Half-Hours With The Saints and Servants of God/Part 2: 17. On the Incarnation
17.— On the Incarnation.
St. Bernard, St. Athanasius, Pere Louis de Grenada, and St. Jerome.
"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel." — Isaias vii. 14.
[St. Bernard was one of the most influential ecclesiastics of the Middle Ages, He was born at Fontaines, in Burgundy, A.D. 1091. In the year 11 13, he became a monk at Citeaux, and at the early age of twenty-four, was elected Abbot of Clairvaux. At that time Clairvaux was a savage desert, but St. Bernard made it teem with fertility. He wished that his monks, while serving God, should also be useful to man, and he prescribed that each of them in his turn, and according to his capacity, should attend to manual labour and study.
St Bernard was called the honeyed teacher, and his writings were styled a stream from Paradise.
He died in the year 1153, and was canonised by Alexander III. A.D. 1174.]
I HAVE often thought of, and meditated on, the holy eagerness of the patriarchs who so sighed for the coming of the Messiah; and I felt confused, and was, moreover, so penetrated with grief, that I could scarcely refrain from weeping, so much was I ashamed to see the tepidity and indifference of these unhappy days.
For who amongst us is filled with so much joy in the fulfilment of this mystery, as did the saints of the Old Testament, at the promises which so called forth their longing desires?
Many, it is true, may rejoice at the celebration of this feast; but I am much afraid that it is less on account of the feast, than through vanity.
[St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, was born in that city about the year 296, and died A.D. 373. Forty-six years of his official life he spent in banishment in defending the Nicene Creed.
The best edition of his life and writings is that by Montfaucon, 3 vols, folio. Paris, 1698.]
The Son of God has taken upon Himself our poverty
and miseries, in order that we may participate in His
riches. His sufferings will one day render us impassible,
and His death will make us immortal.
We should find our joy in His tears, our resurrection in His tomb, our sanctification in His baptism, in accordance with what He says in the Gospel: " I sanctify myself in order that they also may be sanctified in truth."
There is not a phase in the life of our Saviour, which does not refer to Calvary. The Good Master was born in the stable only to die on the Cross; His life, which I should study continually, would show me all the riches of His love; I should see therein all the profound mysteries of His incarnation and redemption; I should discover what I have cost; I should appreciate the beauty and goodness of Jesus, and I shall then cry out, " O happy fault which has procured us such a Redeemer!" O felix culpa, qua tantum ac talem meruit habere salvatorem.
[Louis de Grenada was born in the year 1505, in the city of Grenada, Spain. He took the habit of St. Dominic, and by his writings proved himself to be one of the most illustrious of his order.
This saintly religious died in the year 1588. His writings have been constantly quoted by St. Charles Borromeo, in his instructions to his flock. St. Francis de Sales was never weary of studying his works, and often recommended his books to his penitents.]
In order that nothing should be wanting to heighten the glory of this great mystery, before Jesus was born, or rather from the beginning of the world and from all ages, He has been promised to the patriarchs, He has been announced by the prophets, foretold by the sybils, represented throughout by ancient ceremonies, sacrifices, and every sacrament of the old law.
And when He deigned to descend from heaven to earth, by what circumstances, what prodigies, has not His coming been accompanied, which were but reasonable for so supreme a Majesty.
An angel sent by God has brought the glad tidings, He has been conceived of the Holy Ghost, He had chosen the most pure and holy of virgins to become Incarnate in her womb, and the body He has taken has been united to the Divinity from the very first moment of His birth.
Pagans imagined that it was unworthy of the majesty of God to clothe Himself with a substance so degrading as our flesh; but it is easy to show them how this humanity has been glorified, what riches it has possessed, and, far from having been a thing below the dignity of God, it has, on the contrary, considerably added to His glory, by uniting these two natures into one person.
It is in such marvels as these that the wisdom of God appears more apparent. It shows also, that He alone is capable of elevating lowliness, of aggrandising that which is nothing, of filling with honour and dignity that which was contemptible. For if, by an effect of His goodness, He had wished to humiliate Himself by becoming man, nevertheless having taken the nature of man, instead of receiving ignominy therefrom, He has, on the contrary, received an infinity of glory, since it was in His power to do what He would have wished, without making use of anything but His will alone.
But what words can describe the immensity of the various gifts with which the Holy Ghost has endowed this sacred humanity, the first and foremost being, His unspeakable union with the Divine Word, which is the greatest of all the wonders which the power of God could make?
Through that this sacred humanity has been raised above all that God has created, and beyond anything that His infinite power is capable of creating; and in order that this supreme dignity may correspond with His grandeur and magnificence, it has been made the fountain of every grace. The grace of being the universal Head of all mankind has been given to Him, in order that, through it all the treasures of heaven should be communicated to the children of Adam.
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Here is a wonder which in itself is out of the ordinary course of nature, of which experience has not taught us, a marvel which reason ignores, of which the human intellect cannot conceive, which astonishes heaven and earth, which creates admiration even among the celestial choir; and this mystery is, that Gabriel the archangel announces to Mary that " the Lord is with thee," and the accomplishment thereof is the work of the Holy Ghost.