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O Rex Gentium, et desideratus earum,lapisque angularis, qui facis utraque unum:veni, et salva hominem, quem de limo formasti.

“O King of the nations and desired of them, and the Corner-stone that maketh both one, come and save man, whom Thou didst form of dust.”

1. Never was there a king who had such a claim to sovereignty as Christ Our Lord. He is King by divine appointment and His own right. He is King by the consentient voice of His subjects, and by the right of conquest. He is King by reason of His having purchased us with His own blood. What unnumbered claims He has on me ! and besides all the rest, does He not deserve to reign supreme by reason of His having won me by His love ?

2. Christ was desired by all nations, long before they knew Him Whom they desired. The heathen world felt a craving want, which it could not define, but which was the desire for the Savior Who should free them from the bondage of sin. So now men of good-will outside the Church feel something of the same strange longing. Nothing will satisfy it save submission to their King by union with His mystical body, the Church of God. Oh, how happy am I, whose desires are fulfilled in that I am no alien, but a servant of that King Whom to serve is my own desire !

3. Christ is the Corner-stone that maketh both one ; the King of peace, Whose work it is to unite together those who love Him in the unity of mutual love of one another for His sake. Thus He desires that I should be united to those around me, that there should be no dissension or disunion. Do I in this fulfill the pleasure of my King ? "

Meditations for Advent . By Rev. Richard F. Clarke S.J. The Catholic Truth Society, London 1891 Digitized by google

Saint Andrew Christmas Novena:

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 the piercing cold. In that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee, O my God, to hear my prayer and grant my desires, [here mention your request] through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen. (15 times)

Prayer to the Holy Infant for priests

Jesus, Divine Infant, I bless and thank Thy most loving Heart for the institution of the priesthood. Priests are sent by Thee as Thou were sent by the Father. To them Thou entrusted the treasures of Thy doctrine, of Thy Law, of Thy Grace, and souls themselves.

Grant me the grace to love them, to listen to them, and to let myself be guided by them in Thy ways. Jesus, send good laborers into Thy harvest. May priests be the salt that purifies and preserves; may they be the light of the world; may they be the city placed on the mountain. May they all be formed after Thy own Heart. And in heaven may they be surrounded by a joyous throng of those they shepherded on earth. Amen.

Glory Be (three times).
Infant Jesus, make me love Thee more and more

"My Lord and My God".

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rocky Mount NC

"Thomas, now returned to Jerusalem, was the only one who refused to believe so many witnesses. "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails," he said, "and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side. I will not believe." Therefore, the eighth days after Easter, the Apostles, and this time Thomas with them, being gathered together in the upper chamber for prayer, and the doors being closed, Jesus stood suddenly in the midst of them, and turning to Thomas, He said, "Put in thy finger hither, and see My hands, and bring hither thy hand, and put it into My side, and be not faithless, but believing." The Apostle, now convinced, fell on his knees, exclaiming, in faith and repentance, "My Lord and my God!" Then, in tones of reproof, Jesus answered him, "Because thou hast see Me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and have believed."

This, then, is the last link in the chain of evidence which attests the resurrection of our Lord, and it was, as St. Gregory remarks, for the confirmation of our faith that God permitted such marvelous unbelief. Could those who might refuse to believe the Apostles possibly refuse to accept the testimony of St. Thomas? Therefore Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, died upon the cross to expiate our sins and truly rose from the dead by His own power; therefore the Christian faith is divine and absolutely certain: therefore the Catholic Church, which brings to us this faith, is the mother of our souls and harbor of salvation.

Let us have more faith than Thomas, let us believe without seeing, the truth affirmed by the Gospel, by the holy Apostles and martyrs; let us believe, love, and adore our risen Lord.

"He who believes shall be saved: he who believes not shall be condemned."

Source: The Light of the Cross in the Twentieth Century, by the Paulist Father Volume 3, 1905