Prayer.
O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc.
Sixth Day.
Our life is a circle. We came from God, and to God we must return. If we have deserted Him we must go back, if our life is to be a success in the end. We can never find repose or lasting satisfaction in anything but God. Until we make Him the end and aim of our life, we shall feel that we are wandering about in the dark. This was the case with the world, which had gone from its Creator; deeper and deeper it sank in the mire of iniquity. We must do as Christ bids us, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” We seek Him by a thorough preparation for His coming, for He will come to meet us, and will be ready to receive us and take us back into His affection. God comes to us repeatedly in life; but we do not know His fulness. Yet it is a sad loss that we are so blind. It is the only real misery in life, that we are meeting God every day, and do not know Him when we meet Him.
Prayer.
O Lord Jesus, Who didst, for the love of us, etc., etc.
Seventh Day.
At length, on the distant horizon, can be discerned the dawn of the Sun that has been so long desired to enlighten the world. The happy Mother of the Messias was to be born before He could come. This is the eve of the feast of the Immaculate Conception; the earth has now a pledge that the coming of the Messias will no longer be delayed, the Son of man is near at hand. The conception of Mary takes place under the direct providence of God; she receives the breath of life from God, without any stain of sin. The feast of the Blessed Virgin's Immaculate Conception is the most solemn of all those which the Church celebrates during the holy season of Advent. We will, then, honor the feast of the Blessed Virgin with joy. The intention of the feast is not only to celebrate the anniversary of the happy moment in which began, in the womb of the pious Ann, the life of the ever glorious Virgin Mary: but also to honor the sublime privilege by which Mary was preserved from the stain of original sin—which, by the curse of God on our first parents, darkened the souls of all the descendants of Adam and Eve at the very first moment of their conception.