Recommended by St. Vincent de Paul to St. Louise de Marillac

1. Advent Prayers
&
Spiritual
Exercises
- BY FATHER JEAN SUFFREN -
AN AUTHOR
RECOMMENDED BY
ST. VINCENT
TO ST. LOUISE

2. In accordance with the intention of
the Church, which instituted Advent
to recall and draw attention to the
incomparable benefit of the
Incarnation, and to exhort Christians
to a special devotion to the holy
humanity of the Son of God: to also
prepare you to receive him through
an extraordinary preparation for the
Feast of Christmas… Here is what
you can do to observe Advent.
FROM THE BEGINNING
OF ADVENT UNTIL
CHRISTMAS

3. 1
Often remember and give thanks for
the incomparable benefit of the
Incarnation, mainly in Mass, and
when the bell is rung three times a
day to say the Angelus, and also
apply the mystery of the Incarnation
to these special devotions for each
day of the week:

4. On Sunday, consider that the whole of
the Holy Trinity did this admirable work:
for if the whole of the Trinity contributed
to the creation of the first man, how
much more to the production of this Man
and God combined? Consider also that
the soul of no man has ever been such a
vivid image of the Trinity: never has a
creature known and adored the Trinity so
much as He did. In short, in His humanity,
the Holy Trinity is found in a special way,
more than in any other human, with good
reason (the hypostatic union). Also
recognize that it was the Father who gave
his Son: the Son who gave himself: and
the Holy Spirit who formed him in the
womb of the sacred Virgin.
SUNDAY

5. MONDAY
Consider it as the masterpiece of the
omnipotence of God, that God could
not make a nobler creature than this:
see also that God who of Himself is
immortal, wanted, in becoming man
Himself, to make Himself a mortal
like you, so that death might be
sweeter and kinder to you.

6. Consider Him as the King of the
Angels, surrounded on all sides by all
these blessed spirits, and see there
among the others your Guardian
Angel, as one of the Princes of His
Court.
TUESDAY

7. Consider that, free from all sin & all
power to sin; coming into this world
mainly to take away sin, which He
sovereignly hated, presenting Himself
from His mother's womb (in which
state you contemplate him during
Advent) to die one day for sinners, so
much so that from the moment of His
Conception, He had full knowledge of
the past, the present, and the future;
from thence He saw all your sins,
even the smallest, had sorrow for
them, presented Himself to die for
them, & carried out His actions in the
Virgin’s womb, to please God.
WEDNESDAY

8. Contemplate it: sacrificing Himself
since the moment of His Conception
to his Father in mind and will, as He
actually still does currently in the
Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, &
how since that moment He destined
you & prepared for you the sacrifice
& testament of His Body & Blood,
which you enjoy, & which you would
never have enjoyed, if God had not
been Incarnate.
THURSDAY

9. Consider the sorrows He had,
remaining nine months in the womb
of the Virgin: He who was then as full
of grace, glory and the use of reason,
as He is at this hour in Heaven,
seeing Himself enclosed in such a
short, narrow, and dark prison; &
how, knowing what one day would
happen to Him, thenceforth He
presented his body to the torments
of the Passion, His feet, His hands,
and His side, to the five Wounds:
Therefore when doing your ordinary
devotion to the five Wounds, in your
mind, kiss His feet, hands, and side,
destined for this from the womb of
the Virgin.
FRIDAY

10. Contemplate Him as being of the
substance of the Virgin: and the
Virgin as the Mother of this Child,
and the instrument which God used
to make this wonder of wonders,
having concurred not only to form
the body and to unite soul to body;
but also to unite humanity to the
person of the Word: contemplate this
Virgin during this holy time of Advent
as a Mother pregnant with a child
who is both God and Man, whom she
alone among mere creatures, knows.
SATURDAY

11. 2
At every hour of the day and night,
add to your ordinary prayers, Christe
qui venturus es in mundum; miserere
nobis (Christ who has come into the
world, have mercy on us). Through
the holy mystery of your Incarnation,
Lord deliver us, and three times a
day say the Hymn, Memento Salutis
Auctor (Remember, O Creator Lord),
and three times the Pater Noster (Our
Father), and Ave Maria (Hail Mary).

12. Your vocal prayers, sighs, and other
outbursts of prayer, which should
become more frequent at this time,
will sometimes be in admiration,
sometimes in love, sometimes in
bewilderment, sometimes in
thanksgiving. Address them either to
the Eternal Father who gave his Son,
or to the Son who made Himself
your brother, or to the Holy Spirit
who performed this mystery, or to
the Virgin, in whose womb this
mystery was made, or to the Angel
Gabriël who conveyed the tender
mission.
3

13. 4
Your penances and other good
works, which per the advice of your
Director you can increase at this
time, will be done in honor of
Christ’s humanity, and in order to
obtain from God a special devotion
towards it.

14. Renouncing unnecessary pleasures,
keeping solitude, interior retreat: the
careful guard of the purity of your
heart: prayer and more frequent
recollection, and similar exercises,
are very suitable at this time, and
very beautiful measures to properly
celebrate the Feast of Christmas.
5

15. 6
Practice five main “affections”
towards Christ's holy humanity:

16. “AFFECTIONS”
TOWARDS HIS
HOLY HUMANITY.
1
Of deference: assume He is present,
and has His eyes fixed on you, seeing
all that is happening in your interior
and exterior. Make sure then that
nothing happens, inside or outside,
that is unworthy of His eyes.

17. “AFFECTIONS”
TOWARDS HIS
HOLY HUMANITY.
2
Of trust and in recourse to Him: who
can, who wants, and who knows
how to help you better than anyone
else does. Always have recourse to
Him in your difficulties and
necessities.

18. “AFFECTIONS”
TOWARDS HIS
HOLY HUMANITY.
3
Of love: for if likeness with God is a
reason for love; God made Himself
become like you, and did you the
honor to call Himself your brother: if
blessings draw the heart to love,
what greater than this?

19. “AFFECTIONS”
TOWARDS HIS
HOLY HUMANITY.
4
Of imitation: taking it as the rule and model of your actions: So when
you do something, imagine an action of His humanity similar to yours to
conform yours to His: asking by the merits and perfections of His, that
you obtain from His grace the blessing to do yours well: and at the end
of the action, also pray that by the perfection of His, the failings of
yours may be erased and compensated for. The same imitation will be in
suffering as appropriate, whether in the soul, in the body, in honor, etc.
considering what His humanity endured in similar things: or how
patiently He would behave, if a similar occasion arose, and to never be
ashamed to endure, or do what a Son of God did or endured. This act of
imitation will be practiced until Christmas, according to the state that
His humanity had in the womb of his Mother: for there He prayed,
sacrificed Himself, nourished Himself, slept, and grew strong, etc.

20. “AFFECTIONS”
TOWARDS HIS
HOLY HUMANITY.
5
Of utilization: rewarding you with his
riches, applying his merits to you,
which were not so much for him, as
for you: and for him in some way
unnecessary. Now what is
superfluous to the rich, needs to be
used by the poor.

21. PRAYER TO THE
HOLY TRINITY
Pray to the Eternal Father, who
through His eternal understanding
begets His Word, that the merit of
so many holy thoughts which have
been understood by His humanity be
applied to you, both for the
reparation of so many evil thoughts,
reckless judgments, irreverent
concerns, etc. that you have had :
but also to receive good ones and
divine pathways.

22. Pray to the Son who is the Word of
the Father, that the merit of so many
holy words which have come from
the mouth of this sacred humanity,
be applied to you, both for your lies,
insults and other words spoken
inappropriately and also that only
good words come from your mouth,
tending to the glory of God, and
edification of the neighbor.

23. Pray to the Holy Spirit, who is the
love of the Father and of the Son,
that the merit of so many holy
actions, whether of love or of hatred,
which have been in the heart of His
humanity, be applied to you in
reparation for your illicit loves, and
your unreasonable hatreds: and to
obtain the grace of loving only what
God loves, and hating only what God
hates.

24. THESE ACTS CAN BE PRACTICED AT ANY TIME:
Specifically apply each of His actions to each of yours. Do this
often, to teach you imitation.
Applying His powers upon yours, of His feelings upon yours like
a seal on soft wax, can sometimes be done: mainly after
Communion, in the same way that Elisha stretched himself over
a little boy and brought him back to life.
Join in spirit and in zeal for the honor of God and the salvation
of souls, with all the Preachers who preach this time of year,
that they may win many souls to God: and every day say the
Veni creator (Come Holy Ghost) for this intention.

25. Source:
Advis et exercices spirituels, by Fr. Jean Suffren, S.J., 1642, pp.249-257