The loftiness of the matter causes us to defer our discourse on the nativity of Christ, and the greatness of the mystery compels it. A virgin has given birth — who shall speak of it? The Word was made flesh — who shall recount it? If the Word of God gives forth an infant's wailing, how shall imperfect man cry out concerning the Word? As much brighter as the star gave light by night to those who sought it, so much clearness does the preacher's sermon on the Lord's birth afford to those who hear: that they may rejoice that Christ has come, yet not presume to run about examining; that they may honor his infancy with gifts, and not diminish it. But pray, brethren, that he who by degrees grew in our body may deign little by little to grow in our word. The Evangelist today reported the angel speaking thus: 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God' (Luke 1). Fear not, Mary — why?
Because thou hast found grace. He fears not who finds, but he who loses. She found — she found in conceiving the grace of a heavenly offspring, she who in giving birth did not lose the marks of virginity. Fear not, Mary. What does she fear who conceives the security of all things and gives birth to the joys of the ages? There is no fear where the business is divine and not human, where there is a consciousness of virtue and not of shame. What does she fear who has received him whom all things that are feared do fear? What does she fear, for whom the judge of the cause is her champion, and integrity the witness of her innocence?
Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God (Luke 1). That which was in the beginning with God, the Word who is God, the Virgin found within herself, and that which had been a tiny lodging of humanity was made a great temple of the Godhead; and him whom the smallness of a human body could not contain, the greatness of a virginal womb began to hold. 'Behold,' he says, 'thou shalt conceive in thy womb.' Out of reverence it would have sufficed to say 'thou shalt conceive'; what he adds, 'in thy womb,' means what? That the conception might be truth, not figure; that the birth might be a real thing, not an image; so that, as from true God true God was born, so from a true conception the truth of a human body might be born. In the birth of Christ, brethren, the injury of the human body was taken away, not its nature;
nor was the creature abolished, but the fault was condemned. It is therefore a heresy which falsely asserts that Christ took to himself an airy body and had no flesh, but feigns that he only counterfeited being a man. 'Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.' What in Hebrew is 'Jesus' is said in Latin 'Savior.' Rightly, therefore, are all things saved for the Virgin, who brought forth the Savior of all. 'And thou shalt call his name Jesus,' because in this name the whole majesty of the Godhead is adored: all who dwell in the heavens, all who inhabit the earth, all who are held in the depth of hell, prostrate themselves before this name and adore it. Hear the Apostle saying: 'That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth' (Philippians 2:10).
This name gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, a running-step to the lame, speech to the mute, life to the dead; and the power of this name drove off the whole power of the devil from bodies that were possessed. And if the name alone is so great, how great is the power? But who is this who is called by this name? Let the angel now say it: 'And he shall be called the Son of the Most High.' You see that what the Virgin conceives is no earthly offspring, but a heavenly one. The Virgin gave birth, but God received a Son. Therefore he who disputes about this nativity after a human manner tends toward every kind of affront against so great a begetter. 'And the Lord,' he says, 'shall give unto him the throne of David his father.'
From this the heretic begets the fogs of his treachery, from this he fashions for himself matter of error. 'Behold,' he says, 'it is not I who speak, but the angel: The Lord God shall give unto him. Is not he who gives greater than he who receives? And he who receives, before he received, did not have.' But let us, brethren, hear these things not as the treacherous, but as the faithful; and let that be to us an argument of faith which to them is an occasion of error. 'The Lord God shall give unto him.' Who gives, or to whom does he give? Surely God gives to man, the Godhead to the flesh. 'The Lord God shall give unto him.' Which God? Surely the Word, who was in the beginning ever God. To whom does he give? To that which was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1). Hear the Apostle saying: 'God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself' (cf. 2 Corinthians 5).
To himself, indeed, not to another. This God, therefore, who was in Christ, was giving to himself a kingdom in Christ, and was conferring upon the body he had assumed that which he had ever possessed by his own divinity, as is proved from the angel's own utterance. 'The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father.' You see that, when he receives, he is called the son of David; when he gives, he is named the Son of God. He himself said: 'All things that the Father hath are mine' (John 16). And what need is there of receiving, where there is the power of having? He says, 'All things that the Father hath are mine.' Who receives what is his own? Or is it in the grace of the giver, if what is bestowed belongs to the receiver?
We confess that he received; but it is this one who was born, who took up flesh, who took up infancy, who endured the cradle, who took up the several ages of life, who bore toil, who felt hunger, who suffered thirst, who did not flee from so many kinds of injuries, who ascended the cross, who underwent death, who entered the tomb: heretic, ascribe to this one whatever accrues to him. Or do you suppose that he disdains to receive honor from God, who received such great injuries from men? Or do you think that he scorns to have a kingdom conferred on him by the Father, who took upon himself punishments and death from his enemies?
Heretic, if you understand that what belongs to injury, to infancy, to age, to time, to what is given, to what is received, to lessening, to death, belongs not to the Godhead but to the body, you will inflict no injury upon the Son, you will make no difference within the Trinity. But let us return to ourselves, and now speak of the things that are ours. 'The Lord God,' he says, 'shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and he shall reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' He who in heaven ever sat with the Father has now received in earth the throne of David; he who ever reigns for himself has now obtained for us an eternal kingdom in the house of Jacob. Let us rejoice, brethren, that he who reigned for himself is about to reign for us:
let us rejoice, because he came to reign on earth, that we might be able to reign with him in heaven. Hear the Apostle: 'If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him' (2 Timothy 2). For us he was born, for us surely he came to bestow a kingdom, as he himself promises, saying: 'Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which was prepared for you from the foundation of the world' (Matthew 25). 'For you,' he said, not 'for me.' He came that he might be with us always, that he might be ever before our eyes, who now is held only in our hearts. He will come, that to those who have glory from his kingdom there may be known intimacy with him. 'And of his kingdom there shall be no end.' You who believe in his coming, rejoice, because he promised a kingdom without end, where there is warfare without a successor, where there are perpetual dignities.
But what is this, that those who covet things transitory do not covet things that will endure? What is it? What is it, that they buy fleeting honors with gold, and yet are unwilling to receive everlasting ones for nothing? Brethren, here offices are prepared, here places are decreed, here honors are appointed; here he who has not received his letters of appointment through faith in the Gospel will not there possess the insignia of eternal dignities. Therefore, if warfare delights us, if we wish to be soldiers forever, let us seize the arms of Christ, let us keep watch, let us be sober, let us conquer the devil, let us lay low the vices, that we may be able to receive rewards together with crowns from our very Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father reigns now and always, and unto all ages of ages. Amen.
Today, brethren, you are to hear how the blessed Evangelist has recounted to us the mystery of Christ's generation. 'The generation of Christ,' he says, 'was in this wise: When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit; but Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately' (Matthew 1). And how was he just, who resolved not to examine his espoused's conceiving? He does not seek out the cause of the suspected shame, he does not vindicate the reputation of the marriage — nay, does he not rather investigate it? 'He was minded to put her away privately.' This seems to befit the merciful rather than the just man; but that is by human judgment, not divine. With God there is neither piety without justice, nor justice without piety;
in the heavenly sense there is no equity without goodness, no goodness without equity. If the virtues be separated, they fall to ruin; equity without goodness is savagery, and justice without piety is cruelty. Joseph, therefore, was justly a just man, because he was merciful; and merciful, because he was just. In short, while he ponders mercy, he was free of cruelty; while he tempers the cause, he kept judgment; while he defers vengeance, he escaped guilt; while he shuns being an accuser, he fled from passing sentence. His holy soul was in turmoil, struck by the novelty of the affair: his espoused stood there pregnant yet a virgin; she stood full of a pledge, yet not empty of modesty; she stood anxious about the conception, yet secure about her integrity; she stood clothed with a mother's gift, yet not shut out from the honor of virginity.
What should the bridegroom do about these things? Should he accuse her of a crime? But he himself was a witness of her innocence. Should he charge her with guilt? But he himself was the guardian of her modesty. Should he press a charge of adultery? But he himself was the defender of her virginity. What should he do about these things? He resolves to put her away, because he could neither betray outwardly nor contain within what had happened. He resolves to put her away, and tells God the whole matter, because he had no one to whom he might tell it as to a man. And we too, brethren, whenever a matter troubles us, appearance deceives, the color of the affair makes us not know its inner truth — let us decline to judge, let us withhold vengeance, let us flee from passing sentence, let us tell God the whole matter, lest, while perhaps we are eager to visit punishment upon the innocent, we ourselves pronounce a harmful sentence against ourselves, the Lord saying:
With what judgment you judge, it shall be judged of you (Matthew 7). Surely, if we keep silent, God will cry out, the angel will answer, who thus forestalled Joseph, lest he forsake innocence: 'Joseph,' he says, 'son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.' 'Joseph, son of David.' You see, brethren, that in one person the whole race is called, you see that in one man the whole lineage is named, you see that in Joseph the line of David's stock is already invoked. 'Joseph, son of David.'
Born in the twenty-eighth generation, how is he called the son of David, unless because the secret of the lineage is opened, the faith of the promise is fulfilled, and the heavenly conception, the virginal birth from above, is now marked out in the flesh? 'Joseph, son of David.' In such a word the promise of God the Father had been proclaimed to David: 'The Lord hath sworn to David the truth, and he will not make it void: of the fruit of thy womb I will set upon thy throne' (Psalm 131). And indeed, David glories in this thing in such a canticle: 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand' (Psalm 109). 'Of the fruit of thy womb': rightly 'the fruit of thy womb,' rightly 'of the womb,' because the heavenly guest, the dweller from on high, so descended into the lodging of the womb that he knew not the enclosures of the body;
so he came forth from the dwelling of the womb that the virginal gate was not opened, and that might be fulfilled which is sung in the Song of Songs: 'A garden enclosed, my sister, my spouse; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up' (Song of Songs 4). 'Joseph, son of David, fear not.' The bridegroom is admonished not to fear on account of his bride's circumstances; and truly a devout soul, while it feels compassion, is the more afraid. 'Joseph, son of David, fear not.' Lest, though secure in your conscience, you should sink down beneath the recognition of the sacrament. 'Joseph, son of David, fear not.' What you see is virtue, not crime; here is no human fall, but a divine descent; here is reward, not guilt; here is the increase of heaven, not the detriment of the body; here is no betrayal of a person, but the secret of the Judge;
here is the palm of the One who takes cognizance, not the penalty of punishment; here is no theft of man, but the treasure of God; here is not a cause of death, but of life. And therefore fear not, because she who brings forth Life does not deserve to be slain. 'Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary thy wife.' To call the bride 'wife' is a matter of this divine law: as, therefore, she is a mother while her virginity remains, so she is called a wife while her modesty remains. 'Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.' Let them come, let them hear, who ask who it is that Mary bore. 'That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.' Let them come, let them hear, who by a Greek whirlwind
have striven to cloud the Latin purity, that they might take away truth, blaspheming — let them come and hear. 'That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.' And that which is born of the Holy Spirit is spirit, because God is spirit (John 3 and 4). Why then do you ask who it is that is born of the Holy Spirit, when God himself answers you that it is God? When John rebukes you, who says: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was God' — the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory (John 1). John saw glory; the unbeliever regards it as an injury. 'That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.' 'And we saw his glory.' Whose glory?
the glory of him who is born of the Holy Spirit, of him who is the Word made flesh, and dwelt among us. 'That which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit.' The Virgin conceived, but of the Spirit; the Virgin gave birth, but to him whom Isaiah foretold: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us' (Isaiah 7; Matthew 1). 'God with us,' but 'man with them.' And 'cursed is the man that putteth his hope in man' (Jeremiah 17). Let them hear who ask who it is that is born of Mary. 'Thou shalt bring forth a son,' says the angel, 'and thou shalt call his name Jesus.' Wherefore the Apostle says 'Jesus': 'That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth' (Philippians 2).
And do you, crafty examiner, now ask who Jesus is? Every tongue already confesses that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father; and do you still inquire who Jesus is? 'Thou shalt bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people.' He shall save none other's people. Whence? 'From their sins.' If you do not believe with Christians that he is God who forgives sins, believe, most faithless one, even the Jews, who say: 'Being a man, thou makest thyself God' (John 10). 'Who can forgive sins but God alone?' (Mark 2). They denied him to be God, who did not believe that he could forgive sins; do you believe that sins are forgiven by him, and yet doubt to confess him God?
The Word was made flesh, that man's flesh might be advanced into the glory of God, not that God might be turned into the injury of the flesh, as the Apostle says: 'He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit' (cf. 1 Corinthians 6). And how, when God joins himself to man, is he not one God? Human laws put an end to all litigious questions within thirty years, and does Christ, some five hundred years after his nativity, still furnish causes for dispute about it, suffer lawsuits over his origin, endure questions about his state? Heretic, cease to judge your Judge, and adore in the heavens the God whom the magus adored on earth (Matthew 2).
As often as, the year's bounds run through, the day of the Lord's Nativity draws near, and the splendor of the virginal childbearing is spread over the whole world with a flashing brilliance, it is of will, not of dread, that we keep silent. What mind would presume to set itself against the very rising of the divine King? When the rays of the sun burst forth, human sight is dulled; when God shines forth, how is the whole gaze of our minds not wounded? When, therefore, our senses have been restored after the stupor of the new light, it is the time when now, having beheld the generation of Christ through the flesh, we may also contemplate the hidden things of his very divinity. 'The generation of Christ,' says the Evangelist, 'was in this wise' (Matthew 1).
Brethren, if we wish to understand the things that are said, let us not weigh divine words by human measures; the human sense must be set aside where all that is said is divine. Thus, that Christ is born is not custom, but sign; not nature, but power; not order, but might; and it is a heavenly miracle, a reason not human. What will worldly knowledge grasp here? What will the understanding of the flesh seek here? 'The generation of Christ,' he says, 'was in this wise.' He did not say, 'was thus made,' but 'was thus,' because the generation of Christ was with the Father when he was being generated of a mother. What was, ever was; what was made, was being rendered back: he was God, he was rendered man; he took us up from the womb, who had fashioned us from clay. 'When his mother Mary was espoused.'
It would have sufficed to have said, 'when Mary was espoused.' What does 'espoused mother' mean? If a mother, not espoused; if espoused, not yet a mother. 'When his mother Mary was espoused.' In virginity espoused, in fruitfulness a mother; a mother ignorant of a man, yet conscious of childbirth. Or how is she not a mother before the conception, who after the childbearing is a virgin mother? Or when is she not a begetter, who begot the Author of the ages and gave to things their beginnings? By nature she is ever a virgin mother, even as corruption is ever a stepmother. It belongs, therefore, to the virginal gift, that the virgin should regenerate through God that which through God the virgin generated: God and integrity are a heavenly fellowship, virginity joined to Christ is a perfect bond of virtue. What the Virgin conceives is the honor of the Spirit, not the burden of the flesh;
what the Virgin bears is the secret of God, not a conjugal ministry; that Christ is born pertains to the divine majesty, not to human weakness: it is the whole glory of the Godhead, where no injury of the flesh is felt. 'When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.' What is it, that to a betrothed woman, and not to a free woman, the secret of heavenly innocence is destined? What is it, that thus, by a bridegroom's jealousy, the bride's peril is procured? What is it, that so great a virtue is reckoned a crime, and sure salvation a danger?
What is it, that among the innocent, modesty thus labors, shame gives way, chastity is wearied, faith is wounded, an accusation arises, the cause presses hard, and all opportunity is taken away by an excuse? Who excuses the bride whom her conceiving accuses? Or what will an external defender profit, when an internal witness of the deed stands by? What do we hold, brethren? Not the letters, not the writings, not the syllables, not a word, not the names, not the persons in the Gospel are empty of divine figures. A bride is sought, that even then the Church might be marked out as the bride of Christ, according to that word of the prophet Hosea: 'I will espouse thee to me in justice and judgment, and in mercy and compassions, and I will espouse thee to me in faith' (Hosea 2). Whence John says:
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom (John 3). And blessed Paul: 'I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ' (2 Corinthians 11). Truly a bride, who by a virginal childbearing regenerates the new infancy of Christ. Joseph, the guardian, is the bridegroom, that in that Joseph he might fulfill a figure of the passion of Christ: Joseph incurred jealousy through prophetic dreams, Christ received envy through prophetic visions; Joseph, cast into the pit of death, emerges alive from the pit, Christ, given to the tomb of death, returns alive from the tomb; Joseph was sold, Christ was priced at a sum; Joseph is led over into Egypt, into Egypt Christ is put to flight;
Joseph plentifully ministers bread to the hungering peoples, Christ satisfies the abiding nations of the whole world with the bread of heaven. Thus it is clear why that Joseph bore before him the type of the heavenly Bridegroom, carried his image, and walked in his figure. Mary is called mother — and when is Mary not a mother? 'The gatherings of the waters,' it says, 'he called Mary [Maria = seas]' (Genesis 1). Did not she conceive in one womb the people going forth out of Egypt, and did there not emerge, reborn into a new creature, a heavenly progeny, according to that word of the Apostle: 'All our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea' (1 Corinthians 10)?
And that Mary might ever be the forerunner of human salvation, she by right went before, in a canticle, the people whom the generating wave brought forth into the light. 'Mary,' it says, 'the sister of Aaron, taking a timbrel in her hand, said: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously honored' (Exodus 15). This name is akin to prophecy, this name is salvation to those born again, this name is a mark of virginity, this the ornament of modesty, this the token of chastity, this the sacrifice of God, this the virtue of hospitality, this the fellowship of holiness; rightly, therefore, this maternal name is the name of the Mother of Christ. We have said why the mother is a bride, why Joseph is a bridegroom, why Mary bears a maternal name, that we might disclose that all that concerns the birth of Christ was mystical.
Now let us disclose from other causes why a spouse was sought for the childbearing of Christ. Isaiah had foretold that a virgin would bring forth the God of heaven (Isaiah VII), the king of the earth, the Lord of the world, the restorer of the world, the slayer of death, the giver back of life, the author of everlasting duration. How grievous this was to worldly men, how terrible to kings, how dreadful to the Jews, the very outcome of the Lord's nativity proved. For when Judaea heard from the Magi who announced that Christ was born, and Herod learned it, at once the Jews set about to destroy, and Herod to slay, Christ (Matthew II); and while they feared a successor to themselves, they all strove to destroy the Saviour. Finally, because they could not find Him, they lay waste their homeland, they mingle milk with blood, they dash His fellow-infants together in parricidal frenzy;
they tear the innocent to pieces, since they could not find any partakers of guilt to punish. And they do this when Christ is already born; what would such savagery have done had Christ been but conceived? Hence it is that a bridegroom is provided, a husband's guise is provided, that the miracle might yield, that the sign might be hidden, that the Virgin's childbearing might be veiled, that no room be given for accusation, and that the raging enemy's snares might thus be foiled. For although Christ was given over to death, had He been slain in the womb, headlong death would have snatched away that which had come for our salvation. And since this passage may confer much upon us if it be discussed, let it suffice, brethren, that we have today tasted beforehand the Lord's sacred mystery.