"Put off the old man with his works, and put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.""Put off the old man with his works, and put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ."
God delights in those who make themselves little and become as little children; He keeps them near His person, and nourishes them with the milk of divine love, in order to prepare them for the sweet wine of holy love, which inebriates those who drink it; but it is a blessed wine, which gives daily more wisdom.
Let us make ourselves as children with Jesus, hiding ourselves in our nothingness; let us be humble and simple as children by an exact obedience, by purity of heart, by love of holy poverty by a love of sufferings, and, above all, by childlike simplicity in the faithful observance of our rules and constitutions, and let us not take the liberty to interpret them broadly nor in any other sense than their own. Narrow is the way that leads to life. Let us allow ourselves to be guided and used by our superiors, whom God has placed over us for our government and direction.
Thus we shall be true imitators of the Child Jesus, Who abandoned Himself in everything to the care of His Mother, the most holy and immaculate Virgin Mary.
By these beautiful virtues you will render yourselves worthy to partake of the banquet of angels.
At this sacred banquet contemplate the divine Child, trembling with cold, which He suffered that He might enkindle in our hearts the flames of divine love. Ah! ponder attentively this grand mystery. Consider the inconveniences, the cold, the poverty, the absence of all comforts which Jesus, Mary, and Joseph endured; and I hope that, through the goodness of God, you will form the generous resolution of becoming great saints by the faithful imitation of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
Model your hearts on that of the divine Infant, that He may vivify you, encourage you, inflame you, sanctify you, render you capable of doing great things for the glory of God; and may the holy Virgin keep you pure with the precious balm of her virtues! Amen.
O Jesus, my Love, may my heart be consumed in loving Thee; make me humble and holy; give me childlike simplicity; transform me into thy holy love. O Jesus, life of my life, joy of my soul, God of my heart, accept my heart as an altar, on which I will sacrifice to Thee the gold of ardent charity, the incense of continual, humble, and fervent prayer, and the myrrh of constant mortification! Amen.
- text taken from Flowers of the Passion, taken from the letters of Saint Paul of the Cross