APPLICATION. We, the devout children of a Holy Mother, should see from these things how earnestly the Church exhorts us to prepare ourselves for this great festival. She not merely counsels us, she as it were obliges us to do so; but it is surely an obligation full of sweetness to celebrate as fervently as possible the birth of Him who is at once our Redeemer and our Father. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Graces attached to the Festival of CONSIDERATION. Our Lord, who is ever ready to dispense graces and favours to all that ask them, is, we may believe, specially disposed to grant our requests on the joyful day upon which for the love of us He entered this vale of tears, the consoler of our exile, and our exceeding great reward. APPLICATION. We may therefore confidently hope to obtain at this holy season all the graces that we most require, either in effectually overcoming our habitual defects, or in advancing to that degree of perfection to which God has called us, but on the sole condition that we prepare ourselves to receive them. Let us see what special favour we desire from the Holy Child, and decide upon the particular practices of this Novena. COLLOQUY. DECEMBER 17. DISPOSITIONS REQUISITE FOR THE SUCCESS OF THIS NOVENA. 1st Prel. Imagine you hear these words of Moses, 'Do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.' 2d Prel. Ask earnestly for the light and strength you need in making this Novena. received His loving forgiveness? And He has returned you good for evil. Have you not cause to blush at your severity towards your brethren, or towards sinners who do not amend as quickly as you desire? Ask pardon, and promise for the future to endeavour to imitate the long-suffering and patience of God. COLLOQUY. DECEMBER 15. THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES: CONTINUATION AND END. 1st Prel. Recall the words of the Psalmist, 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and of His greatness there is no end.' 2d Prel. As in the former Meditation. POINT I. The Greatness of God in His Works. CONSIDERATION. Greatness commands respect, and respect is a part of the homage we owe to God. As it comprehends in itself the rest of the Divine attributes, the Holy Scriptures are filled with the idea of the infinite greatness of God. 'Of His greatness there is no end,' writes King David. To form some idea of His greatness, let us remember that this world of ours is only one of a vast system of planets, and yet is 27,000 miles in circumference, and would take two years and a half to be completely traversed at the rate of thirty miles a day. The sun, being nearly three millions of miles in circumference, could not be traversed at the same rate of speed in less than 274 years; yet this sun, so immeasurably greater than our universe, is supposed to be infinitely inferior to certain of the fixed stars. And all this greatness, as compared to that of God, is as a grain of sand to a mountain! APPLICATION. Let us bear such thoughts in mind at prayer, in our visits to the Blessed Sacrament, and at Communion also; when tempted to offend God, or to excite sorrow for having offended Him, they will prove very useful. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. The Greatness and Immensity of God. CONSIDERATION. To form some idea of the greatness and immensity of God, we may again call the sun to mind, and reflect that it is distant from us at least 95,000,000 of miles. Imagine, if you can, so vast a space; but there are planets twenty times further removed from us than the sun; even their distance is nothing in comparison to that of the fixed stars. The light of some of these fixed stars, astronomers are of opinion, has not yet reached us, though it has been travelling towards us at the rate of 12,000,000 of miles a minute since the creation of the world. And each of these stars is the centre of a planetary system vastly greater than our own. But what are the millions of worlds, that surpass calculation or even conception, compared to God? The wise man answers, 'As the least grain of the balance, and as a drop of the morning dew that falleth upon the earth.' APPLICATION. It is this great God who deigned to become man-who became an infant for our sake in the stable of Bethlehem. Oh, incomprehensible mystery of self-abasement! We are on the point of commencing the Novena that precedes the feast of Christmas; let us endeavour to do so worthily, and to derive from it due fruit. COLLOQUY with the Lord our God. DECEMBER 16. NOVENA OF CHRISTMAS: REASONS FOR MAKING IT WELL 1st Prel. Ponder the words of Isaias the Prophet, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.' 2d Prel. Ask that you may have a due appreciation of the reasons for making this Novena with suitable dispositions. POINT I. Characteristics of this Festival: our first CONSIDERATION. The Feast of Christmas is at once the first and last of the Ecclesiastical Festivals; it is the last in the order of time, coming as it does at the close of the year; but it is the first in the order of our Lord's life, and as such we may not doubt it was celebrated each returning year by Him and by His Blessed Mother. APPLICATION. Are not these sufficient reasons for endeavouring to celebrate this Novena, not only with joy and eagerness, but with particular devotion? Should we not endeavour, besides, to make reparation for the lukewarmness with which we have too probably celebrated the previous festivals of the year? AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT II. The Example of the Church: our second Reason. CONSIDERATION. Remark in how many ways our Holy Mother the Church distinguishes the Festival of Christmas: 1st, She precedes it by the four weeks' preparation of Advent; 2nd, She permits Holy Mass to be celebrated at midnight; 3rd, She permits every priest to say three Masses in honour of the threefold birth of our Lord-His being born of His Father from all eternity, His temporal birth at Bethlehem, and His spiritual birth in the hearts of the Faithful; 4th, She dispenses from abstinence whenever Christmas-day falls on a Friday. APPLICATION. We, the devout children of a Holy Mother, should see from these things how earnestly the Church exhorts us to prepare ourselves for this great festival. She not merely counsels us, she as it were obliges us to do so; but it is surely an obligation full of sweetness to celebrate as fervently as possible the birth of Him who is at once our Redeemer and our Father. AFFECTIONS and RESOLUTIONS. POINT III. Graces attached to the Festival of CONSIDERATION. Our Lord, who is ever ready to dispense graces and favours to all that ask them, is, we may believe, specially disposed to grant our requests on the joyful day upon which for the love of us He entered this vale of tears, the consoler of our exile, and our exceeding great reward. APPLICATION. We may therefore confidently hope to obtain at this holy season all the graces that we most require, either in effectually overcoming our habitual defects, or in advancing to that degree of perfection to which God has called us, but on the sole condition that we prepare ourselves to receive them. Let us see what special favour we desire from the Holy Child, and decide upon the particular practices of this Novena. COLLOQUY. DECEMBER 17. DISPOSITIONS REQUISITE FOR THE SUCCESS OF THIS NOVENA. 1st Prel. Imagine you hear these words of Moses, 'Do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.' 2d Prel. Ask earnestly for the light and strength you need in making this Novena. |