Day 6: The Nativity at Midnight

The sixth day of the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena turns to the central event itself: the birth of the Lord Jesus at midnight in Bethlehem. The Anticipation Prayer that we have been reciting for the past five days names this hour with Catholic precision: the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. Today we contemplate the hour itself.

Today's prayer (recite fifteen times)

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, through the merits of Our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

Today's meditation

The Gospel of Saint Luke records the moment in three brief verses: "And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn" (Luke 2:6-7). The Catholic devotional tradition has filled out the moment with extensive meditation, but the Gospel itself preserves a striking restraint. The Eternal Word, the Light of the world, the Lord through whom all things were made, was born in a stable at midnight, wrapped in cloths, and laid among the cattle.

The Catholic theological tradition has read the manger as a particular sign. The Greek word phatne means a feeding-trough; the Lord who would later say "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35) and "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53) was placed at His birth in the place where animals come to eat. The patristic and medieval Catholic theological tradition saw in this an anticipation of the Eucharist: the Lord lying in the trough was the same Lord who would, on the Cross, give Himself as our food, and who would (and does) give Himself as our food in every Mass.

The midnight hour has been preserved in the Catholic liturgy as the time of the Mass at Midnight, traditionally the first of three Christmas Masses (Mass at Midnight, Mass at Dawn, Mass during the Day) celebrated by Catholic priests with the special privilege of trinationation (three Masses on the same day, otherwise forbidden) on Christmas. The Catholic faithful who attend the Mass at Midnight on Christmas Eve enter into the same hour the prayer has been naming for the past five days.

Today's intention

Today, in addition to your principal intention, ask the Lord Jesus, born at midnight, to be born again in your soul. The Catholic spiritual tradition has long observed that Christmas is most fruitful when the soul prepares for it by an interior preparation analogous to Mary's nine-month pregnancy. The novena is a brief Catholic intensification of this preparation. Lord Jesus, born at midnight in Bethlehem, be born again in my soul this Christmas. Find the manger of my heart prepared for You.

If at all possible, make a sacramental Confession in the days remaining before Christmas. The principal Catholic preparation for the celebration of the Lord's coming is the cleansing of the soul that the Sacrament of Penance accomplishes. The Lord prefers a clean manger, and He gives the means of cleaning it freely in the confessional.

Reflection

The Catholic theological tradition has long treated the Lord's birth as the principal Catholic moment of joy in the entire liturgical year. The whole structure of the Catholic Christmas (the Octave of Christmas, the Twelve Days of Christmas, the entire Christmas season extending through the Baptism of the Lord) is the Catholic prolongation of the joy of the midnight hour. The Glory to God in the highest sung by the angels (Luke 2:14) is the Catholic Gloria, sung at every Sunday Mass throughout the liturgical year (except in Advent and Lent), in echo of the angels' song.

To pray the Saint Andrew Christmas Novena in the weeks before Christmas is to enter into this Catholic joy in advance, to prepare the soul to receive what the Mass at Midnight will give in fullness, and to align our private interior life with the public liturgical life of the Catholic Church.

Closing

Conclude with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.