The authority of the manuscripts of the Vatican Library must be greatly esteemed. For they are of excellent standing, being both ancient and written most accurately. In three of them, namely in codex 1267, page 92, in 4951, page 25, and in Reginensis 125, page 73, St. Maximus is established as the author of this homily. What if to these distinguished monuments others, and those illustrious, be added? Indeed, besides the Turin codex, in which this is homily 20 on the Nativity of the Lord, we have two Reichenau codices, XVI and XXIX, the Lucca codex 85, the Monte Cassino codex 106, page 13, and the Naples codex of St. John ad Carbonariam. Moreover, in the excellent Esztergom Breviary it is inscribed under St. Maximus's name. The editors agree with the manuscript books, namely Gymnicus at page 27, Galesinius at page 95, Combefis in volume
I, page 208, Cumdius volume I, page 107, Raynaudus page 197, Margarinus in the Bibliotheca Maxima volume VI, page 6. The very loftiness of the works of God bears witness that the divine dispositions are beyond human perception. But the mysteries of Christ are the more to be venerated by us, the more they surpass the capacity of mortal intellect by their own greatness. And therefore, brethren, when it is announced to us that that eternal Only-Begotten of God the Father, to whom all things are subject and by whom all things were created, willed at the end of the ages to be born of a woman and to endure the infancy of our flesh, we ought not to examine the grace of so great a condescension, but to believe it; not to discuss it, but to marvel at it.
For what is more just, or what so fitting, than that in divine matters we should follow rather the omnipotence of God than His wisdom? Today therefore, as we have learned from the Gospel lesson just read through, Christ has been born according to the flesh, beginning indeed to be what He was not, yet not ceasing to be what He was. For the nativity of a man could neither diminish nor divide the unity of the undivided majesty. That God proceeded from God the Father is the secret of an ineffable and abiding power; that He was born a man of a woman is the grace of our salvation. There is the glory of His nature; here the mystery of His will.
Who then, brethren, could estimate this depth of the heavenly counsel, that the Lord of immortality and of incorruptible substance, that He might in the condition of the flesh be able to undergo death for mortals, willed to come forth under human law from a woman's womb, conceived by no law of bodily generation—and this in such a way that the blessed Mother, who had conceived while inviolate, brought Him forth still inviolate? Moreover He is wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. This lowliness of the infant is the precious sacrament of God. For in the swaddling clothes He shows that He has taken upon Himself our infirmities and our sins.
But that He permits His limbs to be laid in a manger, where the food of animals is placed, shows that He offers His own body to be eaten by mortals unto eternal refreshment. What shall I say of this—that a multitude of angels, descending to the earth, accompanies the wailing child with glorious praise? For all creation is amazed at so great a marvel, that one and the same both reigns as God in heaven and is nourished as man on earth. Announcing the newness of this mystery, blessed David invites the whole human race to join the concert of a spiritual song, saying: 'Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth' (Psalm 95).
What is so new, beloved, as that the omnipotent God of immeasurable majesty, coeternal with the Father and Lord of an everlasting kingdom, should bend Himself to bodily infirmities and to human lowliness? What so new, as that a woman conceiving and giving birth should yet remain in unimpaired virginity? And truly such an entrance befitted the Saviour of the world, that He who came to cleanse the sins of the human race should be born purer than all others. Well too did the prophet add: 'Sing to the Lord, all the earth.' For to whom else should all the earth sing, but to Him who brought to the whole circle of lands the pardon of sins and the hope of everlasting salvation? Let us therefore magnify, brethren, our Lord and God; let us sing praises and chant:
for it is fitting that He should be honoured above all by the praises of those whom He saved by the passion of His own body and the shedding of His own blood. Although for attributing this homily to St. Maximus we may use the support of only two codices of the Vatican Library, that is, of codex 433, page 103, and of Reginensis 125, page 71—since in all the others no mention is made of that same holy prelate—yet many others take their place, to which we think faith ought to be joined. Among these are the Reichenau codices XVI and XXIX, the Monte Cassino codex 106, page 14, the Vallicellian codex, volume VII, page 41, the Lucca codex 85, the Naples codex of St. John ad Carbonariam, and the Turin codex, in which this is homily 22 on the Nativity of the Lord. By the editors likewise it is reckoned among the homilies of St. Maximus.
These are Gymnicus page 30, Galesinius page 94, Combefis volume I, page 209, Cumdius volume I, page 166, Raynaudus page 197, Margarinus in the Bibliotheca Maxima volume VII, homily 6 on the Nativity of the Lord, page 7. The Benedictine monks of the Congregation of St. Maur, who separated the genuine works of St. Augustine from the spurious, referred this homily to the appendix of sermons, number 122, and noted that it is wont to be attributed to St. Maximus of Turin in the manuscript and printed books. At the Lord's coming, most beloved brethren—whose due honour we render by the present festivity—a multitude of heavenly mysteries is revealed by grace. For today, that is, at the end of the ages, is brought forth He whose eternity no spans of the ages comprehend.
Today the Lord of heaven and earth put on the form of servitude for the liberty of servants. Today a virgin, by a new glory of the female sex, has given birth; and—what the whole creation marvels at with us—a man is born, not begotten through a man. But although it may seem new, yet it is not incredible, that Christ was conceived without one begetting in the womb of Mary, He who proceeded from God the Father without a conceiving. For inasmuch as He is God, He is the Only-Begotten of the Father alone; inasmuch as He is man, He is the son of the Mother alone: and therefore Him who from the Father is God and from the Mother is man—that is, God and man—we confess as one Lord.
Now all this was done that God through the flesh of man might take up the mystery of the saving passion, and that man through the true eternity of God might receive the dignity of His eternity. And so Christ is born of Mary, that the female sex might give a man, and virginal integrity might bring forth God. Christ is born of a woman, that just as Adam could not guard against the devil who deceived through Eve, so the devil might not detect that God was present, coming through Mary. A woman therefore brings forth the salvation of the world; that she who had been the tinder of iniquity might become the handmaid of righteousness, and that through whom death had opened for itself an entrance into this world, through her life might have its entrance to us.
And that the Creator of the human race might show that He has care for both sexes and wills to save both, a man is born and proceeds from a woman, so that we might perceive that with God there is no distance between man and woman in the receiving of salvation. But why should we not believe with full devotion that the saving Child could be born of a virgin, when we believe that the perfect man was formed from the dust? Let us therefore exult, brethren, and rejoice, celebrating the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, because in His nativity we all perceive ourselves born unto life. For He was made man—He who is the Author of life—not that He might live for Himself, but that by His own death He might redeem the life of the dead.
For with such great chains had the enemy bound the human race, and with so great a mass of monstrous sins had he pressed us down, that there was no return for us unto salvation, unless He should be born who by His own power could return to life after death.