The Prayer for the Third Sunday of Advent by Gaudete “Enter into this Joy, O my soul, and thus prepare yourself in advance to celebrate the Feast of Christmas” by Adolphe Baudon de Mony:

“My Savior Jesus, I adore You and I thank You. You are at this moment in the middle of my heart; You are there full of Power and Majesty, You are there burning with Love for Your weak creature. Receive my respects there. What sweet joy, in fact, does not flood me in the midst of the tender embraces to which You admit me! What greater happiness on earth than that of carrying You in one's chest, of pressing You to one's heart, and of speaking to You in the intimate familiarity of Communion! My God, I no longer reason, I no longer meditate; I love and rejoice in You. Oh ! Why didn't I experience this joy sooner? Why did I disdain her and prefer the futile joys of the world to her? Foolish ! I took poison for food, death for life; but I am now disillusioned, and I understand how sweet it is to live with You, to sacrifice oneself for You, to practice your holy Law, to live at the foot of your holy Altars. How I wish I could say it again to all the Christians who forget it, to all the faithful who no longer love, who no longer communicate! I know that I am unworthy of this Grace; but send us, Lord, apostles who will tell them with the authority of the holy Ministry, and who will recall to the banquet of life this crowd that is running towards death. Your apostle tells us, Lord, to rejoice; but what should be the subject of our joy, and what should this joy be to remain Pure and Christian? And first, O my soul, you must rejoice at having been admitted to the banquet of the angels; There is something there to delight and absorb you if you contemplate the Deliverer who has come to you, and the enormous debt from which He has redeemed you. And again, you must rejoice that your Beloved is Great and Magnificent, that He reigns in Heaven, on earth and in hell, that the Saints honor Him here below, and that the ungodly will be forced to humble themselves through penitence, or to humble themselves before Him through the terror of Judgment. You must rejoice that, despite the trials and contradictions, the Church, the Holy Spouse of Christ, is marching to conquer souls, that conversions are taking place, vocations are multiplying, and that the Gospel is carried by intrepid Apostles to new nations. Oh ! If you live the life of the Church, what magnificent subjects of joy and joy at each of Her triumphs, at each of Her conquests! But this joy, to be Pure and Christian, must not be noisy and tumultuous like the joy of the world; it must be Gentle and Peaceful, it must manifest itself through prayer and good works, it must be united with penitence, with mortification. In the midst of austerities, the Saints were joyful, they rejoiced in what they were working for Heaven, and purchased new Rewards with some passing suffering. Enter into this Joy, O my soul, and thus prepare yourself in advance to celebrate the Feast of Christmas. My God, You will come in a few days; but what flowers can I place around your cradle, at the feet of your dear Mother? You tell me to make straight the Ways of the Lord: have I practiced this Commandment? Have I broken with the cupidities of the century, with the ties of vanity, the returns of self-love? Is my modesty known to all men, or rather am I not always occupied with myself, full of false esteem for myself, quick to blame others and prefer myself to them? O Jesus, the Crown that You most desire that we put on Your head on the beautiful Day of your Birth, is the Crown of our humility. Teach us to braid it with You every day through our modest good works, through contempt for ourselves, through the acceptance of confusions, through the support of the faults of others. Humble God, I want to be Your disciple, but pride relentlessly attacks and invades me. Strengthen me against myself. This is the fruit that I ask of You from this Communion. I will do a penance to enter into the spirit of the Church, which speaks to us of atonement throughout Advent; but I will do this penance with humility and with joy, in view of the Reward which will be given to me in Eternal Life, if I do it in these feelings. Amen