"...I also tell you that in reading the nine Exercises of Christmas...one remains astounded at the immense Love and the immense suffering of Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ for love of us, and for the salvation of souls. I have never read in any other book on this topic a Revelation so touching and penetrating!"
St. Annibale Maria Di Francia, Feb. 14, 1927
First Excess of Love
First day Christmas Novena meditation suggested by Alejandra Acuña a young woman who teaches the Divine Will and her father José Luis Acuña who was instrumental in getting the 36 volumes of the DW approved.
First Day Meditation:
Acts of love, of adoration, of thankfulness to the Holy Trinity
By me and by all, for the Triune God’s infinite love for me, by decree the Incarnation of the Word to save me.
Ponder on my ingratitude toward God, my lack of love, my forgetfulness, my faults … and do acts of
repentance and reparation for my ingratitudes and those of all past present and future.
Pray to grow in knowledge and love to the Triune God. Propose to seek in all the Will of God and be more docile and obedient to it, asking for the grace that my will be one with the Will of the Father, by the example of Jesus, and in union with the Holy Spirit (“Father, that they may be one with us as You and I are one”. “Your will be done on earth as it is Heaven”)…
Second Excess of Love
*SECOND HOUR*
*(Stunned love)*
Then, my mind brought itself into the maternal womb, and remained stupefied in considering a God so great in Heaven, now so annihilated, restricted, constrained, as to be unable to move, and almost even to breathe.
The interior voice told me: “Do you see how much I have loved you? O please, make Me a little space in your heart; remove everything which is not Mine, so you will give Me more freedom to move and to breathe.”
My heart was consumed; I asked for His forgiveness, I promised to be completely His own, I poured myself out in crying; but – I say this to my confusion – I would go back to my usual defects. Oh Jesus, how good You are with this miserable creature!
*_Suggestion:_*
* _Acts of love, adoration, gratitude to Jesus at the moment of his Incarnation._
*_Total surrender and consecration to Jesus of my heart, of my will and of all myself._
*_Analyze what affections, desires, attachments, attitudes, situations, etc. they do not belong to Jesus, they do not go with his Will, to remove them, asking for his help._
*_Propose myself to be more humble, smaller, until I reach the annihilation of myself, so that He has space to work in me and with me (“I am no longer the one who lives, it is Christ who lives in me”)…_
Third Excess of Love
*THIRD HOUR*
*(Devouring love)*
As I moved on from the second to the third meditation, an interior voice told me: “My daughter, place your head upon the womb of my Mama, and look deep into it at my little Humanity. My love devoured Me; the fires, the oceans, the immense seas of love of my Divinity inundated Me, burned Me to ashes, and sent their flames so high as to rise and reach everywhere – all generations, from the first to the last man. My little Humanity was devoured in the midst of such flames; but do you know what my eternal love wants Me to devour? Ah! Souls! And only then was I content, when I devoured them all, to remain conceived with Me. I was God, and I was to operate as God – I had to take them all. My love would have given Me no peace, had I excluded any of them. Ah! My daughter, look well into the womb of my Mama; fix well your eyes on my conceived Humanity, and you will find your soul conceived with Me, and the flames of my love that devour you. Oh! How much I loved you, and I do love you!”
I felt dissolved in the midst of so much love, nor was I able to go out of it; but a voice called me loudly, saying: “My daughter, this is nothing yet; cling more tightly to Me, and give your hands to my dear Mama, that She may hold you to her maternal womb. And you, take another look at my little conceived Humanity, and watch the fourth excess of my love.”
_*Suggestion:*_
_ * To be loving him for me and for everyone during the 9 months that he was in the bosom of his Most Holy Mother._
_ * Thank him for having carried out his Incarnation and his first acts for me, not only keeping me present but having me within Him to give me his Life, his sufferings, his prayers, etc._
_ * Ask him to inflame and set me on fire with his flames of Love to grow in intensity of Love, in quantity of Love, in continuity of Love. And also to set everyone on fire with love… _
Fourth Excess of Love
Fifth Excess of Love
Sixth Excess of Love
Seventh Excess of Love
Eighth Excess of Love
Ninth Excess of Love
The Birth of Jesus
