January 27, 2026
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
Jesus in His cradle not only teaches humility in general; He also teaches the different degrees of it, which are: 1st, to have humble ideas of ourselves; 2d, to take pleasure in these humble sentiments. We shall see that the Child Jesus admirably teaches us both the one and the other. We will then make the resolution: 1st, to bless God for all that humbles us, without troubling ourselves about it or being afflicted; 2d, to have recourse to Him with confidence in the midst of our miseries, knowing that He protects all those who, knowing themselves to be miserable, call Him to their aid. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of David: "I will make myself meaner than I have done, and I will be little in my own eyes" (II. Kings vi. 22).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us transport ourselves in spirit to the cradle of the Infant Jesus. Let us, as far as in us lies, raise His profound humiliation by our homage, and let us beg of Him to shed the grace of it upon our souls.
FIRST POINT
Jesus in the Cradle Teaches us to have Humble Ideas of Ourselves.
The first lesson of Jesus, on His arrival in this world, is to teach us to substitute profound contempt for the vain esteem in which we hold ourselves. Although so little in His cradle, He humbles Himself still more in His own opinion. The thought that His humanity is taken from nothingness makes Him conduct Himself in the presence of His Father with the most humble reverence and as pure nothingness (Ps. xxxviii. 6). Now we ought to abase ourselves still more in ourselves, for not only are we nothing (Gal. vi. 3), but to nothingness we have added sin; and, because of this double title, forgetfulness, rejection, confusion, and contempt are our portion. Woe to him who does not understand this truth! The chief of the angels in heaven, because he looked upon himself as something, was lost; David, on the contrary, because he humbled himself after his sin, obtained mercy. To recognize that one is nothing in oneself, and less than nothing as a sinner, is, consequently, to despise ourselves profoundly, so as to appear vile in our own eyes, and in this true humility consists, without which we are cast off by God because of our pride (I. Imit. ii.). "I am," said St. Vincent de Paul of himself, "a monster of malice, more wicked than the devil, who did not deserve hell so much as I do." Lord, grant that, like St. Vincent de Paul, I may know myself in order to despise and hate myself (St. Augustine), and that instead of excusing my faults and defects I may ingenuously confess that I am a wretch.
SECOND POINT
Jesus in the Cradle Teaches us to take Pleasure in the Low Ideas which Truth gives us of Ourselves.
I take pleasure, said St. Paul, in the sight of my infirmities and my miseries, because I know that the more I abase myself in the sight of God, the more closely will He draw near to me, and will communicate to me His graces (II. Cor. xii. 10). Human pride, on the contrary, is vexed and discouraged at seeing in itself so much misery, given to so many falls and so much weakness, so many evil inclinations, and possessed of so little talent, so little intelligence, so little distinction, so few virtues and merits. In order to correct our pride, the Divine Infant places His joy in seeing Himself in the most profound abasement, to be the last of men (Is. liii. 3), a worm of the earth (Ps. xxi. 7), hidden in a little cradle around which people go and come without paying any attention to it; in a word, to appear as nothing but weakness and powerlessness. Mary, His Mother, sharing in these sentiments, delights to appear to be obscure and ignorant among the daughters of Juda; she loves this littleness as being the charm which has attracted towards her the eyes of the Most High (Luke i. 48). In fact, God looks lovingly upon every soul which delights itself in the reality of what it is. He never refuses His assistance to misery which confesses itself to be miserable; He sheds His graces upon it, because it places itself at the standpoint of truth, and He cherishes this disposition so greatly that He makes of it the first beatitude of the Gospel (Matt. v. 3). Happy those who, seeing themselves to be poor, abject, devoid of everything that is good, willingly accept their humiliations as a remedy against pride; for this remedy frees them from pride, the fruitful source of all evil, and it is in the judgment of the saints one of the most evident signs of predestination.
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.