Flower of Devotion

When the Mass (the first on the Solemnity of Christmas) sang “Dominus dixit” (“The Lord said” Psalm 2:7) in remembrance and in honor of the mysteries of the full and ineffable birth of Christ the Lord from His heavenly Father, St. Mechtilde saw God the Father as a very powerful king in a very wonderful tent, seated on a throne of ivory. And God said to her, “Come and take this co-eternal and firstborn Son of My Heart and grant it to all who worship in devout gratitude His supreme and eternal birth from Me.” And she saw a holy splendor coming from the Heart of God, which clung to her soul in the form of a transparent Child. She greeted the child with these words:
“Hail, you reflection of the glory of the father!” Then she carried the Child around to all present and gave Him to every nun, and yet she carried Him alone in her heart. And the child on her breast bowed down to each of them, and kissed their hearts three times.
With the first kiss it sucked all their longing out of Him; the second, their good will; on the third, all their labors in singing, in prostration, in vigils, and in other spiritual exercises.
By this she came to know that it is very pleasing to God when men, though not reasonably comprehended the divine and ineffable birth of the Son of God, nevertheless rejoice and worship it together in devout faith, giving him glory according to their ability.
In the Gospel “Exiit Edictum” (Luke 2) read at the first Mass of Christmas, it seemed to St. Mechtilde that God the Father was saying to her: “Go to the Virgin Mother of my Son and ask her to give you her Son with all the joys she had in him when she gave birth to him and with all the good with which I gave him to her and to the whole world for salvation.” When she came, she found the Child lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes.
The child said to her, “When I was born into the world, from that hour I was bound in handkerchiefs, so that I could not move in them. It was a sign that I had given myself whole, with all the good things I had brought with me from Heaven, into the power of man for his benefit. For he who is bound has no power and cannot defend himself, and all that he has can be taken away from him. Similarly, when I came down from the world, I was so attached to the Cross that I could not move at all; as a sign that all the good I have done for humanity I have left to men. And in the end, I have given all my life and all my goods, divine and human, and my sufferings entirely to man, so that he can take with confidence what is mine. It is also My desire that he should use My goods profitably.”
It also seemed to the saint that she saw Love in the form of a virgin sitting with the Blessed Virgin, and she said to her: “Ah, you sweet Love! Teach me to render a convenient service to this noblest child.” To this Love answered: “I have given Him with my virginal hands the first services, I have wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, I have nursed Him with my virginal breasts beside His Mother, I have kept Him in my bosom, and I have shown Him all kindness with His Mother, and I serve Him continually. Therefore, whoever wants to serve Him worthily, let him take me as a companion, that is, let him do all things in union with Love, in which God took upon Himself human nature; then all that he does will be most pleasing to God.”