PRAYER TO OUR NEWBORN SAVIOR

DIVINE Infant Jesus, with Mary and Joseph I kneel down in devout worship as I gaze upon You lying in Your crib. You wished to enter the world as a child in order to prove

Yourself to be true Man; for by Your weeping and by Your need for rest and nourishment You prove that You have truly taken on human nature. You become human that I may be able to see You, listen to You, imitate You, and unite myself to You.

Even though You are God, You are now able to suffer for us, atone for our sins, and merit graces for our souls. It is through the flesh that man turns away from God; it is in taking on the flesh that You, our God, deliver us.

But You become Man also that man may become like God. In exchange for the humanity which You take from us, You wish to make us share in Your Divinity by sanctifying grace, that You may take complete possession of us.

May the mystery of Your birth bring me the grace to be born anew and live a new, Divine life, more free from sin and from too great an attachment to myself and creatures, a life for God alone.

As it was Mary's joy to form You in her own body, may her joy now be to form You in my soul, so that I may be more like You.

Jesus, I believe that the greatest proof of God's goodness and love toward us is His gift to us of You, His only beloved Son. All love tends to become like that which it loves. You loved man; therefore, You became man. Infinite love and mercy caused You, the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity, to leave the Kingdom of creature; the Immortal, mortal. Your Divine love chose this way of raising fallen mankind to its former dignity, for nothing draws the hearts of people so easily to God as Your stooping so low to reach them.

Draw me and all mankind to yourself by the example of Your loving humility. Teach me that my true glory consists in humbling myself, for You said, "I assure you, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God" (Mt 18:3).