“Father, creator and redeemer of mankind, you decreed, and your Word became man, born of the Virgin Mary. May we come to share the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share our human nature, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold.
In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.
Our Novena readings are excerpts from the Christmas Letters of St. Paul of the Cross.
On the Holy Night, may all of you be reborn in the Divine Word‑Made‑Man to a completely holy life, rich in all the virtues of Jesus Christ, especially true humility of heart, obedience, and meekness, along with true patience, which "has a perfect work." In this way all of you will make yourselves fit instruments for the glory of God and the profit of souls.
God wishes more recollection from you in pure faith, and I would wish that you often center yourself in your interior, and with a lively faith take your repose on the bosom of God like a baby in a sacred silence of faith and holy love. Every time your soul recollects itself in God, in the inner temple of your soul, it is born anew to a new life of love in the Divine Word Jesus Christ. I pray the Lord to help you understand and practice what I am teaching. In this recollection in the flame of holy love all the remains of sin are destroyed and the soul is renewed in God.
I offer you the medicine of the saints which is a total abandonment to the Holy Will of God, taking every happening without intermediary from his loving hand. In this way everything becomes sweet, especially for one who knows how to repose and sleep on the cross of the gentle Jesus, as a baby sleeps on the bosom of its mother.