Evening Meditations for January 1st ~ St Alphonsus Liguori

Very short and painful were the slumbers of the Infant Jesus. A manger was His cradle, straw was His bed, and straw His pillow; so that the sleep of Jesus was often interrupted by the hardness of this rough and painful little bed, and by the severe cold of the cave. Notwithstanding this, overcome by nature, the sweet Babe from time to time slept amidst His sufferings.

Today’s ✠Challoner Meditation: January 1st On New Year’s Day

Meditations for every day of the year by Bishop ✠Richard Challoner

Carissimi; Today’s Mass: The Circumcision of Our Lord Jesus Christ; the Octave Day of Christmas

Circumcision was a sacrament of the Old Law, and the first legal observance required of the descendants of Abraham by Almighty God. It was a sacrament of initiation in the service of God, and a promise, an engagement, to believe and act as He had revealed and directed…

The Circumcision of Our Lord and Octave of Christmas Day (1 January) ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger – YouTube

Spiritual Reading for January 1st ~ St Alphonsus Liguori

Some are deterred from entering Religion by the apprehension that their abandonment of the world may be afterwards to them a source of regret. In making choice of a state of life, I would advise such persons to reflect, not on the time given to us to live, but on the hour of death, which will determine their happiness or misery for all eternity.

Morning Meditation for January 1st ~ St Alphonsus Liguori

All flesh is grass. The life of man is like the life of a blade of grass. Death comes, the grass is dried up. Behold, life ends, and the flower of all greatness and of all worldly goods falls off! The grass is withered and the flower is fallen!