Second Day. Mary’s Nativity
The whole earth was filled with gladness at the birth of Mary, because of her was to be born Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and Redeemer, Who was to deliver us from the slavery of the devil. How heaven must have rejoiced at the birth of such a mother! A nation’s joy at the birth of an heir to the throne may give you some faint idea of the joy the angels experienced at Mary’s nativity. This is a day of jubilation for the entire world, for the just and the sinner, for time and eternity. Hell alone is afraid, for this is the woman destined to crush the serpent’s head. Her appearance was the blessed dawn, announcing the rising of the Sun of righteousness. Made holy at her conception, the object of God’s love at her birth, every step in Mary’s life was marked by new progress in virtue; no shadow of sin ever tarnished the beauty of her soul. Let us then praise our Mother and Queen, and implore her to take pity on us, whose lives are passed in a constant struggle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Let us beg her to aid us in these combats, and to bring us to our eternal home.
Prayer.
What relief do I feel in my miseries, and what consolation in my sorrow! what strength do I not find in the midst of temptations, when I remember thee, and call thee to my aid! O my most sweet and holy Mother Mary, my own Mother, do thou console me! I see myself loaded with sins and surrounded with enemies, without virtue, and cold in my love towards God. Comfort me, and let me begin a new life, a life which will be pleasing to thy divine Son and to thee. Amen.