Mental Prayer for December 28, Why Did Christ Come in Poverty?

Mental Prayer Meditation Helps

Presence of God

Grace I Ask: To realize God's love for me; to love Him in return.

Mental Picture: Cold, blustering, drizzling day... a cave, shelter for animals... walls and ceiling dripping... smelly, dark... smoke from a tiny fire of sodden sticks. A man and woman also seeking shelter while their baby is born. Gypsies? No! A King's guardian... a King's mother... the King of this world... and of heaven!

My Personal Application: There is only one tragedy: not to love God. To die thus is to live for all eternity without the only one who is my complete good and happiness.

But how easy God has made it to love Him. He became man, even a helpless baby, to prove His love. He who was all-rich made Himself poor for my sake. How poor? Look! Look around His stable-home.

The things around me can keep me from loving God... even though they can and ought to increase my love of Him. Do I make the good things of this world my heaven? Do I see how tragic it is to love things more than God who gives them? - He - more wonderful than all of them. Do I realize the value of doing without things, to love Jesus more, to be like Him, to become strong and not love anything more than God Himself?

I Speak to Christ: Jesus, I thank you for making it so easy to love you. Today I will give up some­thing for love of you. Give me the grace, at least to want to give up something for you every day of my life so that I may always realize earth is not my heaven.

Thought for Today: Poor child Jesus - my God of abundance!
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)