For Christmas Day: A Prayer at the Open Gate

The Completion of the Advent Ignatian Meditation Retreat

Lord Jesus Christ,
You have not waited for me to become ready.
You have not stood at a distance, measuring my progress or weighing my worth.
You have crossed the threshold and come to me as I am.

Today I stand before You not as one who has completed a task,
but as one who has been met.

I thank You for the quiet work You have done in me during this season,
often beneath my awareness,
loosening what I grip too tightly,
revealing what I fear to surrender,
teaching me how to wait without controlling the outcome.
If there is fruit here, it is Yours.
If there is unfinishedness, I place that in Your hands as well.

On this day You chose to enter our world,
not as an idea to be understood,
but as a life to be lived.
You took flesh, accepted limits, and placed Yourself into human hands.
You allowed Yourself to be small, dependent, and vulnerable,
and in doing so You showed me who God truly is.

Let me stay with You here.

Let me not rush past the manger in search of clarity, answers, or resolution.
Teach me the grace of presence.
Teach me how to kneel, how to adore, how to remain.
If I do not yet understand all that this means,
give me the courage to stay close anyway.

As You entered ordinary life,
enter mine more deeply still.
Come into my work, my home, my relationships,
into the places of fatigue and distraction,
into the parts of me I try to manage or hide.
Let me recognize You not only in prayer,
but in the weight and beauty of daily responsibility.

Where I long for control, give me trust.
Where I resist vulnerability, give me freedom.
Where I am tempted to keep You at a safe distance,
draw me nearer.

I ask for the grace not merely to admire Your humility,
but to allow it to shape my own.
Not merely to celebrate Your nearness today,
but to carry it with me into the days that follow.
As this retreat ends, let my companionship with You continue.

Jesus, Word made flesh,
remain with me.
Teach me how to walk with You as You grow,
to follow You when the path becomes difficult,
and to trust You when love asks more of me than I expect.

I place this day, this season, and my life again into Your hands.
You have come.
The gate stands open.
Help me to live from this place.

Amen.

Editor’s Note: This prayer concludes our 4-week Advent Ignatian Meditation series. Thank you for praying with us throughout this season. We at CE wish you a very merry Christmas!

Photo by Juan Apolinar on Unsplash