The Christmas Novena – nine days before the birth of our Saviour – starts on December 16 and finishes December 24.
There are many kinds of Christmas Novena. Whatever the kind of Novena one is following one cannot fail from experiencing the spiritual meaning of Christmas. On this point I am personally helped with the awesome reflection Pope Benedict XVI gave us in his general audience address of Wednesday, 17 December 2008, at Paul VI Audience Hall. Pope Benedict spoke about the special characteristic of Christmas which makes it a celebration that speaks to all. Also, in contemplating the Baby Jesus at the manger we see the children of today, both the born and unborn, who are maltreated and even killed in the womb! Pope Benedict said:
Because of the atmosphere that distinguishes it, Christmas is a universal celebration. In fact, even those who do not profess themselves to be believers can perceive in this annual Christian event something extraordinary and transcendent, something intimate that speaks to the heart. It is a Feast that praises the gift of life. The birth of a child must always be an event that brings joy; the embrace of a newborn baby usually inspires feelings of kindness and care, of emotion and tenderness. Christmas is the encounter with a newborn baby lying in a humble grotto. In contemplating him in the manger, how can we fail to think of all those children who continue to be born today in great poverty in many regions of the world? How can we fail to think of those newborn infants who are not welcomed, who are rejected, who do not manage to survive because of the lack of care and attention? How can we fail to think also of the families who long for the joy of a child and do not see their hope fulfilled? Unfortunately, under the influence of hedonist consumerism Christmas risks losing its spiritual meaning and being reduced to a mere commercial opportunity for purchases and the exchange of gifts! However, it is true that the difficulties, the uncertainties and the financial crisis itself that numerous families have had to come to terms with in recent months and which is affecting all humanity could be an incentive to rediscover the warmth of simplicity, friendship and solidarity: typical values of Christmas. Stripped of its consumerist and materialistic encrustations, Christmas can thus become an opportunity for welcoming, as a personal gift, the message of hope that emanates from the mystery of Christ’s Birth.
I strongly feel that the following Christmas Novena is a personal gift from God in order for us to cherish his coming here in our shattered world. In Day one of the Novena, after we start with the signing of the Holy Cross we pray: O Lord, Word of God, You, whose glory is complete, came to us in perfect humility as a child in the womb. Your love for us and Your humility is unsurpassed and brings us to our knees in prayer and worship. Love understood as humility is the catalyst for us to adore Him. That is why we tell him, heart to heart: Your incarnation forever changed the world.
After this prayer we pray the Glory be to the Father and then move on to another prayer, addressed to the Holy Infant of Bethlehem, which implores Jesus to fill us with Joy. It is interesting that we pray with Mary, Mother of Jesus, Mother of God, so that we are filled to the brim with the joy of Jesus. Here is the prayer: O Lord, infant Jesus, fill us with Joy! The birth of any child is a cause for joy and so much more is the birth of You, our Savior. We pray in union with Mary, Your mother, for a greater joy this Christmas.
Then, this Novena gets more practical because we are invited to state our intentions for the day we are praying. Immediately after stating our intentions, we pray for God’s will to be accomplished in our lives, that same will which is part and parcel of the work of salvation which started with Jesus Christ and will find its completion with you and me: May Your Holy Will be done in my life and with these intentions. We pray that the work of salvation that Your first coming began will reach fulfillment in each of us. After this prayer we praise God by the Glory be and end the Novena for that Day by the signing of the Cross.
What I like about this simple yet powerful Christmas Novena is, first and foremost, it rightly highlights the power of Christ’s Incarnation in tenderness. Here I am reminded once again of the beautiful reflection by Pope Benedict XVI on the Son of God when he was born amongst us. From his General Audience address of Wednesday, 21 December 2011: In Christmas we find the tenderness and love of God who stoops to our limitations, to our weaknesses, to our sins, and who bends down even to us. St Paul declares that Jesus Christ, “who, though he was in the form of God… emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:6-7). Let us look at the Bethlehem Grotto: God humbled himself to the point of being laid in a manger, already a prelude to the humbling of himself in the hour of his passion. The culmination of the love story between God and man passes through the manger in Bethlehem and the tomb in Jerusalem.
However, this Novena includes you and me within the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ. His Incarnation also means that he has put upon himself us and our problems, demonstrating that He is not an indifferent God but a God who becomes one with the people he lovingly created and saved. Here I am reminded of Pope Francis’ address in his General Audience of December 28, 2022: Our strengths, our weaknesses, only resolve themselves before the crib, before Jesus, or before the Cross. Jesus stripped, Jesus poor; but always with His style of closeness, compassion, and tenderness. God has found the means to attract us however we are: with love. Not a possessive and selfish love, as unfortunately human love so often is. His love is pure gift, pure grace, it is all and only for us, for our good. And so He draws us in, with this unarmed and even disarming love. Because when we see this simplicity of Jesus, we too cast aside the weapons of pride and go, humbly, to ask for salvation, to ask for forgiveness, to ask for light for our lives, in order to be able to move forward. Do not forget the throne of Jesus. The manger and the Cross: this is the throne of Jesus.
Lord, through this powerful Novena which celebrates your glorious incarnation amongst us, help me trust more and more in your saving mercy. Amen.