Prayer used by St. Eugene de Mazenod before Meditation

O Mary Immaculate, faithful adorer of the Father, Mother most admirable of the Son, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, inspire within me the same sentiments that were yours while pondering the revealed mysteries which you treasured in your heart. Grant that I may ever live in union with your Son, my Savior, together with all who, by meditation, give honor to the most Holy Trinity. Amen.

From the writings of St. Eugene:

Let us often look for one another in the heart of our adorable Master, but above all share often in his adorable Body; it is the best way to bring us together, for, as we each of us find our common identity in Jesus Christ, we become but one thing with him, and through him and in him we become one thing with one another. Last night my thought was you would have wanted to honor the coming of this blessed Child, born for us, by laying him down in your heart. As I had the same happiness at practically the same time, I united myself to you with all my soul. Do you not wonder at the greatness of our soul? How many things it takes in at the same time! What an immense extent it covers in a flash! It is ravishing. I was adoring Jesus Christ in my heart, I adored him in yours, I adored him on the altar and in the crib, I adored him in the heights of heaven, (Letter to Madame De Mazenod, December 25, 1808).

From the Gospel according to John:

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth...From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace… (1:14-16)

Reflection:

The Nativity scenes we see in our churches and our homes are all a product of the imagination of St. Francis of Assisi. He created a living Nativity scene based on what he knew from his local culture. Regardless of whether Christ was born in a cave or a stable, whether there was a donkey or a cow, or if shepherds and wise men came at different times, the most important detail of the Nativity story is what we find in John’s Gospel: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Trappist monk, Fr. Thomas Merton, says it best in a poem in which he writes: “Into this world, this demented inn in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited.” Christ came uninvited into St. Eugene’s life and made a dwelling in his heart. For St. Eugene, the ideal moment of celebrating the incarnation of Christ, the very indwelling within his soul, is at the celebration of the Eucharist. St. Eugene possessed a great sense of communion not only with Christ but with all those who, like him, received him in the Eucharist. As we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ into our world, let us recall how all of us in the Mazenodian family around the world approach the altars of our churches as the shepherds approached the crib of Jesus. There, we encounter each other and together bring the message that a Savior is born for us.

(Fr. David Muñoz, OMI)

Reflection Questions:

1. How can you accept the uninvited Christ child into your heart? Is it new every Christmas? Does your heart expand like that of St. Eugene and what does that feel/look like?

2. How are we, the Oblate Associates (and the Mazenodian Family) like the shepherds? What is it that brings us together and unites us? 

3. Does this encounter with the Christ child direct how we encounter one another? How can we renew or even improve this encounter with Christ and others in the new year?

Concluding Prayers