Friday of the second week of Advent.
Of the Nativity of Mary Our Blessed Lady.
DAILY MEDITATIONS
OF THE MYSTERIES
OF OUR HOLY FAITH,
By the P. Alonso de Andrade
FROM THE COMPANY OF JESUS.
PRAYER TO BEGIN
By the sign of the Holy Cross, from our enemies delier us, Lord, our God. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
My Lord and my God: I firmly believe that you are here, that you see me, that you hear me. I adore you with deep reverence. I ask you for forgiveness of my sins and grace to make this time of prayer fruit. My Mother Immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian Angel: intercede for me.
Meditation
Friday of the second week of Advent.
Of the Nativity of Mary Our Blessed Lady.
POINT ONE. Consider how Divine Providence arranged, that the holy fathers of the Blessed Virgin be elderly and sterile, because she had to be more daughter of grace than of nature: such must be the one that God chooses with special grace for her service. Look at the long desires of these servants of his, and how God dilated this mercy to the last third of their life, and when they could least expect him, then they received him from his hand; for God sells his gifts at the price of cries, groans, prayers, hopes and desires. Learn to have patience and hope, and not to fall for yours, that if God delays the fulfillment of them, it is to prove your trust and make you more worthy to receive their mercedes with patience and trust in their goodness and mercy, and when you find yourself more unable to reach them with human forces you will receive them from their hand, like the holy fathers of the Most Pure Virgin.
POINT II. Consider the joy and joy that heaven and earth had with the birth of this heavenly Lady; because the Most Holy Trinity had special pleasure in this Divine Princess: the Father for being her daughter: the Son for being her mother: the Holy Spirit for being her wife: the angels rejoiced and revered her as their queen, the men as their lady, and especially her holy fathers had very cordial joy, seeing themselves honored and enriched with pledge of such great value; and at the pace that their desires had been great, the joy they had was great In receiving it: and so says the church, that the birth of the Virgin brought joy to the whole world universe: do not be left alone without it; but rejoice in having such a Lady, such a queen, such a mother and such a patron saint for God: enter his house in the company of the angels, and give the thanks and congratulations to the father for having been born such a daughter, and the Son for such a mother, and the Holy Spirit for such a wife, and the angels for such a queen, and men for such a patron, and their holy fathers for Such a daughter better than many children, and to everyone, because the dawn that banishes her darkness has been born, and to the Virgin herself give her the condolences for having come into the world for the remedy of the world; and ask her to be born in your soul by devotion, affection and grace, and that she be your patron and shelter before God perpetually.
POINT III. Contemplate the graces, and prerogatives with which she is born to be a worthy mother of God; because in the first place, as St. John Damascene (1) says, she did not cause pain to her mother like the other children in childbirth, but rather great delight and joy as someone who came to give it to the whole world, and in birth she shone her face like the sun and bathed all those present with a very soft light, causing devotion in their souls; and the Holy Spirit together enriched hers with all the graces and virtues, and her purest body with all the gifts that for Such high dignity, as it was to be a mother of God, are required; and as St. Bonaventure said, she adorned the house to the Eternal Word worthy of her dwelling. God arranged the heavens so beautiful and full of delights for his sun and the room of the blessed, the earth with its fertility and fruits for the habitation of men, and to the Blessed Virgin adorned the Holy Spirit with all the gifts and graces that a pure creature could have to be abode and most worthy mother of the Eternal Son of God; and the excess that the Word brings to the angels and men, that (in our way of understanding) brings this heavenly abode of Mary to the heaven and to the earth and to how much there is Of price in them. Take out from here great affections of joy and joy that this heavenly Empress is so holy, sublime and adorned, and that the day she is born begins where the greatest saints ended, and that this house is cemented in the mountains of highest sanctity of the Church; у warns what lineage of holiness is required to be worthy abode of the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit, who as he adorned the Virgin, adorns you, and disposes of your dwelling, so that you are worthy of receiving him in it.
POINT IV. Consider that if God enriched her with so many gifts and graces on all the saints, it was so that we would venerate her and love and serve her over all the saints; and so you must have her most cordial love and devotion over all the saints in the church, and dedicate yourself of course to her service. Put your hand on your chest, and consider how ungrateful you have been to her benefits, and how lukewarmly you serve her: cry your lukewarmness and laxity, and offer yourself from today for her slave, although unworthy of serving her. Ask her for forgiveness for past faults, and do not cease to venerate her, beg her and serve her, recovering in the rest of your life what you have lost in the past.
(1) S. Damascus. 1. def. de Nat. Virgin.
PRAYER TO END EVERY DAY
I thank you, my God, for the good purposes, affections and inspirations that you have communicated to me in this meditation. I ask you for help to put them to work. My Mother Immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and lord, my guardian Angel: intercede for me.
Daily offer of works
Come Holy Spirit
Inflames our hearts
In the redeeming longings of the Heart of Christ
So that we really offer
Our people and works
In union with Him
For the redemption of the world
My Lord and my God Jesus Christ
For the Immaculate Heart of Mary
I consecrate myself to your Heart
And I offer myself with you to the Father
In your Holy Sacrifice of the altar
With my prayer and my work
Today's sufferings and joys
In reparation for our sins
And that your Kingdom may come to us.
I ask you in particular
For the Pope and his intentions,
For our Bishop and his intentions,
For our parish priest and his intentions.
Church of the Savior of Toledo at 21:00:00
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