Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day-January 25

WHY did Mary, who had so earnestly desired the birth of her Son, and who loved him so much, allow him to lie and suffer on the hard bed of straw, instead of keeping him in her arms? The most pleasing explanation to me is that of St Peter Damian: Jesus wished as soon as he was born to be placed on straw in order to teach us the mortification of our senses.
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From Thoughts from St Alphonsus for Every Day
Compiled by Rev. C. McNeiry, C.SS.R.
Imprimatur: Joseph Hull, C.SS.R., Prov. Angl. Sup.
Nihil Obstat: Innocentlus Apap, O.P., S.T.M., Censor Deptutatus.
Imprimatur: Edm. Can. Surmont, Vicarius Generalis.
Westmonasterii, Die 9a Junii, 1927.
First published 1927