Thursday, October 8, 2020 –
The Third Joyful Mystery: The Birth of Our Lord/The Nativity (Luke 2:7)
Yup, it’s Christmas!
ALL LOVE TENDS to become like that which it loves. God loved man; therefore, He became man. Thanks to His human nature, He could take on our woes and our sorrows, and feel the effects of sin as if they were His very own.
But all this was conditioned upon Mary’s giving Him a human nature. Without her He would never have had eyes to see the multitude hungry in the desert, or ears to hear the pleading of the lame man of Jericho, or hands to caress children, or feet to seek the lost sheep.
For nine months, her own body was the natural Eucharist, in which God shared communion with human life, thus preparing for that greater Eucharist, when human life would commune with the Divine.
Mary’s joy was to form Christ in her own body; her joy now is to form Christ in our souls. In this Mystery, we pray to become pregnant with the Christ spirit, giving Him new lips with which He may speak of His Father, new hands with which He may feed the poor, and a new heart with which He may love everyone, even enemies.
For each bead (1-10) in the decade, meditate (think) on the list below:
- Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem to comply with the decree of Caesar Augustus.
- The hour for Mary to give birth is near, but there is no room in the inn.
- In the stillness of the night, the Savior is born in a cave, Mary remaining a Virgin.
- She wraps Him in swaddling clothes and lays Him in a manger.
- In unspeakable joy Mary gathers to her bosom the Flower of her virginity.
- Jesus enters the world in poverty to teach the lesson of detachment from earthly things.
- The angel announces to the shepherds: “Today there is born to you in the town of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.”
- The angelic chorus sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.”
- The shepherds come to the stable to pay homage to the Infant Jesus.
- The Magi come to adore the Holy Child and offer Him gifts.
Spiritual Fruit: Detachment / Poverty of Spirit
Tower of ivory, pray for us!
NOTE: These meditations are a compilation of several different sources that I have found helpful over the years:
- Meditations on the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary by Fulton Sheen
- Praying the Rosary without Distractions from The Rosary Center and Confraternity
- Pray the Rosary Daily from Marian Press
- Quick Meditations on Every Mystery of the Rosary by Ascension Press
