457 part ii: meditations for more solemn feasts 3. “all things were made through [H]im” (Jn 1:3). Today do not hesitate to ask something of the said Infant, as little as He is poor! Behold, the holy Evangelist says that all things were made by Him. Therefore, go to Him with your requests. Indeed, the holy Baby Boy smiles and stretches out His hands with childish affability, so that He may attract to Himself many supplicants. Perhaps, you are wary to ask something for yourself. Nevertheless, come near. At the cradle of the Child King you will find the best advocates: Mary, the Mother of Grace and the Mother of Mercy, and also the most clement Mediatrix, and Joseph, the holy steward and administrator of heavenly gifts. Through them, you will obtain what you would not be able to get by yourself. Yet I advise you to ask of the Infant Jesus not some few, but rather all things; namely: ask for Himself, so that He may give Himself to you; for if you have Him, what else can you be lacking? Therefore, as you receive Him from the hands of the priest, imagine that you receive Him from the hands of Joseph and from the bosom of His Mother; and that all things come to you with Him. [f.147r] After Holy Communion 1. “peace to men of good will” (Lk 2:14) [DRB]. Consider that such people, who do the will of others and not their own, always enjoy peace of mind. Since the men of good will are the ones who flee from their own will as from something worse than a raging dog or a snake.223 And indeed, the heavenly peace is granted them today. The proud, the irascible, the gluttonous, the rebellious, the quarrelsome, and the stubborn have no peace. The humble, the obedient, the meek, the laborious, the gentle, the soothing, the moderate, and the resigned enjoy the greatest peace to the full. 223 The original Latin, "cane ac angue peius aliquid evitare," refers to a proverb from Horace (cf. footnote 67 (p. 178)).
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