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Meditations
Meditations for Advent and Easter
by the author of "Meditations for Lent," "St. Francis and the Franciscans," "The Life and Revelations of S. Gertrude," Etc. Etc.
Meditation VII - Saturday
The Heart of the Infant Jesus, the Mystic Dew
"Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour." (Is. xlv. 8.)
1st Prelude. - Consider your Infant Jesus coming down from heaven as a gentle dew, to fertilize the earth; watering the earth, which is Mary, and budding forth as a Saviour.
2nd Prelude. - Pray that sweet Jesus may drop dew upon your soul, as a mystic earth, and bud forth salvation in your heart.
1st Point. - Consider the magnificence and beauty of this simile. . . The dew drops gently from heaven; and by this mystic dew we may understand the Divinity of Jesus. It comes from heaven, but descends to earth. It comes from above, but it falls, like long-expected rain, into the womb of Mary. And Mary is the earth, the mystic earth, into which the Divinity descends, that by the power of that Divinity, which alone could operate so great a marvel, it may bud forth a Saviour. O thrice holy Dew! O thrice blessed Earth! The earth - that is, the soul of Mary - has pined, and longed, and prayed for that Dew. The ardour of her desires has brought it down from heaven. Again and again she cried as none ever had cried, or will yet cry: "For Thee my soul hath thirsted; for Thee my flesh, O how many ways!" (Ps. lxii. 2.) She thirsted for her God, not alone that her own soul might be filled, but that her people might be refreshed by the living waters. She looked out upon the world, parched and dried by the scorching fires of sin and lust, and she cried to God that He would come and deliver His people; and for her sake He came.
2nd Point. - As the first man Adam was formed from the earth, so the second man also would be formed from the virgin earth, Mary. He drops His Divinity, as dew, into her womb in the silence of the night, that the bud of His Humanity may germinate therein. He comes with the silence of dew. His descent into her womb was hidden and noiseless; and thus His grace comes even now, as a soft and silent dew, into the hearts of His chosen ones. Oh, how earnestly we should pray that this mystic dew of grace may descend into our hearts! How earnestly we should cry out, "For Thee my soul hath thirsted; for Thee my flesh, O how many ways!" and when the dew of grace has softened and fertilized us, then we may hope that Christ will be found within us, and that our life may become so one with His, that He may indeed be our life.
3rd Point. - If we desire this mystic Dew, if we wish that Jesus should germinate in us, by assimilating our life to His, let us seek this favour and grace through Mary. Let us seek to be like her in our lives, if we desire in our measure to be like her in her favours. Her heart was prepared for this Dew; it was calm, loving, and full of desire to obtain it; and when the Dew descended into that virgin earth, O how faithfully she corresponded with all the fertility it effected! It is the quality of dew to refresh and fertilize; let us pray that we may obtain all that our coming Saviour desires to give.
Aspiration. - Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just.
Form your resolution, and place it in the Heart of the Infant Jesus. Examen of Meditation.
Return to the Sixth Meditation . . . Proceed to the Eighth Meditation