Advent and Christmas Wisdom with St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787))
21 December
Jesus is a prisoner in the womb of Mary
“Consider the painful life that Jesus Christ led in the womb of His mother and the long-confined and dark imprisonment that He suffered there for nine months. He had His senses but He could not use them. A tongue but He could not speak. Eyes but he could not see. Hands but He could not stretch them out. Feet but He could not walk. For nine months, He had to remain the womb of Mary, a voluntary prison but also a prison of love. He was innocent but He had offered Himself to make payment for our debts and our crimes.
What gratitude and love we should demonstrate for our Lord in return for the love and goodness that He has given us. He has put Himself into chains, in order to deliver us from the chains of evil.
O my Jesus, You are the innocent one. I implore You to bind my poor soul to Your feet by Your holy love, so that it may never again be separated from You.”
Scripture
“Blessed are you among women
and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”
Luke 1:42
Prayer
O Radiant Dawn,
splendour of eternal light, sun of justice!
Come and shine on those
who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
Advent Action
Dawn never happens quickly. Long before dawn, while it is quite dark, the birds start their sounds of joy. Slowly the night changes from dark, to charcoal, to haze, to light. Today’s Scripture presents to us the image of waiting. In the Gospel, Mary and Elizabeth, wait and wonder together and the Lord waits, St John the Baptist waits. Oftentimes, we are called to wait. We must believe that in our waiting, the dawning also exists. We know that the Lord will always draw us from darkness into His cleansing light. Patience is a virture – displayed so wonderfully and painfully by the Lord. How can we give into our impatience? Rest in Me, remember me in the womb of My mother Mary and learn patience!
AnaStpaul 
What a lovely thought…. Waiting can be an active thing, while ‘doing’ nothing…. Waiting for the birth of a child, waiting at the bedside of a loved one, waiting for a loved one to come home, waiting for God to reveal Himself… ‘He also serves who only stands and waits’
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Amen Annemarie! And waiting can be painful, as St Alphonsus says of the Lord’s 9 months of waiting but as we learn and as we have been taught by Him, we must turn that painful waiting into prayer. God be with those who wait in pain and the joy of those who wait in excitement. Thank you for your comments Annemarie, they fill me always with such encouragement and inspiration.
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