Prayer.
ALL hail! most lovely, most holy, most amiable, Infant Jesus, King of my soul! Ah! blessed be the hour in which Your holy Mother will give You to me as my ransom. O most beautiful above the children of men! give me grace to prepare to receive you worthily on the glorious feast of Your nativity. Give me a heart ail glowing with holy desires, love, gratitude, and ardent zeal, to correspond with the designs which bring You on earth. Give me the true spirit of Your holy nativity, a spirit of humility, silence, detachment, docility, meekness, and true and ardent charity. Give me grace daily to advance in devotion to Your blessed Infancy, and faithfully to persevere in the discharge of all my duties, in spite of the allurements of Satan, or the railleries of the world. Bless me then, divine Infant, as You blessed the humble and simple shepherds watching over their flocks; and let me ever remember, that it is to the humble, simple, and faithful You most willingly communicate Your choicest gifts. Amen.
(Prayer as first day, to Mary and Joseph.)
PRAYER TO THE INFANT JESUS.
(Suitable for those in charge of children.)
O ETERNAL God, made an Infant for love of us, to Thee do I offer each little child, whom for Thy love and in honor of Thy holy childhood I will devote my whole strength to instruct and save. Grant that I may ever behold Thee in the children confided to my care: and never, oh, never permit, my Jesus, that any act or word of mine should scandalize Thy little ones.
Give ma a share in Thy humility, Thy charity, and Thy gentleness to all. Grant Thy blessing to my labors and bring me safely to heaven, where surrounded by these little ones whom I taught to love Thee, I may praise Thee and bless Thee for ever.
The Last Day of the Year.
THE end of the year should naturally make you think of the end of your life. This reflection should induce you to place yourself in the state in which you would
