December 2010

We will meditate today on the mortified life led by the Word Incarnate in the bosom of His mother, and we shall admire how, in this state, He mortified, first, His senses; second, His will; third, His liberty. We will then make the resolution: First, to mortify our senses, above all our eyes and our tongue, even in things permitted to us, in order to teach ourselves to mortify them in things which are forbidden; second, to live by rule and under obedience, without ever yielding to caprice. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of the Apostle: “Christ did not please Himself.” (Rom. 15:3)

Willing to be born in Judea, He might have been born in Jerusalem: He made choice of a despised little town. In this town He chose the most abject place, a stable; the most disagreeable season and weather, winter, and the middle of the night. Having thus entered into the world, He assumes the livery of poverty; He allows Himself to be circumcised, as a slave and a sinner; at the Presentation He allows Himself to be ransomed by the offering of the poor. When Herod persecutes Him, He chooses the most abject way of escaping, which was by flight. In the temple, in the midst of the doctors, He questions them like an ignorant person who needs to learn. In the house at Nazareth, He takes the last place, which is that of obeying Mary and Joseph. the lowest place.” (Luke 14:10).