“Let everything within you watch and wait, for the Lord our God draws near.”
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.
I would wish that you celebrate Christmas in the poor stable of your heart, where the gentle Jesus will be born spiritually. Present this poor stable to Mary Most Holy and to Saint Joseph so that they may adorn it with virtues so the Divine Infant will be happy there. Many years ago I had an Infant painted on German paper that had him sleeping quietly on a cross. Oh, how much that symbol pleased me! I gave it to a crucified person of holy life who was directed by me as long as she lived. She was a soul of much virtue and high contemplation, as I knew her, and she died with the reputation of sanctity. I wished, as I desire for you, for that soul to be a child in purity and simplicity and that she sleep on the cross of the gentle Jesus. So on Christmas you will have the Infant in your heart and be transformed entirely into him with love. Sleep with him on the crib of the cross, and at the divine lullaby that Mary Most Holy will sing, go to sleep with the Divine Infant, being in union with his heart. The lullaby of Mary will be: "May your Will be done on earth as in heaven." The second verse will be: "To work, to suffer, and to be silent," and the third: "Do not justify yourself, do not complain, do not show resentment." What do you think of this lullaby, Sister Maria Angela Magdalene? Learn it well, sing it well, sleeping on the cross, and practice it with fidelity, for I assure you it will make you holy.