The Perfect Joy.
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O Divine Infant Jesus, our Saviour, your love for St. Joseph could not have been greater, and yet you did not remedy his inability to provide comfortable lodging for Our Lady Mary to give birth. Neither did you shield your holy parents from the indifference and contempt shown by those who refused them. Though an upright and just man, we recognize in St. Joseph an aspect of our own poverty and failed attempts to do the good we desire. Sadly, some of us may even lack all virtue and feel ourselves steeped in sin, and therefore deserving of contempt and rejection, leading us to behave no better than the beasts.
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However, it is the patient example of St. Joseph, and Our Lady Mary who gave birth to you amongst the beasts in stable, that you teach us O Little Lord the perfect joy of Christmas.
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You gently remind us that the price of your friendship is frequently the pain of your apparent rebuff. And while it is true that on account of our sins we may deserve to be cast out and excluded, each Christmas recalls to us that you are always there to meet us, even in the most culpable desolation. For this we thank you Little Lamb. In this is the perfect joy of Christmas, that you meet us even in our basest misery, our powerlessness, pouring out your mercy and love to the soul who hungers for you - Love Incarnate.
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Merry Christmas!
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[This would have been posted on Abbey2 if it had remained.]
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