's Birth should be the perpetual privilege of this one fixed day; whilst the whole liturgical Cycle has, every year, to be changed and remodelled, in order to yield that ever-varying day which is to be the feast of his Resurrection—Easter Sunday?

The question is a very natural one, and we find it proposed and answered, even so far back as the fourth century; and that, too, by St Augustine, in his celebrated Epistle to Januarius. The holy Doctor offers this explanation: We solemnize the day of our Saviour’s Birth, in order that we may honour that Birth, which was for our salvation; but the precise day of the week, on which he was born, is void of any mystical signification. Sunday, on the contrary, the day of our Lord’s Resurrection, is the day marked, in the Creator's designs, to express a mystery which was to be commemorated for all ages. St Isidore of Seville, and the ancient Interpreter of Sacred Rites who, for a long time, was supposed to be the learned Alcuin, have also adopted this explanation of the Bishop of Hippo; and our readers may see their words interpreted by Durandus, in his Rationale.

These writers, then, observe that as, according to a sacred tradition, the creation of man took place on a Friday, and our Saviour suffered death also on a Friday for the redemption of man; that as, moreover, the Resurrection of our Lord was on the third day after his death, that is, on a Sunday, which is the day on which the Light was created, as we learn from the Book of Genesis—‘the two Solemnities of Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection,’ says St Augustine, ‘do not only remind us of those divine facts; but they moreover represent and signify some other mysterious and holy thing.’[2]

And yet we are not to suppose that because the Feast of Jesus’ Birth is not fixed to any particular day of the week, there is no mystery expressed by its being always on the twenty-fifth of December. For firstly we may observe, with the old Liturgists, that the Feast of Christmas is kept by turns on each of the days of the week, that thus its holiness may cleanse and rid them of the curse which Adam’s sin had put upon them. But secondly, the great mystery of the twenty-fifth of December, being the Feast of our Saviour’s Birth, has reference, not to the division of time marked out by God himself, which is called the Week; but to the course of that great Luminary which gives life to the world, because it gives it light and warmth. Jesus, our Saviour, the Light of the World,[3] was born when the night of idolatry and crime was at its darkest; and the day of his Birth, the twenty-fifth of December, is that on which the material Sun begins to gain his ascendency over the reign of gloomy night, and show to the world his triumph of brightness.

In our ‘Advent’ we showed, after the Holy Fathers, that the diminution of the physical light may be considered as emblematic of those dismal times which preceded the Incarnation. We joined our prayers with those of the people of the Old Testament; and, with our holy Mother the Church, we cried out to the Divine Orient, the Sun of Justice, that he would deign to come and deliver us from the twofold death of body and soul. God has heard our prayers; and it is on the day of the Winter Solstice—which the Pagans of old made so much of by their fears and rejoicings—that he gives us both the increase of the natural light, and him who is the Light of our souls.

St Gregory of Nyssa, St Ambrose, St Maximus of Turin, St Leo, St Bernard, and the principal Liturgists, dwell with complacency on this profound mystery, which the Creator of the universe has willed should mark both the natural and the supernatural world. We shall find the Church also making continual allusion to it during this season of Christmas, as she did in that of Advent.

‘On this the Day which the Lord hath made,' says St Gregory of Nyssa, ‘darkness decreases, light increases, and Night is driven back again. No, brethren, it is not by chance, nor by any created will, that this natural change begins on the day when he shows himself in the brightness of his coming, which is the spiritual Life of the world. It is Nature revealing, under this symbol, a secret to them whose eye is quick enough to see it; to them, I mean, who are able to appreciate this circumstance of our Saviour's coming. Nature seems to me to say: Know, O Man! that under the things which I show thee Mysteries lie concealed. Hast thou not seen the night, that had grown so long, suddenly checked? Learn hence, that the black night of Sin, which had reached its height by the accumulation of every guilty device, is this day stopped in its course. Yes, from this day forward its duration shall be shortened, until at length there shall be naught but Light. Look, I pray thee, on the Sun; and see how his rays are stronger, and his position higher in the heavens: learn from that how the other Light, the Light of the Gospel, is now shedding itself over the whole earth.’[4]

‘Let us, my Brethren, rejoice,’ cries out St Augustine:[5] ‘this day is sacred, not because of the visible sun, but because of the Birth of him who is the invisible Creator of the sun.... He chose this day whereon to be born, as he chose the Mother of whom to be born, and he made both the day and the Mother. The day he chose was that on which the light begins to increase, and it typifies the work of Christ, who renews our interior man day by day. For the eternal Creator having willed to be born in time, his Birthday would necessarily be in harmony with the rest of his creation.’

The same holy Father, in another sermon for the same Feast, gives us the interpretation of a mysterious expression of St John Baptist, which admirably confirms the tradition of the Church. The great Precursor said on one occasion, when speaking of Christ: He must increase, but I must decrease.[6] These prophetic words signify, in their literal sense, that the Baptist's mission was at its close, because Jesus was entering upon his. But they convey, as St Augustine assures us, a second meaning: ‘John came into this world at the season of the year when the length of the day decreases; Jesus was born in the season when the length of the day increases.’[7] Thus, there is mystery both in the rising of that glorious Star, the Baptist, at the summer solstice; and in the rising of our Divine Sun in the dark season of winter.[8]

There have been men who dared to scoff at Christianity as a superstition, because they discovered that the ancient Pagans used to keep a feast of the sun on the winter solstice! In their shallow erudition they concluded that a Religion could not be divinely instituted, which had certain rites or customs originating in an analogy to certain phenomena of this world: in other words, these writers denied what Revelation asserts, namely, that God only created this world for the sake of his Christ and his Church. The very facts which these enemies of our holy Religion brought forward as objections to the true Faith are, to us Catholics, additional proof of its being worthy of our most devoted love.

Thus, then, have we explained the fundamental Mystery of these Forty Days of Christmas, by having shown the grand secret hidden in the choice made by God's eternal decree, that the twenty-fifth day of December should be the Birthday of God upon this earth. Let us now respectfully study another mystery: that which is involved in the place where this Birth happened.

This place is Bethlehem. Out of Bethlehem, says the Prophet, shall he come forth that is to he the Ruler in Israel.[9] The Jewish Priests are well aware of the prophecy, and a few days hence will tell it to Herod.[10] But why was this insignificant town chosen in preference to every other to be the birth-place of Jesus? Be attentive, Christians, to the mystery! The name of this City of David signifies the House of Bread: therefore did he, who is the living Bread come down from heaven,[11] choose it for his first visible home. Our Fathers did eat manna in the desert and are dead;[12] but lo! here is the Saviour of the world, come to give life to his creature Man by means of his own divine Flesh, which is meat indeed.[13] Up to this time the Creator and the creature had been separated from each other; henceforth they shall abide together in closest union. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the manna which fed but the body, is now replaced by the Ark of a New Covenant, purer and more incorruptible than the other: the incomparable Virgin Mary, who gives us Jesus, the Bread of Angels, the nourishment which will give us a divine transformation; for this Jesus himself has said: He that eateth my flesh abideth in me, and I in him.[14]

It is for this divine transformation that the world was in expectation for four thousand years, and for which the Church prepared herself by the four weeks of Advent. It has come at last, and Jesus is about to enter within us, if we will but receive him.[15] He asks to be united to each one of us in particular, just as he is united by his Incarnation to the whole human race; and for this end he wishes to become our Bread, our spiritual nourishment. His coming into the souls of men at this mystic season has no other aim than this union. He comes not to judge the world, hut that the world may he saved by him,[16] and that all may have life, and may have it more abundantly.[17] This divine Lover of our souls will not be satisfied, therefore, until he have substituted himself in our place, so that we may live not we ourselves, but he in us; and in order that this mystery may be effected in a sweeter way, it is under the form of an Infant that this Beautiful Fruit of Bethlehem wishes first to enter into us, there to growafterwards in wisdom and age before God and men.[18]

And when, having thus visited us by his grace and nourished us in his love, he shall have changed us into himself, there shall be accomplished in us a still further mystery. Having become one in spirit and heart with Jesus, the Son of the heavenly Father, weshall also become sons of this same God our Father. The Beloved Disciple, speaking of this our dignity, cries out: Behold! what manner of charity the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and should be the Sons of God![19] We will not now stay to consider this immense happiness of the Christian soul, as we shall have a more fitting occasion, further on, to speak of it, and show by what means it is to be maintained and increased.

There is another subject, too, which we regret being obliged to notice only in a passing way. It is, that, from the day itself of our Saviour's Birth even to the day of our Lady's Purification, there is, in the Calendar, an extraordinary richness of Saints’ Feasts, doing homage to the master feast of Bethlehem, and clustering in adoring love round the Crib of the Infant-God. To say nothing of the four great Stars which shine so brightly near our Divine Sun, from whom they borrow all their own grand beauty—St Stephen, St John the Evangelist, the Holy Innocents, and our own St Thomas of Canterbury: what other portion of the Liturgical Year is there that can show within the same number of days so brilliant a constellation? The Apostolic College contributes its two grand luminaries, St Peter and St Paul: the first in his Chair of Rome; the second in the miracle of his Conversion. The Martyr-host sends us the splendid champions of Christ, Timothy, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, Vincent, and Sebastian. The radiant line of Roman Pontiffs lends us four of its glorious links, named Sylvester, Telesphorus, Hyginus and Marcellus. The sublime school of holy Doctors offers us Hilary, John Chrysostom, and Ildephonsus; and in their company stands a fourth Bishop—the amiable Francis de Sales. The Confessor-kingdom is represented by Paul the Hermit, Anthony the conqueror of Satan, Maurus the Apostle of the Cloister, Peter Nolasco the deliverer of captives, and Raymond of Pennafort, the oracle of Canon Law and guide of the consciences of men. The army of defenders of the Church deputes the pious King Canute, who died in defence of our Holy Mother, and Charlemagne, who loved to sign himself ‘the humble champion of the Church.' The choir of holy Virgins gives us the sweet Agnes, the generous Emerentiana, the invincible Martina. And lastly, from the saintly ranks which stand below the Virgins—the holy Widows—we have Paula, the enthusiastic lover of Jesus' Crib. Truly, our Christmastide is a glorious festive season! What magnificence in its Calendar! What a banquet for us in its Liturgy!

A word upon the symbolism of the colours used by the Church during this season. White is her Christmas Vestment; and she employs this colour at every service from Christmas Day to the Octave of the Epiphany. To honour her two Martyrs, Stephen and Thomas of Canterbury, she vests in red; and to condole with Rachel wailing her murdered Innocents, she puts on purple: but these are the only exceptions. On every other day of the twenty she expresses, by her white Robes, the gladness to which the Angels invited the world, the beauty of our Divine Sun that has risen in Bethlehem, the spotless purity of the Virgin-Mother, and the cleanheartedness which they should have who come to worship at the mystic Crib.

During the remaining twenty days, the Church vests in accordance with the Feast she keeps; she varies the colour so as to harmonize either with the red Roses which wreathe a Martyr, or with the white Amaranths which grace her Bishops and her Confessors, or again, with the spotless Lilies which crown her Virgins. On the Sundays which come during this time—unless there occur a Feast requiring red or white or, unless Septuagesima has begun its three mournful weeks of preparation for Lent—the colour of the Vestments is green. This, say the interpreters of the Liturgy, is to teach us that in the Birth of Jesus, who is the flower of the fields,[20] we first received the hope of salvation, and that after the bleak winter of heathendom and the Synagogue, there opened the verdant spring-time of grace.

With this we must close our mystical interpretation of those rites which belong to Christmas in general. Our readers will have observed that there are many other sacred and symbolical usages, to which we have not even alluded; but as the mysteries to which they belong are peculiar to certain days, and are not, so to speak, common to this portion of the Liturgical Year, we intend to treat fully of them all, as we meet with them on their proper Feasts.

 

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[1] Ps. cix 3.
[2] Epist. ad Januarium.
[3] St John viii 12.
[4] Homily On the Nativity.
[5] Sermon On the Nativity of our Lord, iii.
[6] St John iii 30.
[7] Sermon In Natali Domini, xi.
[8] It is almost unnecessary to add that this doctrine of the Holy Fathers which is embodied in the Christmas Liturgy is not in any degree falsified by the fact that there are some parts of God’s earth where Christmas falls in a season the very opposite of Winter. Our Lord selected, for the place of his Birth, one which made it Winter when he came upon earth; and by that selection he stamped the Mystery taught in the text on the season of darkness and cold. Our brethren in Australia, for example, will have the Mystery without the Winter, when they are keeping Christmas; or, more correctly, their faith and the Holy Liturgy will unite them with us, both in the Winter and the Mystery of the great Birth in Bethlehem.—Translator's Note.
[9] Mich, v 2.
[10] St Matt, ii 5.
[11] St John vi 41.
[12] Ibid. vi 49.
[13] Ibid. vi. 56.
[14] Ibid. vi 57.
[15] Ibid. i 12.
[16] Ibid. iii 17.
[17] Ibid. x 10.
[18] St Luke ii 40, 52.
[19] 1 St John iii 1.
[20] Cant, i 1.

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

THE time has now come for the faithful soul to reap the fruit of the efforts she made during the penitential weeks of Advent to prepare a dwelling-place for the Son of God, who desires to be born within her. The Nuptials of the Lamb are come, and his Spouse hath prepared herself.[1] Now the Spouse is the Church; the Spouse is also every faithful soul. Our Lord gives his whole self to the whole flock, and to each sheep of the flock with as much love as though he loved but that one. What garments shall we put on, to go and meet the Bridegroom? Where shall we find the pearls and jewels wherewith to deck our soul for this happy meeting? Our holy Mother the Church will tell us all this in her Liturgy. Our best plan for spending Christmas is, undoubtedly, to keep close to her, and do what she does; for she is most dear to God, and being our Mother, we ought to obey all her injunctions.

But, before we speak of the mystic Coming of the Incarnate Word into our souls; before we tell the secrets of that sublime familiarity between the Creator and the Creature; let us, first, learn from the Church the duties which human nature and each of our souls owes to the Divine Infant, whom the Heavens have at length given to us as the refreshing Dew we asked them to rain down upon our earth. During Advent, we united with the Saints of the Old Law, in praying for the coming of the Messias, our Redeemer; now that he is come, let us consider what is the homage we must pay him.

The Church offers to the Infant-God, during this holy season, the tribute of her profound adoration, the enthusiasm of her exceeding joy, the return of her unbounded gratitude, and the fondness of her intense love. These four offerings, adoration, joy, gratitude, and love, must be also those of every Christian to his Jesus, his Emmanuel, the Babe of Bethlehem. The prayers of the Liturgy will express all four sentiments in a way that no other Devotions could do. But, the better to appropriate to ourselves these admirable formulas of the Church, let us understand thoroughly the nature of each of these four sentiments.

The first of our duties at our Saviour's Crib is Adoration, Adoration is Religion's first act; but there is something in the Mystery of our Lord’s Birth which seems to make this duty doubly necessary. In heaven the Angels veil their faces, and prostrate themselves before the throne of Jehovah; the Four-and-Twenty Elders are for ever casting their crowns before the throne[2] of the Lamb; what, then, shall we do—we who are sinners, and unworthy members of the Tribe of the Redeemer—now that this same great God shows himself to us, humbled for our sakes, and stript of all his glory? now that the duties of the creature to his Creator are fulfilled by the Creator himself? now that the eternal God bows down not only before the Sovereign Majesty of the Godhead, but even before sinful man, his creature?

Let us endeavour to make, by our profound adorations, some return to the God who thus humbles himself for us; let us thus give him back some little of that whereof he has deprived himself out of love for us, and in obedience to the will of his Father. It is incumbent on us to emulate, as far as possible, the sentiments of the Angels in heaven, and never to approach the Divine Infant without bringing with us the incense of our soul’s adoration, the protestation of our own extreme unworthiness, and lastly, the homage of our whole being. All this is due to the infinite Majesty of the Babe of Bethlehem, who is the more worthy of every tribute we can pay him, because he has made himself thus little for our sakes. Unhappy we, if the apparent weakness of the Divine Child, or the familiarity wherewith he is ready to caress us, should make us negligent in this our first duty, or forget what he is, and what we are!

The example of his Blessed Mother will teach us to be thus humble. Mary was humble in the presence of her God, even before she became his Mother; but, once his Mother, she comported herself before him who was her God and her Child with greater humility than ever. We too, poor sinners, sinners so long and so often, we must adore with all the power of our soul him who has come down so low: we must study to find out how by our self-humiliation to make him amends for this Crib, these swathing-bands, this eclipse of his glory. And yet all our humiliations will never bring us so low as that we shall be on a level with his lowliness. No; only God could reach the humiliations of God.

But our Mother, the Church, does not only offer to the Infant God the tribute of her profound adoration. The mystery of Emmanuel, that is, of God with us, is to her a source of singular joy. Look at her sublime Canticles for this holy Season, and you will find the two sentiments admirably blended—her deep reverence for her God, and her glad joy at his Birth. Joy! did not the very Angels come down and urge her to it? She therefore studies to imitate the blithe Shepherds, who ran for joy to Bethlehem,[3]and the glad Magi, who were well-nigh out of themselves with delight when, on quitting Jerusalem, the star again appeared and led them to the Cave where the Child was.[4] Joy at Christmas is a Christian instinct, which originated those many Carols, which, like so many other beautiful traditions of the ages of Faith, are unfortunately dying out amongst us; but which Rome still encourages, gladly welcoming each year those rude musicians, the Pifferari, who come down from the Apennines, and make the streets of the Eternal City re-echo with their shrill melodies.

Come, then, faithful Children of the Church, let us take our share in her joy! This is not the season for sighing or for weeping. For unto us a Child is born![5] He for whom we have been so long waiting is come; and he is come to dwell among us.[6] Great, indeed, and long was our suspense; so much the more let us love our possessing him. The day will too soon come when this Child, now born to us, will be the Man of Sorrows,[7] and then we will compassionate him; but at present we must rejoice and be glad at his coming and sing round his Crib with the Angels. Heaven sends us a present of its own joy: we need joy, and forty days are not too many for us to get it well into our hearts. The Scripture tells us that a secure mind is like a continual feast,[8] and a secure mind can only be where there is peace; now it is Peace which these blessed days bring to the earth; Peace, say the Angels, to men of good will!

Intimately and inseparably united with this exquisite mystic joy is the sentiment of gratitude. Gratitude is indeed due to him who, neither deterred by our unworthiness nor restrained by the infinite respect which becomes his sovereign Majesty, deigned to be born of his own creature, and have a stable for his birth-place. Oh! how vehemently must he not have desired to advance the work of our salvation, to remove everything which could make us afraid of approaching him, and to encourage us, by his own example, to return, by the path of humility, to the heaven we had strayed from by pride!

Gratefully, therefore, let us receive the precious gift—this Divine Babe, our Deliverer. He is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, that Father who hath so loved the world as to give his only Son.[9] He, the Son, unreservedly ratifies his Father's will, and comes to offer himself because it is his own will.[10] How, as the Apostle expresses it, hath not the Father with him given us all things?[11] O gift inestimable! How shall we be able to repay it by suitable gratitude, we who are so poor as not to know how to appreciate it? God alone, and the Divine Infant in his Crib, know the value of the mystery of Bethlehem, which is given to us.

Shall our debt, then, never be paid? Not so: we can pay it by love, which, though finite, gives itself without measure, and may grow for ever in intensity. For this reason, the Church, after she has offered her adorations and hymns and gratitude, to her Infant Saviour, gives him also her tenderest Love. She says to him: ‘How beautiful art thou, my Beloved One, and how comely![12] How sweet to me is thy rising, O Divine Sun of Justice! How my heart glows in the warmth of thy beams! Nay, dearest Jesus, the means thou usest for gaining me over to thyself are irresistible—the feebleness and humility of a Child!’ Thus do all her words end in love; and her adoration, praise, and thanksgiving, when she expresses them in her Canticles, are transformed into love.

Christians! let us imitate our Mother, and give our hearts to our Emmanuel. The Shepherds offer him their simple gifts, the Magi bring him their rich presents, and no one must appear before the Divine Infant without something worthy of his acceptance. Know, then, that nothing will please him, but that which he came to seek—our love. It was for this that he came down from heaven. Hard indeed is that heart which can say, He shall not have my love!

These, then, are the duties we owe to our Divine Master in this his first Coming, which, as St Bernard says, is in the flesh and in weakness, and is for the salvation, not for the judgement, of the world.

As regards that other Coming, which is to be in majesty and power on the Last Day, we have meditated upon it during Advent. The fear of the Wrath to come should have roused our souls from their lethargy, and have prepared them, by humility of heart, to receive the visit of Jesus in that secret Coming which he makes to the soul of man. It is the ineffable mystery of this intermediateComing that we are now going to explain.

We have shown elsewhere how the time of Advent belongs to that period of the spiritual life which is called, in Mystic Theology, the Purgative Life, during which the soul cleanses herself from sin and the occasions of sin, by the fear of God’s judgements, and by combating against evil concupiscence. We are taking it for granted that every faithful soul has journeyed through these rugged paths, which must be gone through before she could be admitted to the Feast to which the Church invites all mankind, saying to them, on the Saturday of the Second Week of Advent, these words of the Prophet Isaias: Lo! this is our God: we have waited for him, and he will save us. We have patiently waited for him, and we shall rejoice and be joyful in his Salvation![13] As in the house of our heavenly Father there are many mansions,[14] so likewise, on the grand Solemnity of Christmas, when those words of Isaias are realized, the Church sees, amongst the countless throng who receive the Bread of Life, a great variety of sentiments and dispositions. Some were dead, and the graces given during the holy Season of Advent have restored them to life: others, whose spritual life had long been healthy, have so spent their Advent that its holy exercises have redoubled their love of their Lord, and their entrance into Bethlehem has been to them a renewal of their soul’s life.

Now every soul that has been admitted to Bethlehem, that is to say, into the House of Bread, and has been united with him who is the Light of the World—that soul no longer walks in darkness. The mystery of Christmas is one of Illumination; and the grace it produces in the soul that corresponds with it, places her in the second stage of the Mystic Life, which is called the Illuminative Life. Henceforward, then, we need no longer weary ourselves watching for our Saviour’s arrival; he has come, he has shone upon us, and we are resolved to keep up the light, nay, to cherish its growth within us, in proportion as the Liturgical Year unfolds its successive seasons of mysteries and graces. God grant that we may reflect in our souls the Church's progressive development of this divine Light; and be led by its brightness to that Union which crowns both the year of the Church, and the faithful soul which has spent the year under the Church's guidance!

But, in the mystery of Christmastide, this Light is given to us, so to speak, softened down; our weakness required that it should be so. It is indeed the Divine Word, the Wisdom of the Father, that we are invited to know and imitate; but this Word, this Wisdom, are shown us under the appearance of a Child. Let nothing keep us from approaching him. We might fear were he seated on a throne in his palace; but he is lying on a crib in a stable! Were it the time of his Fatigues, his Bloody Sweat, his Cross, his Burial, or even of his Glory and his Victory, we might say we had not courage enough: but what courage is needed to go near him in Bethlehem, where all is sweetness and silence, and a simple Little Babe! Come to him, says the Psalmist, and he enlightened![15]

Where shall we find an interpreter of the twofold mystery which is wrought at this holy season—the mystery of the Infancy of Jesus in the soul of man, and the mystery of the infancy of man's soul in his Jesus? None of the Holy Fathers has so admirably spoken upon it as St Leo: let us listen to his grand words.

‘Although that Childhood, which the majesty of the Son of God did not disdain to assume, has developed, by growth of age, into the fulness of the perfect man, and, the triumph of his Passion and Resurrection having been achieved, all the humiliations he submitted to for our sakes are passed; nevertheless, the Feast we are now keeping brings back to us the sacred Birth of the Virgin Mary’s Child, Jesus our Lord. So that whilst adoring his Birth, we are, in truth, celebrating our own commencement of life; for the Generation of Christ is the origin of the Christian people, and the Birth Day of him that is our Head is the Birth Day of us that are his Body. It is true, that each Christian has his own rank, and the children of the Church are born each in their respective times; yet the whole mass of the Faithful, once having been regenerated in the font of Baptism, are born, on this Day of Christmas, together with Christ; just as they are crucified together with him in his Passion, and have risen together with his Resurrection, and in hisAscension are placed at the right hand of the Father. For every believer, no matter in what part of the world he may be living, is born again in Christ; his birth according to nature is not taken into account; he becomes a new man by his second birth; neither is he any longer called of the family of his father in the flesh, but of the family of our Redeemer, who unto this was made a Son of Man, that we might become the Sons of God.’[16]

Yes, this is the Mystery achieved in us by the holy Season of Christmas! It is expressed in those words of the passage from St John's Gospel which the Church has chosen for the third Mass of the great Feast: As many as received him, he gave them power to he made the Sons of God, to them that believe in his name; who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.[17] So that all they who, having purified their souls, freed themselves from the slavery of flesh and blood, and renounced everything which is of man, inasmuch as man means sinner, wish now to open their hearts to the Divine Word, that is, to the Light which shineth in darkness, which darkness did not come prehend,[18] these, I say, are born with Jesus; they are born of God; they begin a new life, as did the Son of God himself in this mystery of his Birth in Bethlehem.

How beautiful are these first beginnings of the Christian Life! How great is the glory of Bethlehem, that is, of our holy Mother the Church, the true House of Bread! for in her midst there is produced, during these days of Christmas, and everywhere throughout the world, a countless number of sons of God. Oh! the unceasing vitality of our mysteries! As the Lamb, who was slain from the beginning of the world,[19] sacrifices himself without ceasing, ever since his real sacrifice; so also, once born of the Holy Virgin his Mother, he makes it a part of his glory to be ceaselessly born in the souls of men. We are not, therefore, to think for a moment that the dignity of Mary's divine Maternity is lessened, or that our souls enjoy the same grand honour which was granted to her: far from that, ‘let us,’ as Venerable Bede says, ‘raise our voice from amid the crowd, as did the woman in the Gospel, and say to our Saviour, with the Catholic Church, of which that woman was the type: Blessed is the Womb that bore thee, and the Breasts that gave thee suck!’[20] Mary's prerogative is indeed incommunicable, and it makes her the Mother of God, and the Mother of men. But we must also remember the answer made by our Saviour to the woman, who spoke those words: Yea rather, said Jesus, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it;[21] ‘hereby declaring,’ continues Venerable Bede, ‘that not only is she blessed, who merited to conceive in the flesh the Word of God, but they also who endeavour to conceive this same Word spiritually, by the hearing of faith, and to give him birth and nourish him by keeping and doing what is good, either in their own or their neighbour's heart. For the Mother of God herself was Blessed in that she was made, for a time, the minister to the wants of the Incarnate Word; but much more Blessed was she, in that she was and ever will be the keeper and doer of the love due to that same her Son.’

Is it not this same truth which our Lord teaches us on that other occasion, where he says: Whosoever shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother?[22] And why was the Angel sent to Mary in preference to all the rest of the daughters of Israel, but because she had already conceived the Divine Word in her heart by the vehemence of her undivided love, the greatness of her profound humility and the incomparable merit of her virginity? Why again, is this Blessed among women holy above all creatures, but because, having once conceived and brought forth a Son of God, she continues for ever his Mother, by her fidelity in doing the will of the heavenly Father, by her love for the uncreated light of the Divine Word, and by her union as Spouse with the Spirit of sanctification?

But no member of the human race is excluded from the honour of imitating Mary, though at a humble distance, in this her spiritual Maternity: for, by that real birth which she gave him in Bethlehem, which we are now celebrating, and which initiated the world into the mysteries of God, this ever Blessed Mother of Jesus has shown us how we may bear the resemblance of her own grand prerogative. We ought to have prepared the way of the Lord[23] during the weeks of Advent; and if so, our hearts have conceived him: therefore now our good works must bring him forth, that thus our heavenly Father, seeing not us ourselves, but his own Son Jesus now living within us, may say of each of us, in his mercy, what he heretofore said in very truth of the Incarnate Word: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.[24]

Let us give ear to the words of the Seraphic St Bonaventure, who in one of his sermons for Christmas Day thus explains the mystery of the birth of Jesus in the soul of man:

‘This happy birth happens when the soul, prepared by long thought and reflection, passes at length to action; when the flesh being made subject to the spirit, good works are produced in due time: then do interior peace and joy return to the soul. In this birth there is neither travail nor pain nor fear; everything is admiration and delight and glory. If then, O devout soul! thou art desirous for this birth, imagine thyself to be like Mary. Mary signifies bitterness; bitterly bewail thy sins: it signifies illuminatrix, be thou illumined by thy virtues: and lastly, it signifies Mistress; learn how to be mistress and controller of thy evil passions. Then will Christ be born of thee, and oh! with what happiness to thyself! For it is then that the soul tastes and sees how sweet is her Lord Jesus. She experiences this sweetness when, in holy meditation, she nourishes this Divine Infant; when she covers him with her tears; when she clothes him with her holy longings; when she presses him to her heart in the embrace of holy tenderness; when, in a word, she cherishes him in the warmth of her glowing love. O happy Crib of Bethlehem! in thee I find the King of glory: but happier still than thou, the pious soul which holds within itself him whom thou couldst hold but corporally!’

Now that we may pass on from this spiritual conception to the birth of our Lord Jesus; in other words, that we may pass from Advent to Christmas, we must unceasingly keep the eyes of our soul on him who wishes to be born within us, and in whom the world is born to a new life. Our study and ambition should be, how best to become like Jesus, by imitating him; for, though the imitation must needs be imperfect, yet we know from the Apostle that our heavenly Father himself gives this as the sign of the elect—that they are made like to the image of his Son.[25]

Let us, therefore, hearken to the invitation of the Angels, and go over to Bethlehem.[26] We know what sign will be given to us of our Jesus—a Child wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a crib.[27] So that you, O Christians! must become children; you must not disdain to be tied in the bonds of a spiritual childhood; you must come down from your proud spirit, and meet your Saviour who has come down from heaven, and with him hide yourselves in the humility of the crib. Thus will you begin, with him, a new life. Thus will the Light that goeth forwards and increaseth even to perfect day,[28] illumine your path the whole remaining length of your journey. Thus the sight of God which leaves room for faith, which you receive at Bethlehem, will meritfor you the face-to-face vision on Thabor, and prepare you for the blissful Union, which is not merely Light, but the plenitude and repose of Love.

So far we have been speaking only of the living members of the Church, whether they began the life of grace during the holy Season of Advent, or were already living in the grace of the Holy Ghost when the ecclesiastical year commenced, and spent their Advent in preparing to be born with Jesus to a new year of higher perfection. But how shall we overlook those of our Brethren who are dead in sin; and so dead, that neither the coming of their Emmanuel, nor the example of the Christians throughout the universal Church earnestly preparing for that coming, could rouse them? No, we cannot forget them: we love them, and come to tell them (for even now they may yield to grace, and live), that there hath appeared the goodness and kindness of God our Saviour.[29] If this volume of ours should perchance fall into the hands of any of those who have not yielded to the solicitations of grace, which press them to be converted to the sweet Babe of Bethlehem, their Lord and their God; who, instead of spending the weeks of Advent in preparing to receive him at Christmas, lived them out, as they began them, in indifference and in sin: we shall, perhaps, be helping them to a knowledge of the grievousness of their state, by reminding them of the ancient discipline of the Church, which obliged all the Faithful, under pain of being considered as no longer Catholics, to receive Holy Communion on Christmas Day, as well as on Easter and Whit Sundays. We find a formal decree of this obligation given in the fifteenth Canon of the Council of Agatha (Agde) held in 506. We would also ask these poor sinners to reflect on the joy the Church feels at seeing, throughout the whole world, the immense number of her children, who still, in spite of the general decay of piety, keep the Feast of the birth of the Divine Lamb, by the sacramental participation of his Body and Blood.

Sinners! take courage; this Feast of Christmas is one of grace and mercy, on which all, both just and sinners, meet in the fellowship of the same glad Mystery. The heavenly Father has resolved to honour the Birthday of his Son, by granting pardon to all save those who obstinately refuse it. Oh! how worthy is the Coming of our dear Emmanuel to be honoured by this divine amnesty!

Nor is it we that give this invitation; it is the Church herself. Yes, it is she that with divine authority invites you to begin the work of your new life on this day whereon the Son of God begins the career of his human life. That we may the more worthily convey to you this her invitation, we will borrow the words of a great and saintly Bishop of the Middle Ages, the pious Rabanus Maurus, who, in a homily on the Nativity of our Lord, encourages sinners to come and take their place, side by side with the just, in the stable of Bethlehem, where even the ox and the ass recognize their Master in the Babe who lies there.

‘I beseech you, dearly beloved Brethren, that you receive with fervent hearts the words our Lord speaks to you through me on this most sweet Feast, on which even infidels and sinners are touched with compunction; on which the wicked man is moved to mercy, the contrite heart hopes for pardon, the exile despairs not of returning to his country, and the sick man longs for his cure; on which is born the Lamb who taketh away the sins of the world, that is, Christ our Saviour. On such a Birthday, he that has a good conscience rejoices more than usual; and he whose conscience is guilty fears with a more useful fear.... Yes, it is a sweet Feast, bringing true sweetness and forgiveness to all true penitents. My little children, I promise you without hesitation that every one who, on this day, shall repent from his heart, and return not to the vomit of his sins, shall obtain all whatsoever he shall ask; let him only ask with a firm faith, and not return to sinful pleasures.

‘On this day are taken away the sins of the entire world: why needs the sinner despair? ... On this day of our Lord’s Birth let us, dearest Brethren, offer our promises to this Jesus, and keep them, as it is written: Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God.[30] Let us make our promises with confidence and love; he will enable us to keep them.... And when I speak of promises, I would not have anyone think that I mean the promise of fleeting and earthly goods. No—I mean, that each of us should offer what our Saviour redeemed, namely, our soul. “But how,” someone will say, “how shall we offer our souls to him, to whom they already belong?” I answer: by leading holy lives, by chaste thoughts, by fruitful works, by turning away from evil, by following that which is good, by loving God, by loving our neighbour, by showing mercy (for we ourselves were in need of it, before we were redeemed), by forgiving them that sin against us (for we ourselves were once in sin), by trampling on pride, since it was by pride that our first parent was deceived and fell.’[31]

It is thus our affectionate Mother the Church invites sinners to the Feast of the Divine Lamb; nor is she satisfied until her House he filled.[32] The grace of a New Birth, given her by the Sun of Justice, fills this Spouse of Jesus with joy. A new year has begun for her, and, like all that have preceded it, it is to be rich in flower and fruit. She renews her youth as that of an eagle. She is about to unfold another Cycle, or Year, of her mysteries, and to pour forth upon her faithful children the graces of which God has made the Cycle to be the instrument. In this season of Christmas, we have the first-fruits of these graces offered to us; they are the knowledge and the love of our Infant God: let us accept them with attentive hearts, that so we may merit to advance, with our Jesus, in wisdom and age and grace before God and men.[33] The Christmas Mystery is the gate of all the others of the rest of the year; but it is a gate which we may all enter, for, though most heavenly, yet it touches earth; since, as St Augustine beautifully remarks in one of his sermons for Christmas:[34] ‘We cannot as yet contemplate the splendour of him who was begotten of the Father before the Day Star;[35] let us, then, visit him who was born of the Virgin in the nighthour. We cannot understand how his Name continueth before the sun ,[36] let us, then, confess that he hath set his tabernacle in her that is purer than the sun.[37] We cannot as yet see the Only-Begotten Son dwelling in the Father’s Bosom; let us, then, think on the Bridegroom that cometh out of his bridechamber.[38] We are not yet ready for the banquet of our heavenly Father; let us, then, keep to the Crib of Jesus, our Master.’[39]

 

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[1] Apoc. xix 7.
[2] Apoc. iv 10.
[3] St Luke ii 16.
[4] St Matt, ii 10.
[5] Isa. ix 6.
[6] St John i 14.
[7] Isa. liii 3.
[8] Prov. xv 15.
[9] St John iii 16.
[10] Isa. liii 7.
[11] Rom. viii 32.
[12] Cant, i 15.
[13] Isa. xxv 9.
[14] St John xiv 2.
[15] Ps. xxxiii 6.
[16] Sixth Sermon On the Nativity of our Lord, Ch. 2.
[17] St John i 12.
[18] Ibid. i. 5.
[19] Apoc. xiii 8.
[20] Commentary on St Luke, Bk. 4, Ch. 49.
[21] St Luke xi 28.
[22] St Matt, xii 50.
[23] St Matt. iii 3; Isa. xl 3.
[24] St Matt. iii 17.
[25] Rom. viii 29.
[26] St Luke ii 15.
[27] Ibid, ii 12.
[28] Prov. iv 18.
[29] Tit. iii 4.
[30] Ps. lxxv 12.
[31] Fourth Homliy On the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[32] St Luke x 2
[33] Ibid, ii 52.
[34] Eleventh Sermon On the Nativity of our Lord.
[35] Ps. cix 3.
[36] Ibid. lxxi 17.
[37] Ibid. xviii6.
[38] Ibid.
[39] Isa. i 3.

 

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

DURING Christmas, the Christian, on waking in the morning, should unite himself with the Church, who in her Office of Matins for Christmas Day thus invites the faithful to come and adore the Messias:

Christus natus est nobis; venite, adoremus!

Christ is born unto us; come, let us adore him!

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He should profoundly adore this dear King, who has rendered himself so accessible to his creatures; and in this disposition of loving reverence, he should perform the first acts of religion, both interior and exterior, wherewith he begins the day. The time for Morning Prayer being come, he may use the following method, which is formed upon the very prayers of the Church:

 

Morning Prayers

 

First, praise and adoration of the Most Holy Trinity:

℣. Benedicamus Patrem et Filium, cum Sancto Spiritu.

℟. Laudemus et superexaltemus eum in sæcula.

℣. Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.

℟. Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

℣. Let us bless the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

℟. Let us praise him and extol him above all, for ever.

℣. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

℟. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Then praise to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ:

℣. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi.

℟. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum.

℣. We adore thee, O Christ, and we bless thee.

℟. Because by thy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.

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Thirdly, invocation of the Holy Ghost:

Veni, Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium, et tui amoris in eis ignem accende.

Come, O Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful, and enkindle within them the fire of thy love.

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After these fundamental acts of religion, you will recite the Lord’s Prayer, asking of God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to grant that his holy Name may be glorified on earth, now that he has blessed it by sending it his Son, over whose Crib the Angels sang: Glory be to God in the highest! This divine Messias is come to establish the Kingdom of God on earth: he is come to do the will of his Father, and to teach us to do it here on earth as it is done in heaven. Let us reverently share in these divine intentions. Let us also ask with all instance that we may be granted to partake of that heavenly Bread which is now born to us in Bethlehem.

The Lord’s Prayer

Pater noster, qui es in cœlis, sanctificetur nomen tuum: adveniat regnum tuum: fiat voluntas tua sicut in cœlo, et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie: et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris: et ne nos inducas in tentationem: sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed he thy name: thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give as this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us: and lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil. Amen.

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Then address our Blessed Lady, using the words of the Angelical Salutation. It is now that she is Blessed among all women:her virginal womb has yielded the divine Fruit of which the world was in expectation: every creature should proclaim her to be the Mother of God.

The Angelical Salutation

Ave Maria, gratia plena: Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostræ. Amen.

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

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After this, recite the Symbol of Faith; and as you pronounce the words, Born of the Virgin Mary, dwell on them with a special attention, adoring the Saviour who has deigned to come down from heaven and be born in a stable.

Crede

Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem creatorem cœli et terræ. Et in Jesum Christum Filium ejus unicum, Dominum nostrum: qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus: descendit ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis: ascendit ad cœlos, sedet ad dexteram Dei Patris omnipotentis: inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos.

Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, Sanctorum communionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectionem, vitam æternam. Amen.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell, the third day he arose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost: the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.

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After having thus made the Profession of your Faith, excite within yourself sentiments of penance and compunction, by the remembrance of the sins you have committed, and of lively gratitude to the Lamb of God, who is come that he may wash away our sins by his Blood, and give us to partake of his divinity. For this end, make use of the following words of the Church, as the fittest way of celebrating these ineffable mysteries, the remembrance of which will keep up within your hearts a sorrow for having offended so merciful a God:

Antiphons For Christmas

Ant. O admirabile commercium! Creator generis humani, animatum corpus sumens, de Virgine nasci dignatus est; et procedens homo sine semine, largitus est nobis suam deitatem.

Ant. Quando natus es ineffabiliter ex Virgine, tunc impletæ sunt Scrupturæ: sicut pluvia in vellus descendisti, ut salvum faceres genus humanum: te laudamus, Deus noster.

Ant. Ecce Maria genuit nobis Salvatorem, quem Joannes videns exclamavit dicens: Ecce Agnus Dei; ecce qui tollit peccata mundi. Alleluia.

Ant. O admirable Interchange! The Creator of mankind, assuming a living Body, deigned to be born of a Virgin; and becoming Man without man’s aid, bestowed on us his divinity.

Ant. When thou wast born ineffably of the Virgin, the Scriptures were fulfilled. As dew upon Gedeon's fleece, thou camest down to save mankind. O Lord our God! we praise thee.

Ant. Lo! Mary hath brought forth a Saviour unto us, whom John seeing exclaimed: Behold the Lamb of God! Behold him that taketh away the sins of the world. Alleluia.

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The Confession of Sins

Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Joanni Baptistæ, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, et omnibus sanctis, quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo, et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Ideo precor beatam Mariam semper Virginem, beatum Michaelem Archangelum, beatum Joannem Baptistam, sanctos Apostolos Petrum et Paulum, et omnes sanctos, orare pro me ad Dominum Deum nostrum.

Misereatur nostri omnipotens Deus, et dimissis peccatis nostris, perducat nos ad vitam æternam. Amen.

Indulgentiam, absolutionem, et remissionem peccatorum nostrorum tribuat nobis omnipotens et misericors Dominus. Amen.

I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed: through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore I beseech the blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the saints, to pray to our Lord God for me.

May Almighty God have mercy on us, and our sins being forgiven, bring us to life everlasting. Amen.

May the almighty and merciful Lord grant us pardon, absolution, and remission of our sins. Amen.

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This is the proper time for making your meditation, as no doubt you practise this holy exercise. During Christmas, our meditation should turn principally upon the Birth of Jesus Christ in our souls. At this period of the Liturgical Year, we must return to the very basis of our spiritual life, and yield, with childlike docility, to the inspirations of the Holy Ghost. The object of our contemplation, as well as the source of our confidence, is Jesus, the Incarnate Word, swathed in the bands of infancy, laid in his Crib, presented in the Temple, and fleeing into Egypt. His love for us has induced him to subject himself to these weaknesses of childhood, in order that even we may imitate our God! St Luke tells us that his Blessed Mother kept all these mysteries in her heart, and pondered them:[1] let us follow her sweet example, and feed our souls with the heavenly Manna. Let the rays of this hidden but penetrating Light illumine us. If we would follow Jesus to Thabor, let us begin to follow him in the way he now shows us—of a Child's simplicity and humility. The higher the architect wishes to carry up the building, the deeper does he sink the foundations. Jesus humbles himself so profoundly, because the work he has undertaken is to go up even to the highest heavens. As his members, we must go with him; we must bear him company, now in his humble Crib, and later on his Cross, if we would be associated with him when the day of his triumph comes, and he is seated at the right hand of his Father.

The next part of your Morning Prayer must be to ask of God, by the following prayers, grace to avoid every kind of sin during the day you are just beginning. Say, then, with the Church, whose prayers must always be preferred to all others:

℣. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.

℟. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Oremus

Domine, Deus omnipotens, qui ad principium hujus diei nos pervenire fecisti, tua nos hodie salva virtute, ut in hac die ad nullum declinemus peccatum, sed semper ad tuam justitiam faciendam nostra procedant eloquia, dirigantur cogitationes et opera. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.

℟. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray

Almighty Lord and God, who hast brought us to the beginning of this day, let thy powerful grace so conduct us through it, that we may not fall into any sin, but that all our thoughts, words, and actions may be regulated according to the rules of thy heavenly justice, and tend to the observance of thy holy law. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

Then beg the divine assistance for the actions of the day, that you may do them well; and say thrice:

℣. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.

℟. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

℣. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.

℟. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

℣. Deus, in adjutorium meum intende.

℟. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.

Oremus

Dirigere et sanctificare, regere et gubernare dignare, Domine Deus, Rex cœli et terræ, hodie corda et corpora nostra, sensus, sermones et actus nostros in lege tua, et in operibus mandatorum tuorum, ut hic et in æternum, te auxiliante, salvi et liberi esse mere amur, Salvator mundi. Qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

℣. Incline unto my aid, O God.

℟. O Lord, make haste to help me.

℣. Incline unto my aid, O God.

℟. O Lord, make haste to help me.

℣. Incline unto my aid, O God.

℟. O Lord, make haste to help me.

Let us pray

Lord God, and King of heaven and earth, vouchsafe this day to rule and sanctify, to direct and govern our souls and bodies, our senses, words, and actions in conformity to thy law, and strict obedience to thy commands; that by the help of thy grace, O Saviour of the world! we may be fenced and freed from all evils. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

---

After this, uniting yourself with the Church, who celebrates with holy enthusiasm the rising of the Sun of Justice, by whose Light she does the works which render her agreeable to this her divine Spouse, say together with her:

℣. Verbum caro factum est. Alleluia!

℟. Et habitavit in nobis. Alleluia!

Oremus

Da nobis, quæsumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui nova incarnati Verbi tui luce perfundimur; hoc in nostro resplendeat opere quod per fidem fulget in mente. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

℣. The Word was made Flesh. Alleluia!

℟. And dwelt among us. Alleluia!

Let us pray

Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that as we are enlightened by the new light of thy Word made Flesh, we may show in our actions the effects of that faith that shineth in our minds. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

During the day, you will do well to use the instructions and prayers which you will find in this volume for each day of the Season, both for the Proper of the Time and the Proper of the Saints. In the evening you may use the following prayers:

 

NIGHT PRAYERS

 

After having made the sign of the Cross, begin by adoring and praising the Son of God made flesh, and dwelling amongst us his creatures for our salvation. For this end you may recite the following stanzas of one of the Hymns sung by the Church during Christmas:

Hymn

Jesu, Redemptor omnium,
Quem lucis ante originem
Parem paternæ gloriæ
Pater supremus edidit;

Tu lumen et splendor Patris,
Tu spes perennis omnium;
Intende quas fundunt preces
Tui per orbem servuli.

Memento, rerum conditor,
Nostri quod olim corporis
Sacrata ab alvo Virginis
Nascendo formam sumpseris.

Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
Qui natus es de Virgine,
Cum Patre et almo Spiritu
In sempiterna sæcula.

Amen.

O Jesu! Redeemer of mankind!
born before the light was made,
and born of the Eternal Father,
equal to him in infinite glory;

O thou the Light and brightness of the Father!
O thou the everlasting hope of all men!
hear the prayers offered thee by thy servants
throughout the world.

Be mindful, O Creator of all things!
that heretofore thou didst
assume a Body like unto ours,
and wast born from the sacred womb of a Virgin.

Glory be to thee, O Jesus,
who wast born of the Virgin!
and to the Father and the Holy Ghost,
for everlasting ages.

Amen.

---

After this Hymn, say the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed, as in the morning.

Then make the Examination of Conscience, going over in your mind all the faults you have committed during the day; think how unworthy sin makes us of the caresses and the company of the Divine Babe; and conclude by making a firm resolution to avoid sin for the future, to do penance for it, and to avoid the occasions which would again lead you into it.

The Examination of Conscience concluded, recite the Confiteor (or I confess) with heartfelt contrition, and then give expression to your sorrow by the following Act, which we have taken from Blessed Robert Bellarmine’s Catechism:

Act of Contrition

O my God, I am exceedingly grieved for having offended thee, and with my whole heart I repent for the sins I have committed: I hate and abhor them above every other evil, not only because, by so sinning, I have lost heaven and deserve Hell, but still more because I have offended thee, O infinite Goodness, who art worthy to be loved above all things. I most firmly resolve, by the assistance of thy grace, never more to offend thee for the time to come, and to avoid those occasions which might lead me into sin.

You may then add the Acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, to the recitation of which Pope Benedict XIV has granted an indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines for each time.

Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe whatsoever the holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church requires me to believe: I believe it, because thou hast revealed it to her, thou who art the very Truth.

Act of Hope

O my God, knowing thy almighty power, and thy infinite goodness and mercy, I hope in thee that, by the merits of the Passion and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ, thou wilt grant me eternal life, which thou hast promised to all such as shall do the works of a good Christian; and these I resolve to do, with the help of thy grace.

Act of Charity

O my God, I love thee with my whole heart and above all things, because thou art the sovereign Good: I would rather lose all things than offend thee. For thy love also, I love and desire to love my neighbour as myself.

Then say to our Blessed Lady, in honour of the ineffable dignity of her Maternity, the following Anthem:

Alma Redemptoris mater, quæ pervia cœli
Porta manes, et stella maris, succurre cadenti
Surgere qui curat populo: tu quæ genuisti,
Natura mirante, tuum sanctum Genitorem,
Virgo prius ac posterius, Gabrielis ab ore
Sumens illud Ave, peccatorum miserere.

℣. Post partum, Virgo, inviolata permansisti.
℟. Dei Genitrix, intercede pro nobis.

Oremus

Deus, qui salutis æternæ, beatæ Mariæ virginitate fecunda, humano generi præmia præstitisti: tribue, quæsumus, ut ipsam pro nobis intercedere sentiamus, per quam meruimus auctorem vitæ suscipere, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum. Amen.

Sweet Mother of our Redeemer,
Gate whereby we enter heaven, and Star of the sea!
help us, we fall; yet do we long to rise.
Nature looked upon thee with admiration, when thou didst give birth to thy divine Creator,
thyself remaining, before and after it, a pure Virgin.
Gabriel spoke his Hail to thee; we sinners crave thy pity.

℣. After childbirth thou didst remain most pure, O Virgin!
℟. O Mother of God, make intercession for us.

Let us pray

O God, who by the fruitful Virginity of Blessed Mary hast given to mankind the rewards of eternal salvation; grant, we beseech thee, that we may experience her intercession, by whom we received the Author of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son. Amen.

---

You would do well to add the Litany of our Lady. An indulgence of three hundred days for each time it is recited has been granted by the Church.

The Litany of the Blessed Virgin

Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, eleison.
Kyrie, eleison.
Christe, audi nos.
Christe, exaudi nos.
Pater de cœlis, Deus, miserere nobis.
Fili, Redemptor mundi, Deus, miserere nobis
Spiritus Sancte, Deus, miserere nobis.
Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis.
Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
Sancta Dei Genitrix, ora, etc.
Sancta Virgo virginum,
Mater Christi,
Mater divinæ gratiæ,
Mater purissima,
Mater castissima,
Mater inviolata,
Mater intemerata,
Mater amabilis,
Mater admirabilis,
Mater boni consilii,
Mater Creatoris,
Mater Salvatoris,
Virgo prudentissima,
Virgo veneranda,
Virgo prædicanda,
Virgo potens,
Virgo demens,
Virgo fidelis,
Speculum justitiæ.
Sedes sapientiæ,
Causa nostræ lætitiæ,
Vas spirituale,
Vas honorabile,
Vas insigne devotionis,
Rosa mystica,
Turris Davidica,
Turris eburnea,
Domus aurea,
Fœderis arca,
Janua cœli,
Stella matutina,
Salus infirmorum,
Refugium peccatorum,
Consolatrix afflictorum,
Auxilium Christianorum,
Regina Angelorum,
Regina Patriarcharum,
Regina Prophetarum,
Regina Apostolorum,
Regina Martyrum,
Regina Confessorum,
Regina Virginum,
Regina Sanctorum omnium,
Regina sine labe originali concepta,
Regina Sacratissimi Rosarii,
Regina pacis,
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, parce nobis, Domine.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, exaudi nos, Domine.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Christe, audi nos.
Christe, exaudi nos.

℣. Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genitrix.
℟. Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.

Oremus

Concede nos famulos tuos, quæsumus, Domine Deus, perpetua mentis et corporis sanitate gaudere: et gloriosa beatæ Mariæ semper Virginis intercessione, a præsenti liberari tristitia, et æterna perfrui lætitia. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, pray for us.
Holy Mother of God, pray, etc.
Holy Virgin of virgins,
Mother of Christ,
Mother of divine grace,
Mother most pure,
Mother most chaste,
Mother inviolate,
Mother undefiled,
Mother most amiable,
Mother most admirable,
Mother of good counsel,
Mother of our Creator,
Mother of our Redeemer,
Virgin most prudent,
Virgin most venerable,
Virgin most renowned,
Virgin most powerful,
Virgin most merciful,
Virgin most faithful,
Mirror of justice,
Seat of wisdom,
Cause of our joy,
Spiritual vessel,
Vessel of honour,
Singular vessel of devotion,
Mystical Rose,
Tower of David,
Tower of ivory.
House of gold,
Ark of the covenant,
Gate of heaven,
Morning Star,
Health of the weak,
Refuge of sinners,
Comforter of the afflicted,
Help of Christians,
Queen of Angels,
Queen of Patriarchs,
Queen of Prophets,
Queen of Apostles,
Queen of Martyrs,
Queen of Confessors,
Queen of Virgins,
Queen of all Saints,
Queen conceived without original sin,
Queen of the Most Holy Rosary,
Queen of peace.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
O Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.

℣. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
℟. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray

Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that we thy servants may enjoy constant health of body and mind, and by the glorious intercession of Blessed Mary, ever a Virgin, be delivered from all present affliction, and come to that joy which is eternal. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

Here invoke the Holy Angels, whose protection is, indeed, always so much needed by us, but never so much as during the hours of night. Say with the Church:

Sancti Angeli, custodes nostri, defendite nos in prælio, ut non pereamus in tremendo judicio.
℣. Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te.
℟. Ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.

Oremus

Deus, qui ineffabili provi· dentia sanctos Angelos tuos ad nostram custodiam mittere dignaris: largire supplicibus tuis, et eorum semper protectione defendi, et æterna societate gaudere. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Holy Angels, our loving Guardians, defend us in the hour of battle, that we may not be lost at the dreadful judgement.
℣. God hath given his Angels charge of thee.
℟. That they may guard thee in all thy ways.

Let us pray

O God, who in thy wonderful providence hast been pleased to appoint thy holy Angels for our guardians; mercifully hear our prayers, and grant we may rest secure under their protection, and enjoy their fellowship in heaven for ever. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

Then beg the assistance of the Saints by the following Antiphon and prayer of the Church:

Ant. Sancti Dei omnes, intercedere dignemini pro nostra omniumque salute.
℣. Lætamini in Domino et exsultate, justi.
℟. Et gloriamini omnes recti corde.

Oremus

Protege, Domine, populum tuum, et Apostolorum tuorum Petri et Pauli et aliorum Apostolorum patrocinio confidentem, perpetua defensione conserva.

Omnes Sancti tui, quææsumus, Domine, nos ubique adjuvent: ut dum eorum merita recolimus, patrocinia sentiamus: et pacem tuam nostris concede temporibus, et ab Ecclesia tua cunctam repelle nequitiam: iter, actus, et voluntates nostras, et omnium famulorum tuorum, in salutis tuæ prosperitate dispone: benefactoribus nostris sempiterna bona retribue: et omnibus fidelibus defunctis requiem æternam concede. Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

Ant. All ye Saints of God, vouchsafe to intercede for us and for all men, that we may be saved.
℣. Rejoice in the Lord, ye just, and be glad.
℟. And glory, all ye right of heart.

Let us pray

Protect, O Lord, thy people; and because we have confidence in the intercession of blessed Peter and Paul and thy other Apostles, ever defend and preserve us.

May all thy Saints ever help us, we beseech thee, O Lord! and grant that, whilst we honour their merits, we may experience their intercession. Grant thy holy peace unto these our days, and drive all iniquity from thy Church. Direct and prosper unto salvation every step and action and desire of us and of all thy servants. Repay our benefactors with everlasting blessings; and grant eternal rest to all the faithful departed. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

---

And here you may add a special mention of the Saints to whom you bear a particular devotion, either as your patrons or otherwise; as also of those whose feast is kept in the Church that day, or at least who have been commemorated in the Divine Office.

This done, remember the necessities of the Church Suffering, and beg of God that he will give to the souls in Purgatory a place of refreshment, light, and peace. For this intention recite the usual prayers.

Psalm 129

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine, exaudi vocem meam.
Fiant aures tuæ intendentes: in vocem deprecationis meæ.
Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine: Domine, quis sustinebit?
Quia apud te propitiatio est: et propter legem tuam sustinui te, Domine.
Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus: speravit anima mea in Domino.
A custodia matutina usque ad noctem: speret Israel in Domino.
Quia apud Dominum misericordia: et copiosa apud eum redemptio.
Et ipse redimet Israel; ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat eis.
℣. A porta inferi.
℟. Erue, Domine, animas eorum.
℣. Requiescant in pace.
℟. Amen.
℣. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
℟. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Oremus

Fidelium Deus omnium Conditor et Redemptor, animabus famulorum famularumque tuarum remissionem cunctorum tribue peccatorum: ut indulgentiam, quam semper optaverunt, piis supplicationibus consequantur. Qui vivis et regnas in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

From the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice.
Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication.
If thou wilt observe iniquities, O Lord, Lord, who shall endure it?
For with thee there is merciful forgiveness; and by reason of thy law I have waited for thee, O Lord.
My soul hath relied on his word; my soul hath hoped in the Lord.
From the morning watch even until night, let Israel hope in the Lord.
Because with the Lord there is mercy, and with him plentiful redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
Eternal rest give to them, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
℣. From the gate of hell.
℟. Deliver their souls, O Lord.
℣. May they rest in peace.
℟. Amen.
℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.
℟. And let my cry come unto thee.

Let us pray

O God, the Creator and Redeemer of all the faithful, give to the souls of thy servants departed the remission of all their sins: that through the help of pious supplications, they may obtain the pardon they have always desired. Who livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen.

---

Here make a special memento of such of the Faithful departed as have a particular claim upon your charity; after which, ask of God to give you his assistance, whereby you may pass the night free from danger. Say then, still keeping to the words of the Church:

Ant. Salva nos, Domine, vigilantes, custodi nos dormientes: ut vigilemus cum Christo, et requiescamus in pace.
℣. Dignare, Domine, nocte ista.
℟. Sine peccato nos custodire.
℣. Miserere nostri, Domine.
℟. Miserere nostri.
℣. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos.
℟. Quemadmodum speravimus in te.
℣. Domine, exaudi orationem meam.
℟. Et clamor meus ad te veniat.

Oremus

Visita, quæsumus, Domine, habitationem istam, et omnes insidias inimici ab ea longe repelle: Angeli tui sancti habitent in ea, qui nos in pace custodiant, et benedictio tua sit super nos semper. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

Ant. Save us, O Lord, whilst awake, and watch us as we sleep; that we may watch with Christ, and rest in peace.
℣. Vouchsafe, O Lord, this night,
℟. To keep us without sin.
℣. Have mercy on us, O Lord.
℟. Have mercy on us.
℣. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us.
℟. As we have hoped in thee.
℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.
℟. And let my cry come unto thee.
LET US PRAY
Visit, we beseech thee, O Lord, this house and family, and drive from it all snares of the enemy: let thy holy Angels dwell herein, who may keep us in peace, and may thy blessing be always upon us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

---

And that you may end the day in the same sentiments wherewith you began it, devoutly pay your homage to the divine Mystery of the Incarnation by reciting the following prayer:

℣. Notum fecit Dominus, alleluia!
℟. Salutare suum, alleluia!

Oremus

Deus, qui sacratissimam noctem veri luminis fecisti illustratione clarescere; da, quæsumus, ut cujus lucis mysteria in terra cognovimus, ejus quoque gaudiis in cœlo perfruamur. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.

℣. The Lord hath made known, alleluia!
℟. His salvation, alleluia!

Let us pray

O God! who hast enlightened the most sacred of Nights by the brightness of him who is the true Light; grant, we beseech thee, that we who have known the mysteries of this Light on earth, may likewise come to the enjoyment of it in heaven. Who liveth and reigneth with thee for ever. Amen.

---

 

 

 

[1] St Luke i 19, 51.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Dom Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

DURING Advent, Holy Communion prepared the soul for the visible Coming of her heavenly Spouse. He graciously granted her that sublime favour, as a foretaste of that happy Night in which he would show himself to her as the Divine Babe, whose ineffable loveliness would ravish Angels, Shepherds, and Kings. She enjoyed something of that exquisite delight which Mary felt, when she had within her chaste womb the God who was her Child, though as yet concealed from her sight.

But now that Christmas is come; now that a little Child is born unto us, cradled in the House of Bread, which is Bethlehem; now that the Angels have invited the Shepherds, and the Star the Magi, to come and see Him and adore Him; the Holy Communion must take us on further in the knowledge of our Incarnate Word, illumine us with brighter Light, and produce within us a more ardent longing to possess this Jesus, whose love and loveliness gleam so magnificently through the humility of these swathing-bands and manger.

It is no longer the invisible Jesus, preparing, by silence and stillness, for the laborious mission of his conquest of souls: it is the Deliverer of mankind who has begun to run the way;[1] it is the Sun of Justice darting his first rays on our earth; it is cur God, asking us to give him, a weak Babe, room in our hearts; it is our Creator, who loveth souls,[2] striving to win our love.

Then let us go to him, that we may know him; let us know him, that we may love him; let us love him, that we may grow like him. What he demands of us by this Christmas mystery is that we become, like him, little children, for there is now no other means of our possessing him, no other way of going to the Father. Therefore come to him, ye faithful ones, and be enlightened![3] We have ventured to draw up these Acts, thinking that they might assist you in your preparation for the visit you are going to make to the Babe of Bethlehem. May you derive profit from them, and pray for him who gives you them.

BEFORE COMMUNION

Act of Faith

Thou art about to descend into my breast, O eternal God! and yet there is nothing to betoken the approach of thy sovereign Majesty! As on the sacred night of thy birth, thy entrance into Bethlehem was in humility and in silence; so also now, there is nothing to tell men that thou art about to visit me. A Little Child, veiled under the appearance of an humble host, is coming to me, and in a few moments I shall hold within me him who created all things, the Judge of the living and the dead! Oh! how I love to bow down my reason before this wonderful Mystery! How I love, too, to contemplate these incomprehensible abasements of my God, to which he has humbled himself in order that he might exalt me! No, Reason could never have taught me all this! How could Reason tell me what the infinite love of God for his creatures can do, when she cannot even make me see my own nothingness and sinfulness, into which, thou, dear Jesus, art now coming? O Infant God! I believe in thy love, and thy love is omnipotent. I come to thee with a simple Faith, as the Shepherds went to Bethlehem when the Angel spoke these words to them: There is horn unto you in the City of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord: and this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the Infant wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and laid in a crib:[4] they went without delay, and found thee, and believed. I would do in like manner, O my Saviour! The sacramental veils which cover thee are to me what thy infancy, thy swathing-bands, thy crib were to them: and I believe thee to be here really present. Accept this homage of my firm Faith, and receive me as one of those humble Shepherds, whose simple-heartedness merited for them the first place at the feast of Bethlehem.

Act of Humility

But, sweet Saviour! these Shepherds of Bethlehem had another offering besides the simplicity of their Faith, which made them pleasing to thee: it was the humility of their hearts. Thou lovest the humble, O my God! and therefore thou didst prefer these humble men to all the rest of mankind, giving them the grand honour of being the first Worshippers at thy Crib. The humility of Mary drew thee from heaven into her chaste womb; and the humility of these fortunate herdsmen made thee call them to be the first to form, with Mary, Joseph and the Angels, thy court in this humble Stable, which thy adorable presence has converted into a very paradise. In this thou givest an important lesson to me, who am to be favoured as they were, nay, who am about to receive thee within myself. Spare me not, my beloved Jesus; bring down the haughtiness of my spirit; destroy the conceited ambitions of my heart; cast me down at the foot of thy Crib, and suffer me not to rise again until I have become one of those little Children whom thou so lovest, that thou thyself wouldst be one; so the better to come down even so low as to me. It is as a weak Babe that thou comest to me, O infinite God! What can I do, but be confounded, and sink into my deep nothingness, I who have never known the humility and simplicity of a child! In thy divine humility thou wouldst not be born in any other place than a Stable and a Crib; my heart, then, will satisfy thee, dear Jesus! and Bethlehem itself, compared with me, had not a poverty so worthy of that Majesty which loves to descend to what is lowest, and of that Light which glories in shining where the darkness is thickest.

Act of Contrition

And yet, O God of holiness! the Stable and the Crib, though most unworthy of thy Majesty, had nothing in them which could give thee displeasure. No place, no object in thy whole creation, could be worthy to serve thee as throne or palace; but since thou wouldst have a birth-place on this earth, the happy spot on which thy choice would fall would become, however contemptible in itself, a sanctuary worthy of thee, because thy greatness and divinity would consecrate and enrich it. There is but one place unworthy of thee, which thou couldst never choose: the heart of a sinner. Oh! that is the Stable, that is the Crib which would indeed dishonour thee. Ah! my dear Jesus! there are certain consequences, there are certain wounds scarce yet closed, left in me by past sins, which force me to remember that I was once a dwelling wherein thou couldst not enter, until thy merciful grace had removed from me the abominations of my sins. Miserable state! how I now grieve over it and detest it! Now that I see thee become, for my sake, the humble and lovely babe of Bethlehem, how hateful those sins of mine, which needed such a remedy! and how immense that love of thine, which could deign to give it me! There surely can be no more sin, dearest Lord! Give me thy grace to destroy it within me, and root it up to its last fibre. I do not forget those words of thine: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God,[5] this is the moment for me to come near thy Crib, and do far more than see thee; cleanse, then, my heart, and let neither sin nor attachment to sin ever enter there again.

Act of Love

Such is the prayer of my contrite heart: wilt thou, my Infant God, reject it? The Church, my mother, has led me to Bethlehem; there I see thee in thy Crib leaning forward towards me, and looking on me with sweetness, and bidding me rejoice, for that thou hast pardoned me, O God of infinite mercy! and forgotten my sins. A contrite heart which sues for mercy is not all thou askest of me, nor all that I wish to offer thee: accept, then, my love. Is not this mystery of thy divine Childhood a mystery of Love? Thou comest to me because thou lovest me; but thou comest to me as a little Infant, because thou wishest me to love thee in return, and have confidence in thee. I do indeed desire to love thee, sweet Saviour! but where shall I find a love worthy of being a return for thine, which is so generous, so immense, and what I can least understand, so tender? for it is the love of an Infant God, who treats me, a sinner, as a much-loved Brother. Yet I must say it, my sweetest Jesus! for thy Crib and thy Swathing-bands, the magnificent trophies of thy unmatched love, encourage me to say it: I love thee! I come to thee that I may love thee better. I no longer wish to flee from thee: thou desirest to be united to me by love, nor will I cease to sigh after thee, until I have received thee into my heart, and am made one with thee, according to thy word: He that eateth my Flesh abideth in me, and I in him.[6] O my Jesus! inflame my heart and make it like that of the Shepherds, when they came near to the Stable where thou wast born; like that of the Magi, when the Star stood over Bethlehem, the House of Bread, and showed them that their journeying was at an end; like that of the venerable Simeon, when he saw the Christ of the Lord in Mary's arms, and all the promises fulfilled which he had received from the Holy Ghost. I offer thee the love of these and all thy Saints, of thy Holy Angels, and of thy Blessed Mother herself: let it supply the poverty of my own love, and deign, I beseech thee, to enrich me, by this thy visit, with the gold of divine charity.

Act of Desire

I love thee, O Divine Babe! therefore do I desire thee, and beseech thee to come to me. I must needs desire thee, for thou art, as thy Scripture tells me, The Desire of the everlasting hills.[7] And art thou not Light and Life? Oh! come then, Divine Sun of Justice, enlighten my darkness, and give life to my soul, which faints without thee. The nations of the earth awaited thee as their Deliverer. The Church, thy Spouse, languished with longings for thy visit. Abraham and all the Patriarchs desired to see thy day. Joseph, the Spouse of Mary, is filled with joy at the approach of that blissful hour when his eyes shall see the Son of the Eternal God. The Shepherds are impatient to behold thee: let us go over to Bethlehem, they say, and let us see this Word which is come to pass, which the Lord hath showed to us. The Magi no sooner see the Star, than they set out to seek thee, the Star of Jacob.[8] The aged Simeon is filled with the Holy Ghost, and hastens to the Temple to see the Saviour whom the Lord hath prepared. Anna, the Prophetess, is impelled by a holy enthusiasm, though weighed down with years, to come and see him who is the Consolation of Israel. All creation is excited: the very Angels leave heaven to come to see thee in thy Crib and thy Swaddling-clothes, and seeing thee to adore. Shall I alone be indifferent? Let it not be, my dearest Lord! but rather let my heart long for thee, if not with a like ardour, at least with all its affection. I beseech thee therefore, come into my soul! I offer thee all the prayers and inflamed desires of all thy Saints; and with theirs my own, poor and weak as they are. Yea, come to me; enter into my house; let my heart meet thee; nay, let it be united with thee.

O Mary! Virgin-Mother of the Messias! help me by thy prayers to love him as thou didst, that is, with my whole strength: and lead me to Bethlehem, of which thou art Queen. Ye holy Angels! suffer me to stand, in your glorious choir near the Crib of our God; fit me by your heavenly influence to share in your adorations, and under the shadow of your sacred wings to hide the tatters of my spiritual poverty. All ye Saints of God! by the delights ye found in the mystery of Bethlehem, help me and be near me, now that the great God, who filled you with light and love, is about to come into the poor dark dwelling of my heart! Amen.

In order to make your Preparation complete, follow, with a lively faith and attention, all the mysteries of the Mass at which you are to receive Communion; using for this purpose the method we have given in the preceding chapter. For your Thanksgiving after Communion, you may sometimes recite the following Acts:

AFTER COMMUNION

Act of Adoration

Thou hast, then, come down even unto me, O my Sovereign Lord! and art reposing in my heart, as in a Crib, which thou hast vouchsafed to choose for thyself, O Infant God! My heart is now become like a new Bethlehem, O Bread of Angels! I most devoutly adore thee, thee the great God thus humbling thyself to such an abyss of lowliness. To the hymn of the Angels, Glory be to God in the highest, I must needs add, Glory be to thee, my God, in this depth of my misery and weakness, whither thou hast so mercifully come! Oh! who will teach me, my sweetest Infant Guest! who will teach me how to give thee a worthy welcome of homage? Mary, thy most pure and Blessed Mother, having given thee birth, and placed thee in the Crib, prostrated herself before thee as thy humble handmaid, and adored thee. Never had this guilty earth witnessed a homage so sublime as this: and thou didst deign to accept it, as the noblest thou hadst ever received. Permit me to imitate this thy beloved Mother, and adore thee as she did, O thou my Sovereign Lord! I humbly beseech thee to accept her homage to supply for the unworthiness of mine; for she is my Mother, and thou hast willed that ail her riches and merits should belong to her children. I offer thee, likewise, the adorations of that Just Man, the chaste Spouse of Mary, the admirable Joseph, who had been admitted into the divine secret of Nazareth, and is now made a witness of the touching mystery of Bethlehem. Oh! that I might share in the devoted respect and love of this glorious Saint, so grand because so simple, and so favoured above all mortals in that he was chosen to protect thy Infancy! I also adore thee in company with the Angels, the Shepherds and the Magi; with Simeon and Anna, and all the Church of heaven and earth, which contemplates in glad amazement the sublime miracle of this abasement of thy divine Majesty.

Act of Thanksgiving

But it is not enough, O Divine Babe! that I adore thee; I must thank thee. What an honour is this thou has conferred upon me! What happiness this thou hast brought me! I, a sinner, am become by thy sweet condescension a living Bethlehem, possessing in itself Thee, the Bread of Life. Thy sovereign Majesty has come down even to me, and has chosen my heart for thy throne, or rather for thy Crib. The holy Angels adore thee and praise thee; but thou art granting to me an intimacy which these Blessed Spirits have not—thou art reposing on my heart. The Shepherds are admitted into the Stable to look at thee; they gaze upon thee with simple and loving admiration; but thou dost not permit them to caress thee. The Magi offer thee their royal gifts; but, as the prophecy said of them,[9] they kiss but the ground whereon thy Crib is placed. Happy, then, the aged Simeon, who is permitted to take thee into his arms; but oh! how happier I! who have received into myself, and now hold within me, thee, my Jesus, the Bread of Life! Blessed be thou for ever, O my God! for that thou hast treated with such incomprehensible familiarity this the poorest of all thy servants! I thank thee, and glorify thee, as did the Shepherds, who went so eagerly to Bethlehem, and returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; and with such glowing words did they praise thee, that all that heard, wondered at those things that were told them by the Shepherds.[10] So too will I open my lips, and borrowing the words of a Son of Bethlehem, David thy ancestor, I will say: All ye that fear God, come and hear, and I will tell you what great things he hath done to my soul.[11]

Act of Love

Yea, in very truth thou hast loved me, O my divine Guest! for thou hast laden me with the gifts of thy love. How shall I not return thee love for love, and love thee with all this heart of mine, wherein thou dwellest? Be thou loved, then, my infinitely lovable Jesus of Bethlehem! It was to win our love that thou didst lay aside all thy greatness, and, as thy Apostle expresses it,[12] empty thyself of all thy majesty, assuming the form of a servant, nay, of a weak Babe. Verily, to approach thee now with fear and trembling seems out of season, and such loveliness as this should not be approached, but with confident tenderest love. O thou that art to be my dread Judge! thou art now here, resting on my heart; thou art, thou wishest to be, in my power; and according to thine own saying, thou art mine, and I am thine. Jesus! most lovable Jesus! remain with me for ever. Here take up thy abode; here grow before God and men; here reign as my Lord and King and God. To supply for the deficiency of my own love, I offer thee the love wherewith Mary, thy most holy Mother, pressed thee to her sacred Heart, during these the first days of thy life on earth; the love wherewith Joseph, the chaste Spouse of Mary, and thy foster-father, so diligently procured thee all thou didst need; the love wherewith the Shepherds of Bethlehem gazed on thee, the Saviour that was born for them, and knew thee by this sign, that thou wast an Infant—lying—swathed—in a manger;[13] the love wherewith the adoring Magi opened their treasures before thee, and forgot all the fatigues of a long journey, entranced with the sight of thee; the love wherewith the venerable Simeon took thee up in his arms, and felt that he must needs die, now that he had seen Jesus; the love, in fine, of the Holy Angels, who, as thy Apostle tells us,[14] adored thee when born in Bethlehem, and found their heaven in looking on that immortal beauty, made visible, in thy Infant Face, even to the eyes of sinful men. Accept, O my divine Treasure! my sweetest Jesus, accept my love, as thou didst all these, and abide in me for ever.

Act of Oblation

But it is not enough that I love thee, O Divine Infant: thou commandest me to give myself to thee. I was far off, and yet thou camest to me, that thou mightest make me thine own possession; and that I might never more leave thee, thou hast taken up thy dwelling within my heart, making it thy Bethlehem, O Bread of Life! Thou wishest that I should become a little child, after thine example; that I should leave, here at thy Crib, all my pride and disobedience; that my worldly wisdom should yield, at the sight of thy Crib, to the spirit of Faith; that the false light which has hitherto been my guide, should be dispelled by the brightness which comes from the mystery of thy Divine Body swathed in the bands of infancy. O Jesus! thou King of Infants, as one of the Fathers has called thee, I give myself to thee, that thou mayest teach me to become a little child. Accept the promise I make thee, of perfect docility to all thy teachings; grant that it may be constant and always prompted by love. I detest everything in my past life which has been, either in thought or affection, contrary to thy spirit. Henceforth I will be all thine, for thou hast drawn me, by these sacred Mysteries, into holy nearness to thyself. I will imitate the Magi, who, having adored thee, went back another way into their country. May this holy infancy which I have begun after thine example be to me the beginning of a new life, with nothing of my old one in it. Simeon having received thee into his arms, wished to live no more for this earth; and shall I be satisfied with it, I who possess thee here within me? No—henceforth, my life is to be the service of thee, that so I may deserve to be united with thee for ever in heaven.

Mary, Mother of my Jesus! pray for me, that this gracious visit of thy divine Son may produce in me abundant fruits of virtue. Ye Holy Angels of God! who adore him now dwelling within me, be solicitous for the holiness and purity of my soul and body. All ye saints of God! pray for me, that I may ever be faithful to him whom ye loved on earth, and now love eternally in heaven. Amen

 

 

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[1] Ps. xviii 6.
[2] Wisd. xi 27.
[3] Ps. xxxiii 6.
[4] St Luke ii 11, 12.
[5] St Matt. v 8.
[6] St John vi 57.
[7] Gen. xlix 26.
[8] Num. xxiv 17.
[9] Ps. lxxi.
[10] St Luke ii 16, 18, 20.
[11] Ps. lxv 16.
[12] Phil, ii 7.
[13] St Luke ii 11, 12.
[14] Heb. i 6.