Prayers of Hope and Perseverance, III

  III.

And most holy Theotokos, the God Bearer, how did it feel to have the Living Word come to live in your womb, nestled under your ribs, and lulled to sleep by the rhythmic beating of your heart?

How was it that on the day of the annunciation when you were overshadowed by the Holy Spirit the moment in which our Lord entered the world that you were not consumed? For how can one have the Consuming Fire within her and not be blackened into ashes?  The Lord has anointed you with His favor, for you are like the burning bush that was not consumed and the Son of Man in the fire that shielded the three youths.

Most Holy Mother, truly thou art more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim for by you our Lord Jesus became flesh. 

And what a beautiful, sacred plan that was.  For our Lord, the Most Majestic One came to earth as a babe, weak and helpless dependent on others to fulfill His needs. The Lord assumed all of humanity. He took on everything a man must endure, yet he was without sin.

My Lord, you have struggled with the devil. You have known betrayal and heartbreak.  You have been tempted to sin in anger. There is nothing that we experience that You have not carried with You to the cross. There is no temptation known to man that You have not experienced.  Like Gregory the Theologian said, “What is not assumed, is not healed.” For You to heal us, to save humanity, You must assume all of us that is human. You must be fully God and fully man.

My Lord, My God as we get nearer to Christmas, help us to understand your true plan for salvation. Help us not to get caught up in the hype that surrounds us. Help us to cherish the fact that You lowered yourself. You humbled yourself by coming from the heavens to join us on this soiled earth. Let us not be blinded by the commercialism that is waiting desperately to devour us. Let the light in our hearts be fed and become an out of control raging fire.