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Fourth
Sunday of Advent
Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk
23rd December 2018
Christmas - Our Adoration, Joy and Gratitude
by Dom Prosper Guéranger O.S.B.
The first of our duties at Our Saviour's Crib is Adoration.
Adoration is Religion's first act; but there is something in
the Mystery of Our Lord's Birth which seems to make this
duty doubly necessary. In Heaven the Angels veil their
faces, and prostrate themselves before the throne of
Jehovah; the four and twenty Elders are for ever casting
their crowns before the throne (Apoc. 4) of the Lamb; what,
then, shall we do - we who are sinners, and unworthy members
of the Tribe of the Redeemer - now that this same great God
shows Himself to us, humbled for our sakes, and stript of
all His glory?
Let us endeavour to make, by our profound adorations, some
return to the God who thus humbles Himself for us; let us
thus give Him back some little of that of which He has
deprived Himself out of love for us, and in obedience to the
will of His Father. It is incumbent on us to emulate, as far
as possible, the sentiments of the Angels in Heaven, and
never to approach the Divine Infant without bringing with us
the incense of our soul's adoration, the protestation of our
own extreme unworthiness, and, lastly, the homage of our
whole being.
The Church does not only offer to the Infant God the tribute
of her profound adoration. Look at her sublime Canticles for
this Holy Season, and you will find the two sentiments
admirably blended - her deep reverence for her God, and her
glad joy at His Birth. Joy! did not the very Angels come
down and urge her to it? She therefore studies to imitate
the blithe Shepherds, who ran for joy to Bethlehem (Luke 2),
and the glad Magi, who were well-nigh out of themselves with
delight when, on quitting Jerusalem, the Star again appeared
and led them to the Cave where the Child was. Joy at
Christmas is a Christian instinct. Come, then, faithful
Children of the Church, let us take our share in her joy!
This is not the season for sighing or for weeping. For unto
us a Child is born! He for whom we have been so long waiting
is come; and He is come to dwell among us (John 1).
Intimately and inseparably united with this exquisite mystic
joy is the sentiment of gratitude. Gratitude is indeed due
to Him who, neither deterred by our unworthiness nor
restrained by the infinite respect which becomes His
sovereign Majesty, deigned to be born of His own creature,
and have a stable for His birth-place. Oh! how vehemently
must He not have desired to advance the work of our
salvation, to remove everything which could make us afraid
of approaching Him, and to encourage us, by His own example,
to return, by the path of humility, to the Heaven we had
strayed from by pride! Gratefully, therefore, let us receive
the precious gift - this Divine Babe, our Deliverer. O gift
inestimable! How shall we be able to repay it by suitable
gratitude?
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