Day 3 — The Child Jesus Living in Mary's Womb

Prayer for All Days

Most benign God of infinite charity, who so loved mankind that you gave us your Son as the supreme pledge of your love, so that, made man in the womb of a Virgin, he might be born in a manger for our salvation and remedy; I, in the name of all mortals, give you infinite thanks for so sovereign a benefit. In return, I offer you the poverty, humility, and other virtues of your incarnate Son, beseeching you, by his divine merits, by the hardships of his birth, and by the tender tears he shed in the manger, to dispose our hearts with deep humility, with burning love, and with total contempt for all earthly things, so that the newborn Jesus may find in them his cradle and dwell there eternally. Amen.

(The Gloria is said three times).

Reflection for the Third Day

Thus the Child Jesus had begun his incarnate life. Let us consider the glorious soul and the holy body he had taken, adoring them profoundly. Admiring first the soul of that Divine Child, let us consider in it the fullness of his sanctifying grace; the fullness of his beatific knowledge, by which, from the first moment of his life, he saw the divine essence more clearly than all the angels, and read the past and the future with all their hidden meanings.

He never learned by voluntary acquisition anything he did not already know by infusion from the first moment of his being; but he adopted all the infirmities of our nature to which he could worthily subject himself, even though they were not necessary for the great work he had to accomplish. Let us ask him that his divine faculties may supply the weakness of ours and give them new energy; that his memory may teach us to remember his benefits, his understanding to think of him, his will to do nothing but what he wills and in his service.

From the soul of the Child Jesus let us pass now to his body. It was a world of wonders, a masterpiece of the hand of God. It was not, like ours, a hindrance to the soul: on the contrary, it was a new element of holiness. He willed that it should be small and weak like that of all children, and subject to all the discomforts of infancy, to resemble us more closely and to share our humiliations. The Holy Spirit formed that divine little body with such delicacy and such capacity for feeling, that it might suffer even to excess to accomplish the great work of our redemption.

The beauty of that body of the Divine Child was beyond anything ever imagined; the divine blood that began to flow through his veins from the moment of the Incarnation is what washes away all the stains of a guilty world. Let us ask him to wash ours in the sacrament of penance, so that on the day of his Nativity he may find us purified, forgiven, and ready to receive him with love and spiritual profit.

Sovereign Mary, who by your great virtues and especially by your humility merited that God himself should choose you as his Mother, I beseech you to prepare and dispose my soul, and the souls of all who make this novena in this season, for the spiritual birth of your beloved Son. O sweetest Mother, impart to me some share of the profound recollection and divine tenderness with which you awaited him, that we may be made less unworthy to see him, love him, and adore him for all eternity. Amen.

(The Hail Mary is said three times).

O most holy Joseph, spouse of Mary and foster father of Jesus! I give infinite thanks to God for having chosen you for so sovereign a ministry and adorned you with every gift proportioned to such excellence. I beseech you, by the love you bore the Divine Child, to enkindle in me fervent desires to see him and receive him sacramentally, while in his divine essence I hope to see and enjoy him in heaven. Amen.

(An Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Gloria are said).

Remember, O sweetest Child Jesus, that you said to the venerable Margaret of the Blessed Sacrament, and in her person to all your devout clients, these words, so consoling to our suffering humanity: "Whatever you wish to ask, ask it by the merits of my infancy, and nothing shall be denied you." Full of confidence in you, O Jesus, who are truth itself, we come to lay before you all our misery. Help us to lead a holy life, that we may attain a blessed eternity. Grant us, by the infinite merits of your infancy, the grace of which we stand in such need. We surrender ourselves to you, O omnipotent Child, confident that our hope shall not be frustrated, and that, by virtue of your divine promise, you will receive and graciously grant our petition. Amen.

Gozos (Joys)

Sweet Jesus mine, my adored Child, come to our souls, come, delay not!

O highest Wisdom of the sovereign God, who stoop down to a child's reach! O Divine Child, come to teach us the prudence that makes truly wise! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O mighty Adonai, who to Moses speaking gave the commandments to the people of Israel! Ah, come promptly to redeem us, and let a weak Child show a strong arm! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O sacred root of Jesse, that on high displays your fragrant nard to all the world! Sweetest Child, who have been called Lily of the valleys, fair flower of the field! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O Key of David, that opens to the exile the closed gates of the royal palace! Draw us out, O Child, with your white hand, from the sad prison that sin has built! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O Dawn of the East, Sun of eternal rays, that in the darkness we may see your splendor! So precious a Child, the joy of the Christian, may the smile of your sweet lips shine forth! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O spotless Mirror, Holy of Holies, peerless image of the sovereign God! Blot out our faults, save the exile, and, in the form of a Child, give the helpless aid! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O King of the nations, bright Emmanuel, Israel's longing, Shepherd of the flock! Child who tend with gentle crook both the wayward sheep and the gentle lamb! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

Let the heavens open and rain from on high refreshing dew, a holy watering! Come, lovely Child, come, God made man, bright star shine, flower of the field spring forth! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

Come, for Mary already prepares her arms to behold her Child in coming time! Come, for Joseph with holy longing makes himself a shrine of your love! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

O aid of the weak, shelter of the suffering, comfort of the sad, light of the exile! Life of my life, my adored Lord, my constant friend, my divine brother! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

Come before my eyes, enamored of you! Let me kiss your feet, let me kiss your hands! Prostrate on earth, I extend my arms to you, and more than my words, my tears speak! Come to our souls, come, delay not.

Come, our Savior, for whom we sigh! Come to our souls, come, delay not!