That night, she was the bearer of Love, the Custodian of Salvation, the Proclaimer of the Word still Mute, and, still today, those who hear her, do not open the door to Love.

Sorrow of the Virgin Mother who can only offer Him some straw in a manger, "because there was no room for them in the inn"; sorrow turned into Love in her lap, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

I am astonished before the Child-Love, I want to accompany Him in the cold Night, to stand still, to remain standing firm; I want to forget now my worries, and contemplate him unhurriedly, little by little, the defenseless God.

I want to be bold: to speak in Mary's ear, to look at Joseph out of the corner of my eye, to ask them to allow me, and with great care, slowly, with my lips tightly closed, kiss Him firmly.

Thank you, my God, for being with me, do not let me forget you, nor let me close my doors on you. May the warmth of my personal surrender protect you from the dreary cold of my own sins.

May it not be repeated in my life ever again that song so many times recited:

"How many times the angel has said to me:

Soul, lean out of the window now,

you will see with how much love

He is calling out to you!"

And how many times, sovereign beauty, I have answered:

"Tomorrow I shall open my door for you.”

And, the next day, I would refuse your Love –again– repeating, “Tomorrow!"

 

For your sake God has become man.

Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and I, Christ, will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man.

You would have suffered eternal death, had I not been born in time.

Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had I not taken on myself the likeness of sinful flesh.

You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for my mercy and compassion.

You would never have returned from sin to life, had I not shared your death.

You would have been lost if I had not hastened to your aid.

You would have perished, had I not come.

Tell me, can you be happy without Me?

Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of your salvation and redemption.

Let us celebrate the festive day on which you who are the great and eternal Day came from the great and endless Day of eternity into our own short day of time.

 

What happened in the cave at Bethlehem is not an isolated event...in the past.

At every hour Jesus is born in my heart and in the heart of every person who is ready to welcome him.

With him, my interior is enlightened. This dazzling light always gives me the certainty that "he is alive".

 

Now is the time for me to listen fully to Jesus Christ who wants to tell me: "I love you and I want to make you happy".

How often have I been indifferent to the voice of God knocking at the door of my heart! Christ offers me happiness, but it is not obligatory. I have the freedom to say yes or no to him. I want to tell Jesus Christ to enter into my soul and renew my whole life.

I want to be a witness to the One who has loved me and who has called me by my name with a smile on his face. And I who experience my weakness, my misery, I want to turn to Christ and his Blessed Mother.

 

Thank you for becoming one like us; let us tonight become like you: children, that we may learn to see in all the love of your Father, even in the cold and loneliness of the night, like your first night made man.

May my heart be a complete Bethlehem, with each character of the mystery. May humility and confession prepare and arrange the manger in my heart. May my fidelity make it real in my heart. May my childlike love and my Mother's tenderness establish the proper lap for the Child.

He unveils his secrets and his mystery only to the simple of heart. As he did with Mary and Joseph, and as he has done throughout the centuries. He would also like to do so in my prayer today and every day, counting on my collaboration and teamwork.

 

Though the Lord’s coming is at hand, we must have patience: for he will come in his own time, in his own way, to each of us.

We live in a world weighed down by unbelief:

Lord, increase our faith.

Upon the complexity of man’s thoughts, among the theories and philosophies of our world today,

let your coming shed its own glorious light.

Give us the strong faith of the apostles,

and their fervor in preaching your Word.

Let us love the Church,

which continues to proclaim to all ages the reality of your coming.

– Lord Jesus, help us to believe that you are coming.

 

23 DECEMBER

If we want to love Jesus, we have to spend time with him. We don't have two hearts: one for God and one for the things of this earth. You should spend time with him daily, putting your heart into everything, with the ardor of people in love. God has captured our heart, our whole life. One day, by his infinite goodness, we felt the dart of love that conquered us for ever. And we must see to it that this love endures, and becomes more intense and refined every day.

What must I do to ensure that my love continues and increases? My child, it's a question of leaving aside the "old man", and of giving up those things which, although good in themselves, are no longer compatible with what God asks of us. Say to our Lord, with deeds, and with constancy: here I am for you called me. St Josemaria

Lord Jesus, help me to recognize my weakness. Give me your grace to get closer to you. Increase my faith in you, in your love and in your power. Open my eyes to see you and to recognize your face in my life. Be the light of my life.

May I see with your eyes, my Christ, Jesus of my soul. May I love with your heart...!!!!

 

22 DECEMBER

Christ is King of all peoples and all nations. The Savior is near; he is at the door. Twenty centuries have gone by since the first Christmas, and still there are nations and peoples awaiting the Messiah. But there are also cries of revolt from those who oppose Christ's kingship: We do not want this man to reign over us. The Lord's yoke is sweet and his burden light, but many reject it.

We are the soldiers and messengers of this king. All power in heaven and on earth belongs to him, and he has given us the mission to teach all people and bring them into his kingdom.

“Our Lord wants to be placed once more at the summit of all human activities. We are asked in a special way for this service, this help in ensuring that throughout the world there are even more abundant fruits of the Redemption, which is the only true freedom for man. We are working with this hope and this responsibility. The war of peace and love that we are engaged in is certain to be a long and demanding one. Yet victory is assured. God always conquers: He does not lose battles.” St Josemaría.

Our apostolic activity is always positive. By virtue of our mission, we are sowers of peace and joy. To everyone we meet, we would like to show a charity which is cheerful, gentle and strong, human and supernatural; a charity which is affectionate, which welcomes everyone with a smile and with understanding for their ideas and feelings, and which attracts them to cooperate in our work.

 

You have heard, O Virgin Mary, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits your answer; it is time for him to return to God, who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, have compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.

The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God, we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade to be recalled to life.

Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.

Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.

Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

 

The Nativity by Federico Barocci (c. 1535 – 1612). Reflections on the painting.

Sometimes, we look but do not see the total message in the painting. Here, Barocci's soft, opalescent renderings evoke the ethereal. Such studies were part of a complex process Barocci used to complete his paintings. Barocci did innumerable sketches: gestural, compositional, figural studies (using models), lighting studies (using clay models), perspective studies, color studies, nature studies, etc. Today, over 2,000 drawings by him are extant. Barocci's genius kept the brushstrokes passionate and liberated, and a spiritual light seems to flicker as a jewel across faces, hands, and drapery. Yes, seeking God demands effort, perseverance, discipline.

The focus of the painting is the Child Jesus, from whom the light floods and covers the entire little room in Bethlehem. Outside Christ, there is no light.

The first person to receive this light is the Virgin Mary; she is looking at the Child attentively in an attitude of adoration. She is his mother and still He is her God.

The Child Jesus is wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary reveals to us that he is also endowed with a human nature, that is why he needs swaddling clothes, like every other human baby does. Mary testifies that He is God and man.

The donkey and the ox are peacefully gazing at the Child. They represent the animal kingdom, part of God's creation. They do not need to be forced to acknowledge the Child as their God, they do so naturally.

Farther on, we see two shepherds still outside, still in darkness, representing the people of Israel expecting the Messiah for many centuries. Moreover, they represent everyone else, trying to find meaning, sense of purpose for one’s existence. We can find these only in Jesus.

Saint Joseph is pointing out to the Child. He does not remain sitting down or silent, or indifferent, but he is announcing that the Child is here, that the Messiah we all were expecting, is already with us. Saint Joseph tells us that the attitude of a Christian is to announce Christ to all, from inside this little room, from inside the Church, in our ordinary occupations, to those outside because He is our salvation.

Saint Joseph opens and guards the door of the little room in Bethlehem. That room is the Church; it is so because Christ is at the heart of it.

On the lower left side, we find a basket presumably with grapes, semi covered with the traveling hat of Mary, and a sack with grain. This suggests to us the Eucharist as the heart of the Church. We find the living Jesus, first, in the Eucharist. That grain and those grapes are waiting to be transformed into the body and blood of Christ, by the action of the Holy Spirit.

The Eucharist makes the Church and Mary is the Eucharistic woman who tenderly prepares the matter of the sacrament and protects it with her hat. Mary is the Mother in the Church and of the Church.

 

Holding the World Cup in Qatar, MESSI declared that it was a gift of God. True so. It was his greatest, happiest moment. Yet, the cup was empty. Fifty years from now, the whole affair will be a curiosity for the statistics which only a few will know about.

Right now, I am going to hold the One who gave the cup to Messi. And He will be with me forever, even after death, always happy.

My Cup is full and overflowing for the others. Thank you, Lord.

Chalice of the Queen Doña Urraca is a piece of Romanesque gold work donated by the Leonese Infanta and Queen Urraca of Zamora (1033-1101), lady of Zamora and daughter of King Ferdinand I of León. As we know it, it dates back to the second half of the 11th century. It is currently kept in the museum of the collegiate church of San Isidoro de León (Spain).

 

The Prayer of the Overseas Workers

Almighty God and loving Father, you gave us Mary to be our Mother, Our Lady of Good Harvest, the Pilgrim Image of Filipino Migrants. In union with her, we adore your Eternal Glory and Majesty.

Mary, Our Lady of Good Harvest, we thank you for the motherly care you showered on us ever since we moved to distant lands for a better life. We are grateful to you for being always at our side in our daily struggles. In our joys and sorrows, in all our successes and in every failure, and in moments of loneliness and tiredness, you have been our guide, our hope and our anchor. Through your intercession, grant us true peace and happiness as we strive to carry out our mission of holiness in this part of the world, we now call home. Protect the family life of our nation and guard the precious gift of the unborn. Have mercy on us, sinners, the sick, the poor, and the unemployed, and all who humbly implore your aid.

Dear Mother, Solace of Migrants, be our refuge and our strength and intercede for us in our material and spiritual needs especially for (here mention your petitions). Our Lady of Good Harvest, under your protection, help us to grow in the Catholic Faith we received and assist us in our duty to spread the Faith to others so that we may live happily now and forever in Heaven. AMEN