Sixth Day. the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ
And when the fulness of time was come, “God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son,” Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. The Emperor Augustus ordered that a great census should be taken in all the provinces of his empire, each family being enrolled in the city of its respective tribe. Thus, in obedience to the order, Mary came to the city of David, and in all its length and breadth there was not room for her to lay her weary head. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Gold would doubtless have procured admission to an appropriate shelter, but Joseph had no gold. The evening wind fell cold and piercing on the young virgin, who breathed not a word of complaint though she was scarcely able to support herself. The lonely travellers, seeing themselves rejected by all the world, quitted Bethlehem, and in a poor ruined stable Mary brought forth her first-born Son, the promised Messias, and laid Him in a manger. Great artists have striven to paint the rapture of Mary as she laid her Jesus, her Son, her God, in the manger. Who can understand what it was to see Him, to adore Him as her God, to caress Him as her Child, to forget all her fatigue in her wonderful joy? We can adore Him and watch the movements of our beloved Mother, a model and example of resignation on this night of poverty and humiliation. Glory and praise to thee, O holy Mother, in this thy poverty in Bethlehem! Many a poor mother in sorrow and want will look to thee and find consolation, knowing thy tender heart will sympathize with her. For what are we that we should be better treated than the Mother of Our God?
Prayer.
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of God, receive my prayer. Help me in all my necessities, intercede for me, O glorious one, with my Redeemer, even with Him, thy divine Son, Whom thou didst bear without spot of sin. Deliver me from every snare of the enemy, and from all carnal delights, that by thy intercession I may obtain the pardon of all my sins, steadfast resistance to all my enemies visible and invisible, and the amendment of my life. Amen.