December 23
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bears shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall play over the hold of the asp,and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:6-9
Knowing that God supplies all our necessities, and that one of our necessities is that we surrender to Him, we should not be surprised that He comes to us as an Infant: for surrender to an infant, any infant, is easy. Surely never did God receive more fully what is due to Him from man than when He was an infant. Every infant demands and receives the most complete self-giving that we are capable of. The perfection of surrender to God is Mary with the Infant Christ. Caryll Houselander
HYMN
O come, O come Emmanuel,
and ransom captive Israel,
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel.
MAGNIFICAT
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children forever.
PRAYER
How perfect your condescension, Child of Heaven;
To come as helpless Love nestled in crude crib’s straw!
How, then, resent God’s choice to clothe us in fragile flesh?
Teach us, Little Lord, how to live in the mystery of our mortality.
May your coming in humility chastise our proud hearts
and thus prepare them for for your coming in glory.
Mystical Rose, pray for us.
