Benjamin Gerritsz. Cuyp – Adoration of the Shepherds
December 25, 1932
The birth of the little Infant Jesus was universal; He was born in everything and in everyone. How, in order to keep us safe, He came to cover us with the garment of His Humanity. Example of the sun.
My abandonment in the Fiat continues. Today, on the day of Holy Christmas, I spent the whole night without seeing my Celestial Baby, and I felt a pang in my heart without the One who forms my life and my all. Ah! to live without Him is like living as if one had no life – tortured, without strength, without supports, which forms the most terrible of deaths for my poor and little soul. And amid the anxieties and the fear, I prayed the Supreme Volition to unveil to me the One who loved me and who formed my hard martyrdom. Then, while in this state, my mind remained as though captivated by an immense light which filled Heaven and earth; and – oh! marvel, I saw the little Divine Baby reborn in each created thing, in each heart, in everything; the little Infant Jesus, multiplied, bilocated, reborn in the infinite manner, in everything and in each one. So, all had the good of feeling within them, being born, the Celestial Baby. O! how beautiful it was to see Him, tiny little One, in the sun, in the stars, in all the elements, in all creatures; and all sang His praises and had the great honor, the immense good, of His being reborn in each one, and of possessing, as their own, the sweet pledge of little Baby Jesus.
Then, between amazement and stupefaction, I saw that the One whom I was looking for with so many sighs and anxieties, was born in me also, and I squeezed Him so very tightly in my arms; and He let me do it – even more, He enjoyed my doing that; and, all tenderness, told me: “My daughter, love Me, love Me. I am born to love and to be loved; and to do it as God, my birth is universal. I would not have acted as God had I not been born in a universal manner, in a way that all can say, with facts: ‘The Celestial Infant is born for me, He is mine; and this is so true, that I already possess Him.’ My love would remain hampered had I not been able to be reborn for all; my power would have been limited, my immensity restricted, if my re-birth were not universal. And this is no wonder: since my Divinity filled Heaven and earth, in the same way, by incorporating Itself into my little Humanity, It multiplied It and bilocated It, in such a way as to make Me be reborn in all and in each one. These are Our divine and infinite ways that We have, such that all must take the good that We do, and be pregnant with Our works. More so since, having descended from Heaven to earth, I wanted to take on human flesh in order to glorify completely the glory of the Celestial Father, to make up for all that man had not done. Here, then, my little Humanity wanted to be reborn also in the created things, because man had not given Us the glory, the requital of the love for Our having created a heaven, a sun and many other things; and my Humanity, being reborn in them, glorified my Celestial Father completely for the whole work of Creation. Man, by rejecting my Divine Will, had rendered himself impotent to everything; and I came to be his Savior, Repairer, Glorifier, Defender, and I covered him inside the garment of my Humanity, to keep him safe, and to answer for him, I Myself, in each thing, before my Celestial Father. My love was so great, that my Divinity, in order to give vent to my love, led Me to be born in each heart and in all things; and this is so true, that the first to recognize Me and sing my praises were the created things, because, feeling my birth in them, they exulted with joy and made feast for Me. But do you know who the ones are who make feast for Me as I am born in their hearts? Those who possess my Divine Will. These immediately perceive that I am born in their hearts, and they make perennial feast for Me; while the others make Me cry, give Me sorrow and, by sin, prepare for Me the knife with which to wound Me, or to kill Me.”
After this, I remained all immersed in His love. The moving scene of the birth of the Celestial Baby, so universal and in each one, made me comprehend who knows how many things. But I believe it is better to let them pass in silence, because, incapable of saying them well, I might speak nonsense. Then, to make feast to the Celestial Infant, I abandoned all of myself in the Divine Will; and He, coming back again, was so very graceful, of a beauty so rare, such that no other can be found similar to it. And, all love, enclosing Himself in my heart as the place of His birth, He repeated in me His baby crying, the loving moans, His repeated sobs. O! how touching it was to see Him now crying, now sobbing, now wailing. He made His first entrance of re-birth in each one and in everything, with the weapons of His tears, with the stratagems of His sobs, with the pleas of His wailing. By this, He rendered Himself captivating, and by dint of captivating with the strength of a God that He possessed, He entered into the hearts to form His new re-birth. O! Heavens – bow down and, together with me, love and adore the Celestial Infant.
But while my mind was wandering in a mystery so great, the sweet little Baby, amid tears and sobs, mixed with a celestial attitude of smile, added: “Blessed daughter, not only was my birth universal – since, as God, I could not do otherwise – but I found Myself in the condition of the sun, such that, whether they want it or not, all created things, the whole Creation and all creatures must receive its light, its heat. From the height where it descends with its empire of light and with its supremacy, which it holds over everyone and over everything, in its muteness, yet more loudly than if it were speaking, the sun seems to say: ‘Either you receive me with love, or I will invest you with the rights that I possess to give you light. And if you do not want to receive me, I will surround you from all sides, in such a way that you will not be able to escape my light, and I will have the great glory that I have given my light to all.’ The sun, symbol of my birth, since it too is reborn every day for everything and for each one; and I, not only am I reborn in a universal way, but, while being reborn, I make an invasion – not only am I reborn in the heart, but I invade the mind with my thoughts, the eyes with my tears, the voice with my wailing, in such a way as to make the universal invasion of all creatures. I take her from all sides, that she may not be able to escape Me. If they receive Me with love, my life is not only reborn in them, but grows in a surprising way; but if they do not receive Me with love, I am reborn in them with my rights of God that I possess, but I do not grow in them, I remain small and lonely, and I stay there in reserve, waiting that, who knows, with my wailing and tears, they might be induced to love Me. And if I do not succeed, my life changes into justice for them; and – oh! how tortured is my little Heart in seeing my birth, all love, changed into justice for the poor creature. So, since I am born in you, give Me the good of letting Me grow; in this way you will change my tears and my wailing into joys.”
Fiat!!!
Reload document 
Open in new tab 