Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother
This is the website address of the internet women's prayer apostolate that I told you about, called
Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother:
I pray that you and all of your readers will have a very Joyful Christmas!
Cami Murphy
This is this month's devotional. I write and email a devotional to the Little Handmaids and other contacts each month. We will soon have a blog with all of the devotionals on it on our website. This is a bilingual apostolate, and members do not have to attend any meetings. Thank you, and God bless you.
Come to the Cross: A Monthly Devotional
of Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother
“Only the Glory of God Remains”: A 4-part series
On Modern Society’s Moral Degeneration and Its Remedies
“Everything around you is passing, and everything is falling apart; only the glory of God remains. Therefore, renounce everything that distances you from the Lord. Adore Him alone, because He is the only true God. I am with you and I will remain with you. I am especially praying for the shepherds, that they may be worthy representatives of my Son and may lead you with love on the way of truth. Thank you.”
(excerpt of message of Our Lady of Medjugorje, Sept. 2, 2011)
December 2011: Part 3: “O Come Let Us Adore Him”
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
In this world the Christ Child is being more and more exiled. Walmart and other major department stores are selling “holiday” cards, “holiday” trees, “holiday” gifts, and the other usual sources of huge profit, while the name “Christmas,” which expresses the true “reason for the season,” is nowhere to be found in their buildings.
People wander from store to store, anxious over what to buy for family and friends, and it seems to me that hearts long to give in the season of Advent, that no matter how much people buy, they never feel that they have spent or given enough. Maybe it’s because we have lost sight of the True Gift. Maybe it’s because we haven’t received the True Gift into our empty hearts. We do not know what we truly long for.
We have lost sight of the reason for which the Christ Child came to that cold cave, which was like an image of the cold world which has never warmly received Him. Yes, there were a few souls who came to adore and worship this newborn King—some shepherds and three wise men—hearts hungering for the salvation that He brought with Him, hungering for the wonder of His infinite love, reflecting the love of His Father (and ours) who gave Him to us to suffer, even from His birth and throughout His life, and to die that we might have eternal life. How many souls are there today—to use Our Lady’s words—who fervently desire to adore Him alone, because He is the only true God?
Maybe it’s appropriate that the name “Christmas” has been banished from the department stores, because I imagine Jesus going into the department stores—as He did in the temple--and overturning the tables and shelves and saying, “These material things are not the Gift that My Father has sent to you! This is not the reason for My coming!” The artificial holiday trees, the garlands and glitter, are signs of a world that wants to cover up its emptiness with illusions of happiness, either blind to the truth that true joy and true love require sacrifice, or unwilling to make the sacrifice: the living sacrifice of our hearts to the Living God.
“O come let us adore Him”…” in Spirit and in Truth.” O come let us adore Him, Really Present in all of the tabernacles of the world—present even from His very conception in the Blessed Virgin Mary’s womb. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”
(Heb. 13:8).
“O come let us adore Him”…”Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9)...”For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23).
“O come let us adore Him”…who “although He was a Son,…learned obedience through what He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). “O come let us adore Him”…”Jesus”…who “suffered…in order to sanctify the people through His own blood” (Heb. 13:12)…”Christ…suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His steps”(1 Pet. 2:21)…”When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten; but He trusted to Him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23).
“O come let us adore Him”… “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—“ (Eph. 2:8).
“O come let us adore Him”…”While we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6)...”For to this end Christ died and lived again that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom. 14:9).
“O come let us adore Him”…for “ grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift” (Eph. 4:7).
“O come let us adore Him”…”And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2)…”Through Him let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name” (Heb. 13:15)…“I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”
(Rom. 12:1).
“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!”(2 Cor. 9:15)
We invite you to visit the Little Handmaids of Our Sorrowful Mother at www.sorrowfulmother.net