For the fourth and final week of Advent 2025, we read Father Dehon’s meditation on the Heart of Jesus. It is dated December 18, 1919, and is taken from his spiritual work, L’Année avec le Sacré-Cœur (The Year with the Sacred Heart).
December 18 – The Expectation of Mary
“Hæc autem eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini apparuit in somnis ei, dicens: Joseph, fili David, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam; quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu Sancto est.” (Mt 1:20)
“While Joseph thought on these things (troubling thoughts), the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying: Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.” (Mt 1:20)
First Prelude. I consider Mary carrying Jesus in her womb, and Jesus living in the womb of Mary.
Second Prelude. O Mary, give me my Savior and teach me to live, like you, in union with Him.
FIRST POINT: Mary’s Role Before the Birth of the Savior
Let us consider with love the Divine Mother of the Savior in her days of expectation. She is the worthy custodian of the richest and holiest deposit that ever was. She is the precious chariot carrying the King of Kings in her womb.
She is the couch of honour, the bed of delights where the Spouse of virgins, the Spouse of holy souls and of the whole Church, rests: “Currus Israël” (2 Kgs 2:12); “En lectulum Salomonis” (Song of Sol 3:7).
She is the most august temple that ever was or will be; the sacred altar where an immortal God has taken His place, clothed in the flesh He borrows from His mother: “Sanctificavit tabernaculum suum Altissimus” (Ps 46:5).
She is truly full of grace, as the angel proclaimed: “Ave gratia plena.”
She carries in her womb Him whom the Apostle greets as being full of grace and truth: “Plenum gratiæ et veritatis” [Jn 1:14].
She carries the fullness of grace, the hope of all mankind and their imminent salvation.
Let us go to this august tabernacle and ask Mary to make this God Savior whom she carries in her womb and is about to give birth to for the salvation of the world, favourable to us.
She is like the Dawn, carrying the sun of righteousness until its rising. Let us pray to her to bring forth this eternal light as soon as possible, which is to enlighten all men in the ways of justice and salvation.
She is the burning bush, of which Moses saw the figure. The flames of her love and fervour surround her God and do not falter for an instant. She carries her celestial and glorious burden with joy and without fatigue. She herself is spiritually carried by the grace and divine power of the one she carries in her womb. “Portans a quo portabatur” (Saint Bernard).
Above all, she is a Mother, and as such, she directs all her thoughts, all her affections, towards the fruit of her womb. She reflects on the words of the Angel Gabriel: “Cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio” [Lk 1:29]; she thinks of the prophecies, the promises, the reign of the Savior, the passion of the Redeemer: “Conservabat omnia verba hæc in corde suo” [Lk 2:19].
Her eyes do not cease to shed tears, her heart is entirely burning with love.
She is a Mother, and as such, she forms from her own blood the blood of her child. The beating of her heart imparts movement to that infant heart, which is being formed and learning to live.
SECOND POINT: Jesus Living in Mary
The heart of Mary was thus the very Heart of Jesus during this period. Hence her great holiness, hence the necessity of the Immaculate Conception. This heart, which was to become the Heart of Jesus, could not have belonged to the demon. Hence the great power of intercession of Mary. How could Our Lord refuse her the disposal of His blood and the price of that blood, she who put it into His veins and made it circulate there, she who imparted His first beats to His Heart? Let us therefore have recourse to Mary with entire confidence. Let us ask and we shall receive.
And Jesus, what was He doing in Mary’s womb? He was the Divine Word become silent. His beloved disciple, John, spoke of the twofold generation of the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.” The Word was God like the heavenly Father, who begot Him from all eternity. Through this Word all things were made; this Word was life and the principle of life; He was the light of all men. Finally, this Word became flesh out of love for men. He willed to be conceived in the womb of a virgin by the operation of the Holy Spirit.
He was sanctifying His mother, just as He desires to sanctify us by dwelling spiritually in us.
THIRD POINT: Jesus’ Supreme Humility
Jesus was there, the immensity enclosed in a narrow space. The divine immensity fills everything. Space can neither contain nor enclose it. Even pagan wisdom knew this divine attribute. It is through His infinite love for men that Our Lord chose to set limits to this immensity. He confined within this small infant body all the abysses of knowledge and wisdom, all the lights of the divinity.
This little infant Heart became the seat of divine love, of all His divine ardour, capable of embracing every heart.
God made man, the Creator become creature, is reduced to this annihilation. The Word is there, creator of this universe and of all creatures visible and invisible. He created all things by a single word and in play: “Ludens in orbe terrarum” [Prov 8:31]. He created men from nothing to make them His images, to receive their homage and their love, and by a new prodigy of His goodness, He makes Himself a creature with them to save them.
What an example of charity and humility!
Prayer and Resolutions. – Be praised, be blessed, O Mary, sacred tabernacle who carries the Savior: “Blessed is the womb that bore Christ and the breasts that nursed Him” (cf. Lk 11:27). Show us soon the face of the Savior (Ps 80:4, 8, 20). Heavens, open up to let the dew of grace descend with the Savior into our furrows (Is 45:8). Mystical earth, bring forth the Lily of Jesse. – Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Colloquy with Mary: I will pray to her to prepare me all these days for the graces of Christmas.
