Page 15 - practices
P. 15
I will hold my ears prisoners in the Crib of my heart, by
depriving myself of the pleasure of hearing talk of indifferent or
useless things. There too I will station my whole body, so that
everything may be at the service of the Heavenly Babe, and I
will do this by abandoning it totally in the arms of Divine
Providence. I will not talk about physical indisposition unless I
am asked to, nor will I fully satisfy my body in food, drink and
clothing; I will pay no heed to its demands for delicate
attentions; I will appoint it a servant to the Heavenly Child, and
so its only concern should be that of pleasing Him alone.
Outside the Crib I will leave all other creatures: my self-love,
desire for appreciation, worldly pastimes or anything earthy.
Instead, I will let in the girls of my school, just like little lambs
that the Lord wishes me to bring up beautifully adorned for
Him.
And so I will redouble all my watchfulness, concern, care and
trouble towards these lambs of Baby Jesus, driven on by the
happy motivation of pleasing the king, the owner of my Crib.
With the same aim I will let into the Crib the Hospital (patients),
the poor, the sick, sinners, Souls in Purgatory, our Oratorio, all
the girls; I will think of all these for the sake of Jesus alone; I
will work hard for them, but with Jesus and for His sake; for
their good I will act, but only in the way that is pleasing to
Jesus.
The loveable Child lies in the Crib of my heart: poor,
abandoned, icy cold, deprived of company and even of bare
necessities. I will do my best to provide him with all these by
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