Meditation 42
THE FIRST ADORERS
1. The Shepherds.
God chose them to represent mankind and be the first to whom the mystery of Jesus was revealed. Why were they chosen? On account of their simplicity. The Child Jesus shows Himself to those who are child-like in their simplicity. Simplicity is the straight road to God. Simplicity is the ingenuous faith possessed by those shepherds. Simplicity is blind obedience just as their obedience was.
The shepherds did not take pride in it. Having heard the voice of the Angels, they simply accepted their invitation to go to the crib. Self-love, on the contrary, must ponder over and make its own calculations beforehand. An injection of our self-love into the heart of the shepherds would probably have caused them to give up the idea of going to Bethlehem. "One never knows," they might have said, "people will laugh at us. It might be a bluff. Suppose there is nothing, then we shall cut such a poor figure!" This is the language of self-love. How different is the faith, the obedience and the humility proper of simplicity. What place does this virtue occupy in your heart?
[Excerpted from 'MARIAN MEDITATIONS' Book by Rev. Dr. Ildefonso R. Villar, Salesian Philippine Province, Nihil Obstat; Imprimatur]
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