ADVENT NOVENA TO THE CHILD JESUS – Day 9 – Knights of the Precious Blood

The 24th of December: Day 9

OPENING PRAYER Most gracious GOD of infinite charity, You gave your only begotten Son as an unparalleled sign of your love for man. By this love He was made Flesh within a Virgin Mother’s Womb and was born in a manger for our salvation. Let our prayer come before you as a song of thanksgiving, uttered on behalf of every mortal man, for this wonder of your grace. Loving FATHER, there is nothing with which we can repay you, other than the poverty, humility, and other virtues of your Incarnate Son; I pray that for the sake of his divine merits, of every hardship that surrounded his birth, and of every tear that He shed at the manger, You may bring our hearts to such deep humility, such zealous love, and such perfect disregard for every worldly thing, that the newborn CHRIST may find in them his cradle and abide there forever. Amen.

Glory to the FATHER… (three times)

PRAYER TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN O Blessed Virgin MARY, spotless mirror of virtue and humility whom the GOD of Heaven and Earth elected for a mother, I pray that you may prepare my soul, and that of everyone who at this time might pray this novena, for the spiritual birth of your beloved Son. O Dearest of Mothers! Let me know something of that profound contemplation and devout tenderness with which you awaited Him, that I may be made less unworthy to see, love, and adore Him for all eternity. Amen.

(Pray the Hail MARY three times)

PRAYER TO SAINT JOSEPH Dearest Saint Joseph, husband of MARY and adoptive father of JESUS CHRIST, I praise GOD for electing you to such an exalted task and adorning you with every grace befitting so high a ministry. I pray that through the love with which you cared for the Infant CHRIST, you may embrace my heart with a fervent desire to behold and receive Him in the Blessed Sacrament, until in His Divine Essence I may one day gaze upon Him and rejoice with Him in Heaven. Amen.
Our FATHER, Hail MARY, Glory Be……

Meditation for the Day Night has fallen upon the hills of Bethlehem. Rejected by humankind and finding themselves without lodging, MARY and Joseph have left the inhospitable town and taken refuge in a cave at the foot of a nearby hill. Behind the Queen of Angels walks the humble donkey that had carried her during the journey from Nazareth. At the manger, they find also a gentle ox, probably left there by one of the many travellers now crowding the town’s inns.

The Divine Child, ignored by his rational creatures, must now turn to irrational ones, letting them warm with their breath the frigid air of that winter night, finding in their humble presence the respect and adoration Bethlehem had denied him. The walls of that meager lodging are tinged with a weak, reddish light from Joseph’s lantern—the rough manger full of hay becoming a prophetic image of the wonders of the altar and the intimate and miraculous Eucharistic union of JESUS with humankind. Within the cave, MARY prays in silence, as the hours of that night full of mystery go by.

But now midnight has arrived, and suddenly we see within the manger, which had been empty just moments before, the Divine Child who had been awaited, prophesied, and desired with an ineffable longing for more than four thousand years. At his feet lies his mother, overcome in a transport of worship that nothing can describe. Joseph also approaches the Child and renders him homage, thus beginning the mysterious and imponderable task of serving as the adoptive father of the Redeemer of men. The heavenly host itself descends to Earth to contemplate this incomparable wonder, and the joy of the angels bursts forth and makes the hills ring in a Gloria in Excelsis, an echo of that eternal symphony of adoration that surrounds the throne of GOD. Summoned by the angels, shepherds from across the countryside rush to bring their humble gifts to the newborn child. In the East, the mysterious star of Jacob is shining and the marvellous caravan of the Magi sets forth, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to lay before the Divine Child—symbols of charity, worship, and mortification.

Oh, beloved Child! We also, who have made this novena to prepare for the day of your Nativity, want to offer you our humble adoration. Please do not reject it! Come to souls, come to our hearts so full of love for you! Kindle within them a devotion to your holy infancy that is not intermittent and limited to Christmastime, but alive throughout all seasons—a devotion that practiced faithfully and zealously propagated may lead us to eternal life, freeing us from sin and sowing within us all the virtues needed for a Christian life.

PRAYER TO THE CHRIST CHILD Remember, O beloved Infant JESUS, the words you spoke unto Venerable Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament as a promise of comfort to all the suffering and afflicted: “Everything that you would ask, ask it through the merits of my infancy, and nothing shall be denied you.” We thus come full of trust in you, O CHRIST—you who are Truth Incarnate—to offer up our every sadness.

Help us to lead a holy life, that we may receive the gift of a blessed eternity. Grant us, through the merits of your incarnation and infancy, the grace that we now request of You.

(Pause for a moment to silently make your prayer to GOD.)

We give ourselves to You, O Omnipotent Child, certain that our hope shall not be frustrated, and that by virtue of your divine promise, You will hear and answer our supplication. Amen.

JUBILATIONS

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel.

O infinite wisdom of the Sacred Godhead, to an infant’s limits You humble your powers! O Child Uncreated, come to teach the blinded the prudence that fashions wise men from the humble!