Christmas — Adoration of the Child Jesus in the Manger

The season of Christmas begins on the Holy Night of 24-25 December with the Mass in Nocte, extends until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (the Sunday after the Epiphany, on 6 January), and celebrates the unique mystery of the Incarnation of the Word: «And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us» (Jn 1:14). It was St Francis of Assisi, on the night of 24-25 December 1223, in Greccio (Italy), who set up for the first time the living crib with an ox, a donkey, and a manger — so as to make visible with the eyes of the body the smallness of the Incarnate God. Thomas of Celano, biographer of Francis, narrates that during the Mass the Saint was seen cradling in his arms, in the manger, the Child Jesus who had appeared real before him. This prayer may be made before the family crib, on every night of the Season of Christmas, especially on 25 December and on the Solemnity of the Mother of God on 1 January.

(Kneel before the crib. Look in silence at the Child in the manger.)

I adore you, Child Jesus, true God and true Man, laid on the straw of this manger. I adore you under these small signs which hide the eternal Word of the Father: the fragile skin that has assumed our nature, the breath of a child, the human cry of the One who is from eternity.

Here you are, Lord of the universe, reduced to the fragility of a newborn so that the little ones may not be afraid to love you. Here you are, Eternal One, laid in time. Here you are, Omnipotent, dependent on the lap of Mary. Here you are, Word of the Father, still without human speech.

By the adoring silence of Mary and Joseph on that first night, by the song of the shepherds and of the angels over Bethlehem, by the happy tears of St Francis cradling you in Greccio: grant me also, this Christmas, the gift of simple and silent adoration.

Make of my heart, this very night, a clean and warm manger for you. Take from it what displeases you — haste, distraction, the desire to appear — and fill it with what attracts you: the humility of the little ones, the obedience of the just, the gratitude of the poor.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Lk 2:14).

Amen.