Christmas Eve, 24/12/1613. [Ex. 16/6-7: “Today you will know that the Lord is coming, and in the morning you will see His glory.”
Thus spoke Moses to the Israelites when God chose to feed them with manna in the desert. God rained manna in the desert for the children of Israel. [Num, 11/9] God first made a sweet dew descend from Heaven to serve as a tablecloth upon the desert. Then the manna fell like little coriander seeds which were preserved by the dew, till the Israelites came to gather the manna before sunrise. [Ex. 16/13-14, 21, 3; Num. 11/7, 9; Wis. 16/27-28]
The Blessed Virgin is the morning star [Num. 24/17] which announces the coming of the true Sun. [Lk.1/78]
Manna had every desirable taste [Wis. 16/20, 25], However, it had three kinds of tastes which were proper and particular to it, namely, that of flower, honey and oil [Ex. 16/31; Num. 11/8], just as the infant to be born had three ‘substances’ – the divine nature, the human soul and the human body – in one and the same person that was both God and Man.
In the manna was the taste of honey which is actually a heavenly liquid. The taste of oil found in the manna represents the nature of Our Lord’s most holy soul – a spreading perfume [Cant. 1/2-3]. Finally, the taste of flour represents Our Lord’s most holy humanity, His adorable body, which, when crushed on the tree of the Cross, was made into a very precious Bread to nourish us unto life eternal. [Jn. 6/55]
The angels announcing the happy news to the shepherds invited them to go to the Infant ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger [Lk. 2/8-12] In all simplicity they went, although they would have expected the message to be rather “Go, you will find the Infant seated on an ivory throne, surrounded by heavenly courtiers”. The angels addressed the shepherds rather than anyone else in Bethlehem since our Lord had come as a shepherd and as King of Shepherds. [I Pet.5/4] The shepherds represent bishops, religious superiors, priest and all those entrusted with the care of souls. Others say that each one of us is a shepherd, and our sheep are our passions, inclinations over which we are expected to keep watch – like the shepherds in the Gospels – in order to receive the good news and the invitation.
The mystery of our Lord’s Nativity is also the mystery of the Visitation. Just as the most holy Virgin went to visit her cousin St. Elizabeth, we too must go often during the Christmas season to visit the Divine Babe lying in the manger. Let us learn from the sovereign Pastor of the shepherds to put our flock in order in a manner pleasing to Him; and like the shepherds let us not go empty-handed. Let us bring him the little lamb – our love, for love is the first passion of the soul. And like the shepherds who, on their return sang God’s praises and proclaimed all that they had seen and heard [Lk. 2/20], let us do likewise
Bees are restless and flutter helter skelter till a queen-bee is born and under whose reign they find unity and satisfaction. So also, our senses, interior powers and spiritual faculties remain dissipated until they place themselves under the command of the Lord.
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