Friday of the III week of Advent.
From the Incarnation of the Eternal Word.
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 III week of Advent.
From the Incarnation of the Eternal Word.
POINT ONE. Consider how in giving the Fiat, and consent of his will the Blessed Virgin, the Eternal Word became man, forming his Most Holy Body by virtue of the Holy Spirit in the purest bowels of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in which you have much to contemplate: the first thing, how God fulfilled his word and the promise he had made to the ancient Fathers to become man and go down to remedy the human race; and although it took many centuries, he came in the middle of time, in the most opportune to remedy the world, from which you must draw great confidence of Who will come, even if it takes time in your opinion, to remedy your needs and console you with his divine visitation if you do not lack the trust that you must have in him, and together you must learn not to fail the Lord in your purposes and promises, nor to serve him with a single word, but to fulfill it, putting it to work with all promptness, as God does with you.
POINT II. He contemplates on the one hand the immensity of God, his greatness and his inaccessible light, which does not fit in the heavens of the heavens his holiness, above all what can be imagined, adored and respected on the throne of his glory of the angels, cherubim and seraphim, and of all the creatures in supreme highness and majesty; and then he lowers his eyes to look at him in the narrow bosom of Mary, enclosed and abbreviated in that dark room: he compares one place with the other, and the throne of his greatness with that of his humility, and looks how the seraphim are suspended And to all the angelic spirits with the admiration of this mystery, and to see the narrowed infinity, and the immense abbreviated in such a short space, and breaks into affections of supreme admiration, and asks all creatures to make tongues to praise him for the admirable works of his love: this is where he showed his power more than in the creation of the universe and his love above all what he did for man, and his wisdom more than in all the works of his hand and his humility, gathering and joining with him things as distant, as his divinity And our humanity, to God and to man in one case, and showed his patience, suffering nine months such a narrow and dark prison; and do not cease to thank him for so many and such great benefits as he did to you in this work of his Incarnation: offer yourself for his slave to serve him eternally, and ask him for grace to reciprocate as you should to so many mercies, imitating his virtues.
POINT III. Consider the joy that the angel St. Gabriel would have, seeing his good office, and the joy with which he would return to heaven, having left with such happiness the business to which he was sent; the glory of the Holy Trinity, seeing executed the decree to redeem man after so many centuries; the joy of the angels, looking so closely at the restoration of their chairs for the merits of the person of Christ: look at them how they would come down to recognize that Lord, who being a man was together with God, and how they would worship and respect him as a son of the Most High, and The love that they would charge men, seeing their nature honored with the divine person, and sublimated man to the being of God, without envy of such a great good, or regret to see mortal man sublimated on their heads to greater dignity than theirs; and enter with them to revere and worship that ineffable and immortal Lord made mortal man by you, and humble yourself in his presence, recognizing yourself as unworthy of such great mercy, and learn not to have envy but joy when you see others raised above your head to greater dignity, as angels are They enjoy seeing the Divine Word united with our humanity, and the earth man sublimated on the sovereign spirits of heaven.
POINT IV. She contemplates the jubilation and spiritual joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary in this mystery; because as St. Peter Chrysologos (1) says, in pronouncing that fiat: sensit Divinitatis ingressum, she felt the coming of the Eternal Word to her bowels, and recognized by divine dispensation, how that divine mystery hidden from all creatures was worked in her, and she was sublimated to such high dignity as it was to be Mother of God, who receiving the body from her, would communicate with a very liberal hand the infinite treasure of her graces; and as St. Thomas says, she was from that moment as deified with the Person of God who became man in his bowels, in the way that there is an iron lit and penetrated from the fire in the forge, and a crystal of the sun when it bathes him with his rays, so he bathed and penetrated that inaccessible light of God the soul of the Pure Virgin when he penetrated his bowels and became man for us; and he communicated such joy, that there is no human tongue that can declare to him. Oh Blessed Virgin!, enjoy your joy and with the angels and archangels and with all the visible and invisible creatures I give you infinite condolences and thanks for the graces that God did to you at that moment, and I beg you that since you are so rich, communicate to me some part, no matter how small, of your grace, so that I may be grateful to your Most Holy Son, and imitate him and serve him perpetually. Amen.
(1) Crysol. Serm. de Ann.
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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