A PRAYER FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE LORD'S NATIVITY

✝️PRAYER FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE LORD'S NATIVITY 🙏

Heavenly Father,

As we prepare our hearts for the coming of Your Son, Jesus Christ,

Fill us with joy and expectation for the celebration of His Nativity.

Help us to quiet the noise of the world and focus on the gift of salvation He brings.

Grant us hearts of humility, repentance, and gratitude,

That we may welcome Him not only in the manger of Bethlehem

But in the manger of our souls.

May we follow the example of Mary, who trusted in Your will,

And Joseph, who obeyed in faith,

As we prepare to receive Your love made flesh.

Teach us to share the peace and light of Christ with those around us,

So that through our words and actions,

Others may come to know the joy of His birth.

Come, Lord Jesus, and be born anew in us this Christmas.

We await You with hope, faith, and love.

Amen.

The Work of Christmas Begins - by Michael Dougherty

 

The Work of Christmas Begins

When the carols have been stilled,

When the star-topped tree is taken down,

When family and friends are gone home,

When we are back to our schedules

The work of Christmas begins:

   To welcome the refugee,

   To heal a broken planet,

   To feed the hungry,

   To build bridges of trust, not walls of fear,

   To share our gifts,

   To seek justice and peace for all people,

   To bring Christ’s light to the world.

- by Michael Dougherty, a variation on Howard Thurman’s ‘When the Song of the Angels is Stilled’

A Beautiful Christmas Prayer

 A Christmas Prayer

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving Father,

Help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Your children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven for Jesus' sake. Amen. 

Prayer to Jesus in the Manger

Prayer to Jesus in the Manger

O divine redeemer Jesus Christ, prostrate before thy crib, I believe thou art the God of infinite majesty, even though I do see thee here as a helpless babe. I humbly adore and thank thee for having so humbled thyself for my salvation as to will to be born in a stable. I thank thee for all thou didst wish to suffer for me in Bethlehem, for thy poverty and humility, for thy nakedness, tears, cold and sufferings.

Would that I could show thee that tenderness which thy virgin mother had toward thee, and love thee as she did. Would that I could praise thee with the joy of the angels, that I could kneel before thee with the faith of St. Joseph, the simplicity of the shepherds. Uniting myself with these first adorers at the crib, I offer thee the homage of my heart, and I beg that thou wouldst be born spiritually in my soul. Make me reflect in some degree the virtues of thy admirable nativity. Fill me with that spirit of renunciation, of poverty, of humility, which prompted thee to assume the weakness of our nature, and to be born amid destitution and suffering.Grant that from this day forward, I may in all things seek thy greater glory, and may enjoy that peace promised to men of good will.

- Author Unknown

Christmas Novena (December 16 - 24)

Mary, a young teenager, was living in the village of Nazareth and engaged to be married to Joseph, a Jewish carpenter. One day God sent the angel Gabriel to visit Mary. The angel told Mary that she would conceive a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. She would give birth to this child and name him Jesus.

Christmas Novena

(December 16 - 24)

16 December

O Shepherd that rulest Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, come to guide and comfort us.

Say 1 Our Father...
Say 1 Hail Mary...
Say 1 Glory Be...



17 December

O Wisdom that comest out of the mouth of the Most High, that reachest from one end to another, and orderest all things mightily and sweetly, come to teach us the way of prudence!

Say 1 Our Father...
Say 1 Hail Mary...
Say 1 Glory Be...



18 December

O Adonai, and Ruler of the house of Israel, Who didst appear unto Moses in the burning bush, and gavest him the law in Sinai, come to redeem us with an outstretched arm!

Say 1 Our Father...
Say 1 Hail Mary...
Say 1 Glory Be...

19 December

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at Whom the kings shall shut their mouths, Whom the Gentiles shall seek, come to deliver us, do not tarry.

Say 1 Our Father...
Say 1 Hail Mary...
Say 1 Glory Be...



20 December

O Key of David, and Sceptre of the house of Israel, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth, come to liberate the prisoner from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.

Say 1 Our Father...
Say 1 Hail Mary...
Say 1 Glory Be...



21 December

O Dayspring, Brightness of the everlasting light, Son of justice, come to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death!

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

22 December

O King of the Gentiles, yea, and desire thereof! O Corner stone, that makest of two one, come to save man, whom Thou hast made out of the dust of the earth!

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...ko

23 December

O Emmanuel, our King and our Law giver, Longing of the Gentiles, yea, and salvation thereof, come to save us, O Lord our God!

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...

24 December

O Thou that sittest upon the cherubim, God of hosts, come, show Thy face, and we shall be saved.

Say 1 Our Father...

Say 1 Hail Mary...

Say 1 Glory Be...