January 29

Christmas Day

The true Light. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. S. John 1:9, 14.

EVERY other light is but a shadow of that true Light, which is Christ; whatever directs a man aright, whether natural conscience or religion, or the Holy Spirit within him, all is from Christ and of Christ. Oh that our steps may be ever in His light; that the day-star may arise in the heart and lead us to Him! May He Himself be in the heart "the bright and morning star," before the full day arise. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," or, as it might be rendered, "within us;" and oh may it be so with us this day! He comes to us as of old veiled in a mystery of lowliness, in mean elements; He, "Whose goings forth have been from everlasting," lies hid in Bethlehem, which is by interpretation the House of Bread, Bethlehem, the "little one." May the Incarnate God Who disdained not the lowly manger, come to visit us in this the humble mystery of His altar, and make His tabernacle within our souls; may we have eyes to behold His glory, and in beholding to be changed. His glory was in His humiliation and suffering, and therefore to the carnal mind was He "without form or comeliness, or any beauty, that we should desire Him;" but to them who behold and adore in Him the Only-Begotten of the Father, He is "full of grace," filling their souls out of His own fulness.

True living Bread, the Bread that gives true life, Make my soul taste Thee, feed on Thee, and live. O Fount of purity! Jesu, my Lord. . . . O Thou Whom I behold beneath the veil, Grant one thing unto me, for which I thirst, Suppliant I pray Thee, that I may behold Thy gracious Countenance within the veil; And, when I see Thy glory, may be blest.