A CHRISTMAS NOVENA
VII . Prayer and Dedication1. Let us kneel once more before the crib. Like other newborn infants, Jesus is sometimes asleep and sometimes awake, sometimes crying and sometimes smiling. Often His tiny eyes silently watch Mary and Joseph. Surely this seems a useless existence for Almighty God? But we know that it is not purposeless. This is the first great lesson which God wishes to give to the proud and corrupt human race. It is the lesson of humility, prayer and total dedication to God.
To outward appearances Jesus is behaving like any other baby. Internally, however, His soul is hypostatically united to the Eternal Word and dwells in the presence of the heavenly Father, Whom He loves with a burning and infinite love. Heart and soul, He offers Himself as a holocaust on behalf of sinful humanity and implores His heavenly Father to enlighten minds darkened by error, to strengthen weak human wills, and to make all men holy. It may well be said that already, in the silence and obscurity of the cradle, Jesus has begun to redeem the world, for every one of His human-divine actions has an infinite value. Whether He is awake or asleep, crying or smiling, He offers Himself silently to His Eternal Father as a holocaust of propitiation for our sins.
Let us adore the Divine Infant, therefore, and thank Him for the priceless gift of our Redemption, which is already accomplished in the silence and obscurity of the manger. Let us implore the grace to love Him and to imitate Him more closely.
2. Men are normally judged by their actions and by the degree of external success which they have achieved. God, however, judges them by their intentions and by their internal dispositions. It is futile, and may even be dangerous, to accomplish great things and to attract the attention and applause of men unless we have first of all learned the lesson which the Infant Jesus teaches us in the manger. In other words, we must be humble and must seek God rather than ourselves in all our thoughts, desires, and actions. If our actions are to be genuinely pleasing to God, however, they must originate in an interior life of dedication to God and of complete harmony with His will. If this is lacking, everything is lacking. Without this interior life of grace and love we are “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal,” (Cor. 13:1) and our actions are valueless in the sight of God.
3. As we kneel before the Infant Jesus, let us beseech Him to enable us to grasp the truth of these reflections. Let us take more care of our soul than we do of our external talents and possessions. May God occupy the foremost place in our minds and may He be the principal object of our thoughts, desires, and affections. Let us imitate the humble recollection and ardent love for God of the Holy Infant. Like Him, let us offer ourselves entirely to God. Let us ask Him to make us like Him in complete acceptance of the divine will, especially when we are in trouble or in pain, for in this way we shall be able to show God how sincerely we love Him.
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