January 4
"What are you doing, O Magi? Do you adore a little Babe, in a wretched hovel, wrapped in miserable rags? Can this Child be truly God? … Are you become foolish, O Wise Men … Yes, these Wise Men have become fools that they may be wise."
-St. Bernard of Clairvaux
January 3
“People can pass thirty nights in dancing and no one complains about it, but if they watch through a single Christmas night they cough and claim their stomach is upset the next morning. Does anyone fail to see that the world is an unjust judge, gracious and well disposed to its own children but harsh and rigorous towards the children of God?”
-St. Francis de Sales
January 2
"O Father, in your Truth... you have humbled me. He was humbled in the womb of the Virgin, needy in the manger of the sheep, and homeless on the wood of the Cross. Nothing so humbles the proud sinner as the humility of Jesus Christ’s humanity."
-St. Anthony of Padua
January 1
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
"Arise, all ye nobles and peasants; Mary invites all, rich and poor, just and sinners, to enter the cave of Bethlehem, to adore and to kiss the feet of her new-born Son. Go in, then, all ye devout souls; go and see the Creator of heaven and earth on a little hay, under the form of a little Infant; but so beautiful that he sheds all around rays of light. Now that he is born and is lying on the straw, the cave is no longer horrible, but is become a paradise. Let us enter; let us not be afraid."
-St. Alphonsus Liguori
December 31
"Open wide your door to the one who comes. Open your soul, throw open the depths of your heart to see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the sweetness of grace. Open your heart and run to meet the Sun of eternal light that illuminates all men."
-St. Ambrose of Milan
December 30
“A God who became so small could only be mercy and love.”
-St. Thérèse of Lisieux
December 29
“Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore.”
-St. Augustine
December 28
“O Holy Night, so long awaited, which has united God and man forever! You rekindle our hope. You fill us with ecstatic wonder. You assure us of the triumph of love over hatred, of life over death.”
-Pope St. John Paul II
December 27
“Although he was the Son of God, Jesus Christ wished for the sake of our redemption to become one of us. He shared our human condition, making himself part of the world of his time, speaking the language of his country, and drawing on local life for the examples with which to illustrate his teachings of justice, truth, hope, and love. Today, his teaching spreads throughout the world.”
–St. Paul VI
December 26
“Celebrate the feast of Christmas every day; even every moment in the interior temple of your spirit, remaining like a baby in the bosom of the heavenly Father, where you will be reborn each moment in the Divine Word.”
—St. Paul of the Cross
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