_Spiritual Bouquet._ "I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid." (Ps. cxv. 16.) The Stable "_Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart._" (St Luke ii. 19.) _1st Prelude._ Mary and Joseph, and the Infant lying in the manger. _2nd Prelude._ Grace to ponder with Mary _Point I._--THE BIRTH OF HER SON "She brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him up in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger." She has seen His face at last; she has folded Him in her arms and pressed Him to her bosom--her Son and her GOD. And she ponders--she meditates--she cannot tell her thoughts to any human soul--but she can tell them to her Son. _Dico ego opera mea Regi._ I will speak of my works to the King. (Ps. xliv. 2.) Many works had been wrought in and through Mary by the Holy Ghost, but they were all the King's secrets, and she pondered over them, speaking of them to Him alone. There was her vow of virginity, which she did not even speak of to her parents; there was the visit of the King's messenger, of which she spoke to no one--not to Elizabeth, nor even to St Joseph; there was the painful journey to Bethlehem, and the difficulty about finding a lodging. She might have told St Luke all about it, and had it all written down in the Gospel--but no, there is not a word except the mere fact that they went to Bethlehem, and that there was no room for them in the inn. Her sufferings were those of the King, and she shared them with Him alone. And now that she has got her JESUS, she spends her time in pondering--in telling Him her thoughts and her secrets, which are His too. How much I should gain if I could be a little more like my Mother in this!--if, instead of being so ready to go and talk of all the things that have been said and done to me, or of what I have said or done, or of what I have had to suffer, I were just to speak to my King about it--let it be something between us which nobody else knows anything about. It may often be my duty to speak, as it was Mary's later on, when she was obliged, for example, to tell St Luke all about the Angel's visit and what he said to her, because GOD wanted that piece of revelation to be written. But this was later. She did not go at once and tell Elizabeth all about it. Let us learn from Mary to let our _first_ words, at any rate, be for our King; and, if this is so, it is probable that in many cases the matter will go no further, and others as well as ourselves will be saved from the miseries which so often follow from our being too ready to talk. _Dico ego opera mea Regi._ To _Him_ I can never say too much, and He loves those silent heart-to-heart colloquies. He loves the things which are talked over with Him only--the King's secrets. _Point II._--THE SHEPHERDS