"God did not become man, nor did He found His Church for any vague generality.  God really knows only the individual.  With Him, and with His Church, it is always the solitary soul which is the possession and eternal responsibility of the single person.  Hence God's Christmas greeting is directed to you.  You are to be as self-conscious as was the great and generous St. Paul, who was dominated by the one all-powerful and all pervasive idea: Dilexit me--et tradidit sem itipsum pro me--'He (God) loved me --and gave Himself up for me.'  The personal pronoun is personal--and meant to be so by your personal God."

"Love Does Such Things"
 Rev. M. Raymond

"Resolve to pray when you have excellent excuses for not praying: when you are ill, exhausted, tempted, sad, traveling, enjoying yourself, or in a bad mood.  Resolve to pray when everything else about the spiritual life seems to go-- when you do not feel charitable or serene or devout.  Resolve to pray even if there is no time to pray--to pray at intervals whenever a moment appears between activities.  Safeguard your prayer by avoiding remote distraction as well as immediate distractions; which means you must get rid of whatever you think is a hindrance to your union with God.  Ask Him to help you keep this pledge.  Although your own strength may fail you, remember that union with God is what He wants of you, and therefore He will give you the grace to fulfill your pledge.

Holiness for Housewives, Dom Hubert Van Zeller

“The Lamb of God-His Christmas gift to you- was to be laid in a manger which stood in a cave that had been hollowed out of one of the chalk hills near Bethlehem. That cave and manger are really the center of your world. Almighty God was the sculptor. Year after slow year, with wind and rain, He sculptured. Only in the fullness of time did He consider His work finished. It took Him centuries to arch the roof to that span which would allow the bleat of the Lamb to sound down all future centuries so that no one born of woman might ever say he was without a perfect Christmas gift. He worked aeons to make the entrance wide enough for all mankind. And during all this time he had you in mind! It is not often you think of wind and rain as instruments in the hands of God who is working for you. But now that you have been reminded how the Cave was fashioned, every storm of wind and every shower of rain will be the Voice of God speaking lovingly to you. And when you find yourself in the midst of spiritual storms, you will know that God is hollowing out a befitting birthplace for His Son, sculpturing a cave where His Christ may be born anew-and nothing else. Since He labored so long and lovingly over the cave in which Jesus was to stay for but a few hours, how, think you, will He labor over that soul of yours which is to hold Jesus all the days of your life? Every day is Christmas Day-for Christ is born anew.”

Love Does Such Things, Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.

We should all realize that no matter where or how a man dies, if he is in the state of mortal sin and does not repent, when he could have done so and did not, the Devil tears his soul from his body with such anguish and distress that only a person who has experienced it can appreciate it.      
St. Francis of Assisi

PRAYER TO THE INFANT JESUS

Come to me, O Divine Savior, vouchsafe to be born in my heart.

Grant that, taught by Thine example, and assisted by Thy grace, I may

be poor in spirit and humble of heart. Keep me chaste and obedient.

I wish to live but for Thee. O Mary, my Advocate and Mother, obtain

by thy prayers forgiveness of my past offenses and holy perseverance

unto death. St. Joseph, do thou also pray for me, that I may become

daily more pleasing to Jesus. Amen.