Holding the Baby Jesus

I have been praying the rosary and meditating on holding the baby Jesus. I do this as I pray the Nativity, but this is spending 5 decades on the same meditation and so I have been trying to keep myself open as the baby Jesus rests close to my heart.

At first, I just relished holding Him close and loving Him. This new little life completely dependent on others for everything, just like all babies are, except this is God. Our Lord, who humbled Himself so He could be dependent upon us, to experience life as we do.

He also needs to be taken care of, cherished, nourished and protected. Protected from what? How am I called to protect this child and who do I think I am that I can protect Him?

Then I remember my sins and that He died on the cross to save me. I need to protect Him from my sins — I need to protect Him from me! This hurts, because I am not sinless. The only way I can keep from sinning is to turn to Him in all things and even then He must come to my rescue in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Oh thank you Jesus for that most beautiful sacrament. I shudder to think where I'd be without it.

The blasphemies, the non-believers and even worse, those who have turned their backs on Him. I cannot protect Him from these things. I can't protect Him from the pain and agony we cause one another either, knowing that what we do unto the least of our brethren, we do unto Him. For that, all I can offer is prayer, fasting and penance to atone. This is the best protection I can offer and truthfully, I have to rely on Him to help me do these things.

Another image came to me as well as I held the beautiful Christ child close to my heart. I need Him more than He needs me, even at His most vulnerable. I need Him to protect and love me and guide me in all things. So in turn, as I continued to hold this babe close to my heart, I rested my head against His most Sacred Heart as He held me close. Peace.

He holds us close to His heart, just as we should hold Him close to our hearts. Our hearts should beat as one. Everything He asks of us, we can rely upon Him to help us with. We are not alone and we should not leave Him alone. As we hold Him close to our hearts and care for Him (through prayer, fasting, penance, evangelization, etc.), He holds us ever closer to His heart and cares for us in all things.

As Christmas nears, anticipate holding this beautiful Babe, this overly generous Savior. Hold Him close to your heart and do not let go. Plan to spend every moment with Him here on earth so you can be with Him eternally in the next life.

May the peace and love of Christ be with you now and forever.

Love and Mercy

God is love. But did you know that Mercy is Love's second name? It is incomprehensible how much God loves us and it is because of that love that we experience not just His mercy, but live it. It's not what we deserve, but what He freely chooses to give us.

When Adam and Eve sinned they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, thus receiving God's justice. But He didn't wipe out humanity, no, in His mercy, he allowed redemption....for all who want to receive it. We must rely solely on His love and mercy to obtain heaven.

There is no greater love than when Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross. The crucifix is not only a great sign of His love for us, but of His mercy. You cannot have one without the other. Making the sign of the cross is a reminder of what Jesus did for us and why He did it. “We adore Thee O' Christ and we praise Thee, for by Your cross and resurrection, You have set us free.“

We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, but that means also extending mercy toward them. No grudges, no hatred, no judgmentalism.....just love and mercy. Let go. God has forgiven you and granted you mercy, now go and do the same for your neighbor. So they cut you off driving down the road, ask God to bless them — maybe they are trying to get to the hospital to see a dying parent. Was the cashier rude to you? Let it go.....maybe someone called in sick and they have to stay late.

We expect others to understand us and for God to forgive us our sins, well then do the same for others. If you are going to err, err on the side of love and mercy.

Mercy is not just for others, it is also for ourselves. In fact, sometimes we need to grant ourselves mercy, more than we do to others. We confess our sins to God, we have received forgiveness....God's mercy, but then we continue to beat ourselves up. We dwell on it and refuse to forgive ourselves, to allow God's mercy to work within us. No good comes of this because we stop growing if all we do is dwell on the past.

Let go. Rest in the love and mercy of God.

Our Heavenly Father is just and He is merciful. We deserve His justice, but because of His love for us, He offers us mercy instead. The greatest offense to God is to refuse His mercy. In refusing His mercy, you are in fact demanding His justice. His justice damns us, but His mercy saves us.

Here is a prayer:

“Mercy is who God is. Mercy is Love's second name. God is more interested in our future than in our past, more interested in the kind of person that we can yet become than in the person we used to be. God indeed takes our sins seriously, but not as the last word. God sees our sins for what they are, but at the same time knows that there is more to us than those sins. God will help us grow patiently toward the person He wants us to be. He's willing to do this saving work with us, if we let Him enter into our lives. Amen”