Sermon 192
SERMO 192
ON THE BIRTHDAY OF THE LORD
We marvel at the birth-giving of the Virgin.
Today, Truth has sprung from the earth, Christ is born of the flesh. Rejoice solemnly, and consider the eternal day by remembering today; covet eternal gifts with the firmest hope; presume to be sons of God by the authority received. For you, the Maker of times became temporal, for you the Creator of the world appeared in the flesh, for you the Creator was created. Why do you mortals still delight in mortal things, and strive to hold onto the fleeting life if it were possible? A far brighter hope has shone on the earth, so that life in the heavens is promised beyond earthly matters. In order to believe this, a more incredible event was granted. He who was God was made man, so that men might be made gods: nor losing what He was, He wished to become what He had made. He made Himself to be, because He added man to God, not losing God in man. We marvel at the virgin birth, and we try to persuade the incredulous of the new manner of birth itself, that the seed of offspring arose in an unseeded womb, and the womb, untouched by carnal embrace, produced the son of man, whose father was not a human: the integrity of virginity remained both closed in conception and incorrupt in birth. This power is miraculous, but the mercy that He who could thus be born, wished to be born, is even more to be wondered at. For He was already the only-begotten of the Father, who was the only-begotten born to the mother: and He was made in the mother, who had made the mother for Himself; eternal with the Father, present today from the mother: made from the mother after the mother, not made from the Father before all: without whom the Father never was, without whom the mother never would have been.
Rejoice, virgins, widows, wives.
Rejoice, virgins of Christ, your companion is the mother of Christ. You could not bear Christ, but for Christ you did not wish to bear. He who was not born of you, was born for you. Nevertheless, if you remember his word, as you should remember; you are also his mothers, because you do the will of his Father. For he himself said: Whoever does the will of my Father, he is my brother and sister and mother. Rejoice, widows of Christ: you have vowed the sanctity of continence to him who made virginity fruitful. Rejoice also, conjugal chastity, all living faithfully with your spouses: what you lost in the body, keep in the heart. Where the flesh can no longer be intact from intercourse, let the conscience be a virgin in faith, according to which the whole Church is a virgin. In Mary pious virginity bore Christ: in Anna elderly widowhood recognized young Christ: in Elizabeth conjugal chastity and elderly fecundity served Christ. All the degrees of faithful members contributed to the head, what they could contribute by his grace. Therefore, because Christ is truth and peace and justice, conceive him in faith, give birth to him in works; so that what the womb of Mary did in the flesh of Christ, your heart may do in the law of Christ. And how do you not belong to the birth of the Virgin, when you are members of Christ? Mary bore your head, the Church bore you. For she too is both mother and virgin: mother in the womb of charity, virgin in the integrity of faith and piety. She bears peoples, but they are members of one, of whom she is the body and spouse, also bearing in this the likeness of that virgin, for in many she is the mother of unity.
Mercy is the birth of Christ.
Therefore, all in agreement, with chaste minds and holy affections, let us celebrate the day of the Lord's Birth: on which day, as we began this sermon: Truth has sprung from the earth. For indeed, what follows in the same psalm has already come to pass. For He who has sprung from the earth, that is, born of the flesh, because He came from heaven and is above all; without a doubt, when He ascended to the Father, also righteousness looked down from heaven. For He himself commends this righteousness with his words, promising the Holy Spirit: He, He says, will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin indeed, because they did not believe in me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father; and you will see me no more. This is righteousness, which looked down from heaven. For from the highest heaven is his going forth, and his circuit even to the highest heaven. However, lest anyone despise the truth, because it has sprung from the earth, when as a bridegroom he proceeded from his chamber, that is, from the virgin's womb, where the Word of God was united with human nature in an ineffable marriage: lest anyone therefore despise this, and although born in a miraculous way, and wonderful in words and deeds, yet due to the likeness of sinful flesh believes nothing more of Christ than that he is a man: as it was said: As a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, he rejoiced as a giant to run his course; it was immediately added: His going forth is from the highest heaven. What therefore you hear: Truth has sprung from the earth, is a condescension, not a condition; it is mercy, not misery. Truth, that it might spring from the earth, has descended from heaven: the bridegroom that he might come out of his chamber, his going forth is from the highest heaven. Hence it is that today he was born, on which day there is no shorter day on earth, from which nevertheless the days grow in length. He therefore who inclined himself and raised us up, chose the shortest day, but from which light grows: by his very coming, he also silently, as with the sound of a great shout, exhorts us, that we who were made poor for our sake, may learn to be rich in him; who for our sake took the form of a servant, that we may receive freedom in him; who for our sake sprang from the earth, that in him we may possess heaven.