Meditations for Every Day of Advent - First Friday
Meditation VI.
Jesus enlightens the World and glorifies God.
Creavit Dominus novum super terram.
“The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth.” – Jer. xxxi. 22.
Before the coming of the Messias the world was buried in a dark night of ignorance and sins. The true God was hardly known, save in one single corner of the earth, that is to say, in Judea alone: In Judea God is known.1 But everywhere else men adored as gods devils, beasts, and stones. Everywhere there reigned the night of sin, which blinds souls, and fills them with vices, and hides from them the sight of the miserable state in which they are living, as enemies of God and condemned to hell: Thou hast appointed darkness, and it is night; in it shall all the beasts of the wood go about.2
From this darkness Jesus came to deliver the world: To them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen.3 He delivered it from idolatry by making known to them the light of the true God; and he delivered them from sin by the light of his doctrine and of his divine example: For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil.4 The prophet Jeremias foretold that God should create a new child to be the Redeemer of men: The Lord hath created a new thing upon the earth.5 This new child was Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, who is the object of the love of all the saints in paradise, and is the love of the Father himself, who thus speaks of him: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.6 And this Son is he who made himself man. A new child, because he has given more glory and honor to God in the first moment of his creation than all the angels and saints together have given him, or shall give him for all eternity. And therefore did the angels at the birth of Jesus sing, Glory to God in the highest.7 The child Jesus has rendered more glory to God than all the sins of men have deprived him of.
Let us therefore, poor sinners, take courage; let us offer to the eternal Father this Infant; let us present to him the tears, the obedience, the humility, the death, and the merits of Jesus Christ, and we shall make compensation to God for all the dishonor that we have caused him by our offences.
Affections and Prayers.
My eternal God, I have dishonored Thee by so often preferring my will to Thine, and my vile and miserable pleasures to Thy holy grace. What hope of pardon would there be for me, if Thou hadst not given me Jesus Christ on purpose that he might be the hope of us miserable sinners? He is a propitiation for our sins.8 Yes; for Jesus Christ, in sacrificing his life in satisfaction for the injuries we have done Thee, has given Thee more honor than we have dishonor by our sins. Receive me, therefore. O my Father, for the love of Jesus Christ. I repent, O infinite Goodness, of having outraged Thee: Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee: I am not worthy to be called Thy son.9 I am not worthy of forgiveness; but Jesus Christ is worthy to he heard favorably by Thee. He prayed once for me on the cross, Father, forgive;10 and even now in heaven he is constantly begging Thee to receive me as a son: We have an advocate, Jesus Christ, who ever intercedes for us.11 Receive an ungrateful son, who once forsook Thee, but now returns, resolved to desire to love Thee. Yes, my Father, I love Thee, and will always love Thee. O my Father, now that I know the love that Thou hast borne me, and the patience Thou hast shown me for for so many years, I trust no longer to live without loving Thee. Give me a great love, that may make me constantly lament the displeasure I have given Thee, who art so good a Father; cause me ever to burn with love towards Thee, who art so loving a Father. My Father, I love Thee, I love Thee, I love Thee! O Mary! God is my Father, and thou art my mother. Thou canst do all things with God; help me; obtain for me holy perseverance and his holy love.
1“Notus in Judæa Deus.” – Ps. lxxv. 2.
2“Posuisti tenebras et facta est nox; in ipsa pertransibunt omnes bestiæ silvæ.” – Ps. ciii. 20.
3“Habitantibus in regione umbras mortis, lux orta est eis.” – Isa. ix. 2.
4“In hoc apparuit Filius Dei, ut dissolvat opera diaboli.” – I John, iii. 8.
5“Creavit Dominus novum super terram.”
6“Hic est Filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene complacui.” – Matt. xvii. 5.
7“Gloria in altissimis Deo.” – Luke, ii. 14.
8“Ipse est propitiatio pro peccatis nostris.” – I John, ii. 2.
9“Pater! peccavi in cœlum et coram te; jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuus.” – Luke, xv. 21.
10“Pater! dimitte illis.” – Luke, xxiii. 34.
11“Interpellat pro nobis.” – Rom. viii. 34.
