At the Crib on this Holy Night

    A most Blessed Christmas to all of you our dear readers!  It has been a delight to hear from so many of you, our friends, during this most holy Advent. We are taking all of you with us in spirit as we begin the celebration of the Feast of Christmas. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter into the Liturgy of Midnight Mass and Christmas Morning Mass and also all the Liturgy of the Hours.

This work of art was created by our Sr. Rose Marie, CP

    This has been a busy week of choir practice, cooking, decorating, letter writing, sacristy preparations and so on.  Today we turned on the Christmas lights for the first time and we are looking forward to the wondrous liturgies and feasts of the Christmas Octave.

A view of the Christmas village in our library

    I leave you with an excerpt from our beloved Holy Founder Saint Paul of the Cross. He certainly knew how to "wax eloquent" about this most holy Mystery.

Who would not shed tears of tenderness from the heart, seeing a God, for our sakes become a Babe in swaddling bands, for our sakes placed in the hay of manger, for our sakes in need of the breath of two beasts of burden! What a misfortune it would be if I would not let myself be consumed by holy love and would prefer to remain tepid and cold as I was before.

The nativity in our library - special thanks to our benefactors who have given these lovely decorations over the years

Prayer - "Lord, help me to gaze on the Crib and hear your love in sending your Son to become so little and needy for me. May I be one of your little ones, docile to every breath of your Spirit."

- Living Wisdom for Every Day by Fr. Bennet Kelley, C.P.