We think again to-day of the Mother as well as of the Son. There is another "O" which is in the Vespers of the Feast of the Expectation together with the "O Adonai!" and that is "O Virgo virginum!" We appeal again then to Mary asking her to show us how to wait, how to desire, how to love, how to worship. Let us try to think what her feelings must have been during these last few days. She is preparing for her journey, putting together the few necessaries that they could take, packing up the little "swaddling clothes," and all the time thinking of nothing but her Son, Whose Face she is now so soon to see. The joy of the expectation is so great that it overshadows all else—she can talk of and think of nothing but His birth, now so near, and it is to Him that she talks. All her secrets, all her longings, all her hopes, all her words of love and joy are for Him. This is the interior life.

As the great day approaches is my interior life becoming more intense? Are all my desires centred on the little One Who is coming? Am I continually holding converse with Him, telling Him all that is in my heart? Is He the centre of all my preparations for Christmas? Is the real Christmas joy, that is, the joy caused by the thought of His Coming, so great that it puts into the shade all difficulties, sorrows, disappointments and inconveniences? Mary's troubles were all caused by Jesus. If it had not been for the prophecy which said He must be born in Bethlehem she would not have had to leave her home at such an inconvenient moment and at such an inclement season of the year.

When shall I learn that all my troubles come directly from Jesus too, and from my union with Him? When I do, I shall have peace, the peace which Mary had and which a really interior life cannot fail to produce. If I find that my peace is easily disturbed by passing events, let me examine my conscience as to my interior life and I shall probably find the reason.

O Lord and Leader! "Give ear, O Thou that rulest Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep!" ("Introit" for Advent II and "Gradual" for Advent III). This is the idea in the Church's cry to-day, she is saluting her General. He it is Who though as yet hidden is nevertheless leading all. He it is Who slowly though surely has been leading the world through many phases till it is ready for its Creator to come and live upon it. He it is Who has led Joseph like a sheep—carefully watched over the chosen nation, because He Himself, when the time came, was to be born in it. He it is Who led the prophets, carefully guiding their hands to write of Him and making their prophecies more and more lucid as the day approached. He it is Who is now leading the whole world and placing everybody in his own city. He it is Who is leading Joseph away from Nazareth. He it is Who is leading His own Mother over every step of that difficult and tiring journey, letting the joy in His own Heart overflow into hers; and He is my Leader too. With such a General, nothing will be overlooked in my life; everything will be arranged in wisdom and love. I need have no fear, no anxiety on that account; but such a Leader expects a whole-hearted, unswerving allegiance from His followers. He expects not only their obedience, but their loyalty and their love. Does He demand these by force? No, for He is a Leader, not a driver. "He calleth His own sheep by name and leadeth them.... He goeth before them and the sheep follow Him" (St. John x. 3, 4). What are His methods? The Incarnation with all its consequences. He made Himself a man, not an angel, because He wanted to attract man to Himself, to win his love. He identified Himself with man, because He wanted man to identify himself with Him. The church, the Holy Eucharist, the Tabernacle, Holy Communion, His Sacred Heart—all these are to attract men to follow Him. He is there in each of these going before and leading men on. He is appealing to them now from the womb of His Mother, suggesting to them that they should choose suffering and humiliation and the hidden life, because He chose them and loved them and submitted to them for us; they were His methods, and His object in becoming incarnate for us was to win our love to such an extent that we should take Him as our Leader and adopt His methods.

Oh! come, little Leader, come and redeem us. I for one am determined to follow wheresoever Thou dost lead, "in what place soever Thou shalt be, my Lord King, either in death or in life there will Thy servant be" (2 Kings xv. 21). "Behold I have given Him for a Leader" (Is. lv. 4).

The outstretched arm is a sign (1) of power. The little One Whom we are expecting, though so winning and gentle and loving, is nevertheless the Almighty and All-powerful God. He it is Who said: "I made the earth and the men and the beasts that are upon the earth by My great power and by My stretched out arm" (Jer. xxvii. 5). He it is Who said of those who would not acknowledge Him as their King: "I will Myself fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm" (chap. xxi. 5). He it is Who "with a strong hand and a stretched-out arm" delivered His people of old out of the land of Egypt (Deut. xxvi. 8). He it is Who gave the law on Sinai, when "the thunders began to be heard and lightning to flash and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud and the people ... feared." Why? Because "the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai in the very top of the mount" (Ex. xix. 16, 20). He came then in power to give with His own outstretched arm His commandments to His people; but now He is coming in the silence of the night to win them by His love and no one will be afraid of a little Child.

Oh! come, and redeem us by Thy stretched out arm. Come in all Thy might to save us from our sins—our past sins and the evil habits they have left, our present attachment to venial sins which we are ashamed of, but are obliged to confess lingers still; come and deliver us from our countless imperfections: "Lord if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean" (St. Matt. viii. 2).

The outstretched arm is also a sign (2) of pity, of yearning, of longing. A mother stretches out her arms to receive her babe taking its first tottering steps, to welcome her prodigal, to protect those in danger, to help in every time of need.

When God was longing to deliver His people of old from the cruel bondage in Egypt, He attracted Moses' attention by a burning bush, so that He could tell him of His yearnings towards His people. Moses saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt and he said: "I will go and see why the bush is not burnt" (Ex. iii. 2-3). That bush hid two mysteries which were beyond Moses' power of reason, but God revealed them later to His Saints. The fire that burned was the Divinity and the bush which was impregnated by the fire and yet not burnt was the Sacred Humanity. Again, the bush was a figure of Mary who though she received the God-Man into her sacred womb yet remained a virgin—the bush held the flame of fire which lighted the whole world and yet remained intact. Moses though he did not see the things which we see, nevertheless saw a "great sight" and "when the Lord saw that he went forward to see, He called to him out of the midst of the bush" and told him not to come too near and to take off his shoes for the ground was holy. He then told him Who He was and why He had come: "I have seen the afflictions of My people.... I have heard their cry ... and knowing their sorrow, I am come down to deliver them" (verses 7, 8). It was the Heart of God yearning for His children. His Hands were stretched out in pity and love, but His hour was not yet. He waited and "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son" (Gal. iv. 4); and now we are kneeling before the Sanctuary wherein He has still a few days to wait; we have turned aside to see the "great sight," we know that we are treading on holy ground. "Rubum quem viderat Moyses incombustum conservatam agnovimus tuam laudabilem virginitatem; Dei genitrix intercede pro nobis." In the bush which Moses saw unconsumed, we acknowledge thy admirable virginity preserved: intercede for us, O Mother of God. (Little Office. B. V. M.—A Christmas antiphon).

As we keep near to the Burning Bush we wonder more and more at the mystery; we ask why, but we never receive a satisfying answer, for who can fathom the mystery of the love of God? The Word is silent yet. Could He speak, we should hear the same words as Moses heard, for the Heart of God changes not: "I have seen the afflictions of My people.... I am come down to deliver them." How intense were His yearnings! How great was His expectation! Let me try to make Him some little return by my desires and my yearnings for Him! Oh! come, little Saviour, come and redeem us by Thy outstretched Arm!

Colloquy with Him Who is so soon to come.

Resolution. To wait with His Mother to-day asking her to give me some of her desire.

Spiritual Bouquet. "A little Child shall lead them" (Is. XI. 6).