Luke I, 1-4. Preamble
"As many have undertaken Luc to compose a relationship of events. Many things with us have the same origins and the same causes as those of the ancient Jews: similar episodes take place at the same pace, with the same outcome; the events correspond from beginning to end. In fact, there have been many prophets in this people animated by the Spirit of God; others, on the other hand, claimed to prophesy and betrayed their commitments by their lies: they were false prophets and not prophets: such as Anania, son of Azot (Jer., XXVIII, 1). Now this people had the gift of discerning spirits: so he knew those whom he was to put among the number of prophets and those whom, like an expert changer, he must reject as facts of a coarse, dull metal, having no not the brilliance and brilliance of true light. Thus, nowadays, in the New Covenant, many have undertaken to write gospels that the experienced money-changers have not approved: one of them, written in four books, has seemed worthy to be retained. There is another gospel, which is said to be written by the Twelve. Basilides also did not fear to write one called the Gospel according to Basilides. We are talking about another one, called the Gospel according to Thomas. I know another one attributed to Mathias 1. We read some of them so that we do not read them; we have read them not to ignore them; we have read them not to retain them, but to reject them and to know what is the heart of these boasters. Yet the Church, with the four evangelical books she possesses, fills the universe of her evangelists; with all their books, heresies do not have one. "Many," indeed, "have undertaken", but they lacked the grace of God. Several have collected in a compilation what in the four Gospels seemed to them conformable to their poisoned doctrines. Thus the Church has only one gospel and teaches one God; while those who distinguish a God from the Old Testament and a God of the New 2 have established with the help of multiple gospels not one God, but many. "As many have undertaken. Of course, those who could not finish were taken. Many, therefore, have begun, but not yet finished: S. Luke furnishes us in his turn an explicit testimony, when he tells us that many have undertaken. The one who undertook to compose it undertook by a personal effort, and did not succeed. There is no effort in the gifts and grace of God: when it spreads in a place, it is used to so well water that in the mind of the writer, sterility gives way to the abundance. No effort at Matthew, no effort at Marc, no effort at Jean, no effort at Luc; but largely provided by the divine Spirit of everything: words and facts, they have without any expenditure of effort carried out their enterprise. He is therefore right to say: "As many have begun to compose a relationship of events that have happened at home," or: "which abound in us." Abundance leaves nothing to be desired; and as to the fulfillment, no one doubts it, for the result is proof of it, the end is proof of it. Thus the Gospel is completed and it spreads over all the faithful of the whole world, watering all the intelligences, strengthening all the hearts. He who, built on stone, has received with the fullness of faith an unshakable constancy, is entitled to say: "What has been accomplished in us"; for it is not miracles and wonders; it is intelligence that discerns truth from falsehood from those who recount what the Lord has done for our salvation or who apply their hearts to his wonders. Is it not so reasonable, when one reads that things are superior to man, than to attribute them to a superior nature and, when there are signs of mortality, to to see the affections of the body that has been coated? It is therefore intelligence and reason, not miracles, which serve as the basis of our faith. "As we have transmitted those who, from the beginning, have themselves seen and served the word. " This phrase should not lead us to believe that speech is served rather than heard. It is not a spoken word, but a substantial Word that "became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn, I, 14). So it is not, let us understand it, of any word, but of this divine Word, that the Apostles were the ministers. However, it is read in the Exodus that "the people saw the voice of the Lord" (Ex., XX, 18); now it is clear that the voice is not visible but is heard; what is the voice? a sound, which does not fall under the eyes, but the ear perceives. Yet it is a profound thought that has determined Moses to affirm that we see the voice of God: in the heart of the soul a look contemplates it. But in the Gospel it is not a voice that is seen; it is what is superior to the voice, the Word. So the evangelist St. John says, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard and seen, beheld with our eyes, and touched with our hands the Word of life; for the Life is manifested, and we have seen it, and we testify to it, and we announce to you the Life that was with the Father and manifested itself to us "(I Jn, I, 1 sqq.). As you can see, the Word of God was seen as well as understood by the Apostles. They saw the Lord, not only in his body but even as a Word; they saw the Word, those who with Moses and Elijah saw the glory of the Word (Matt. XVII, 3). They saw Jesus, who saw him in his glory, not the others, who could only see his body: for it is not given to the eyes of the body, but to those of the soul, to see Jesus. The Jews did not see him while seeing him. Abraham saw it, for it is written, "Abraham saw my day and rejoiced" (Jn, VIII, 56). So Abraham saw it, and yet it is certain that he did not see the Lord in his body. But to see him in the spirit is to see him corporally; on the contrary, to see him bodily without seeing him in spirit, is not even to see corporally what one seems to see. Isaiah saw it and, as he saw it in spirit, he saw it also in his body. Does he not say, "He had neither appearance nor beauty" (Is., LIII, 2)? The Jews did not see it: "Their foolish heart was blinded" (Rom., I, 21). He, himself, testifies that the Jews could not see him: "Blind guides," said he, "you filter the gnat, and the camel swallows it! (Matt., XXIII, 24). Pilate did not see him. They did not see him, those who shouted, "Crucify him, crucify him! "For if they had seen it, they would never have crucified the sovereign Lord" (I Cor., II, 8). To see God is therefore to see the Emmanuel, to see God with us. Whoever has not seen God with us has not been able to see Him whom a Virgin has given birth to. Also those who did not believe him Son of God did not believe him any more Son of a Virgin. What is it to see God? Do not ask me; ask the gospel, ask the Lord Himself; or rather, listen to him: "Philip," said he, "he who saw me saw the Father who sent me. How can you say: Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? "(Jn, XIV, 9-10). Not that we see the bodies one in the other, or the spirits one in the other; but this Father is the only one who is seen in his Son, as this Son in his Father. One does not see one in the other, indeed, dissimilar characters; but as long as there is unity of operation and activity, we see both the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son. "The works that I do," says He, "He too fulfills them" (Jn, V, 19). We see Jesus in his works; in the works of the Son we also see the Father. We saw Jesus on seeing the mystery he performed in Galilee (Jn, II, 9); for no one but the Master of the world can transform the elements. I see Jesus when I read that he smeared the eyes of the blind man with mud and gave him sight (Jn, IX, 6): I recognize here the one who made the man mud and gave him the breath of life, light to see. I see Jesus when He forgives sins; for "no one can forgive sins save God alone" (Mk, II, 5, 7). I see Jesus when He raises Lazarus, and the eyewitnesses did not see him. I see Jesus, I see the Father also when I lift my eyes to the sky, when I turn them towards the sea, when I bring them back to the earth; because "his invisible perfections are seen and grasped by means of created objects" (Rom., I, 20). "As we have transmitted those who, from the beginning, have seen and served the Word. " The perfect man has a dual faculty of intention and execution. Of these two faculties, the holy evangelist does honor to the Apostles: not only, he says, they have seen the Word, but they have served it. The intention relates to the vision, to the performance the service; but the term of the intention is the execution, and the principle of the execution is the intention. And to use the very example of the Apostles, Peter and Andrew intended it when hearing the Lord say to them, "I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. IV, 19), without any postponement. they left their boat, followed the Word. But the execution is not simultaneous to the intention. In the same way there is not yet execution, but intention, when Peter says, "Lord, why can not I follow you now? I will give my life for you "(Jn, XIII, 37); the intention of the martyrdom was there, but not yet the execution, although it was already realized by the fasts, the vigils, by the contempt of the pleasures of the senses: because it is there the Christianity in action. In fact, it is far from the fact that in all things the intention and the execution are simultaneous: what is the execution of a thing is still only intentional in relation to another. This same Peter had already posed with constancy and energy many apostle's acts; yet it was later, when the Lord had said to him, "You, follow me" (Jn, XXI, 22), take his cross, follow the Word, and know the reality of martyrdom. But let us suppose that, in Peter, Andrew, John, and among the other Apostles, the execution was commensurate with the intention. It is none the less true that sometimes the intention exceeds the execution, or the execution the intention. It is the difference that the gospel shows us between Saint Mary and Saint Martha: for one listened to the word, the other was eager to serve: "She stopped and said: Lord, you do not take care let her alone do the service! tell him then to help me. And he said to him, Martha, Martha, Mary chose the best portion, which will not be taken from her. (Lc, X, 40-42.) Thus predominance in one of loving attention, in the other of activity to be served. Yet in both of them there was the zeal of these two exercises: if Martha herself had not heard the Word, she would not have put herself at his service; his activity is the sign of his attention; and as for Mary, she was so well consummated in the one and the other virtue that she was given to embalm the feet of Jesus, to wipe them with his hair and to fill the whole house with the perfume of his faith (Jn, XII, 3). It sometimes even happens that the application is very large, the execution sterile: so we will take care of medicine, we will know all the medical rules and we will not apply them, so that the sterility of the realization will lead to that of the study. In some, on the other hand, the act may be richer, the look more puny: such as he who receives the sacrament of baptism, but does not wish to apply himself to knowing the rules of the various virtues; often this negligence in attention causes the fruit of the act to be lost. We must therefore seek the fullness of both virtues. The attainment was given to the Apostles, of whom it is said: "Those who from the beginning have seen and served. They have seen: by this means the application to know God; they served: thus their activity is expressed. Note: Intention corresponds to all that is of the speculative order: ideal, desire, attentive gaze, contemplation, study. Action corresponds to everything related to practice: realization, execution, activity, putting into practice. "He seemed good to me. He may not have been the only one to find good what he declares to have seemed good to him; no, the will of man was not alone in finding it good, but such was the good pleasure of "He who speaks in me, the Christ" (II Cor., XIII, 3), which makes that what is good can also seem good to us. He calls him whose mercy he takes. Therefore whoever follows Christ can, if asked why he wanted to be a Christian, answer: "It seemed good to me"; in speaking thus, he does not deny that God found him good: "It is God, indeed, who prepares the human will" (Prov., VIII, 35 according to the Septuagint). If God is honored by a saint, it is God's grace. As well, many wanted to write the gospel; but only four, having obtained the grace of God, have been approved. "He seemed good to me after having applied himself to knowing exactly everything from the beginning and in order. This gospel is more extensive than the others: no one could doubt it. So he does not claim the false, but the true. Besides, he deserved that the Apostle Paul himself bore witness to its accuracy; Here is his eulogy of Luke: "The gospel is praise to him of all the churches" (II Cor., VIII, 18). It is certainly worthy of praise for having deserved to be praised by the great Doctor of the nations. He therefore sought to know, he said, not a little, but everything; and when he became acquainted with everything, it seemed good to him to write not everything, but an excerpt from it all: for he did not write everything, but he knew everything: "If one wanted," he said, "to write all that Jesus did, the whole world, I think, could not contain it. (Jn, XXI, 25). You will note again that he deliberately omitted what was written by the others. Thus the gospel shines with varied charms, and each book has its miracles, its mysteries, its own actions which distinguish it. Have not the soldiers shared the garments of Christ, as we will explain further in his place? This gospel was written for Theophilus, that is, for the one who is loved by God. If you love God, it is for you that it is written; if it is for you that it is written, welcome this present of the evangelist, keep with care in the heart of your heart this memory of a friend, "keep this precious deposit by the Holy Spirit who has been given "(II Tim., I, 14); look at him frequently, examine him often. Fidelity is the first duty towards a deposit; then the care, so that this deposit is not eaten by ringworm or rust: because what you have been entrusted with can be eaten away. The gospel is a precious deposit, but beware that it is gnawed in your heart by ringworm or rust. It is eaten away by ringworm, if, having read correctly, you believe badly. The ringworm is the heretic, the ringworm is Photin, your ringworm yours, it's Arius. It is to slash clothing that separate the Word of God. Photin lacer clothing, when he reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was in God, and God was" (Jn, 1,1); the integrity of the garment demands that one reads: "And the Word was God. It is to slash clothing that separate from God the Christ. If one reads, "Eternal life is to know you, you only true God" (Jn, XVII, 3): one must also know Christ, because to know the Father alone as truly God, it is not is not all eternal life; but to know also Christ as true God, truth of truth, God of God, that is the life without end. It is to be ringworm to know Christ without believing in his divinity or in the mystery of his body. Arius moth, Sabellius moth! These moths attack the floating spirits, these moths attack the mind which does not believe that the Father and the Son are one by the deity. One tears what is written: "My Father and I are one" (Jn, X, 30), if we divide this unit into distinct substances. This ringworm attacks the mind which does not believe that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, and he is ringworm himself, for he is an antichrist (I Jn, IV, 2 sqq.). Those on the contrary who are of God preserve the faith and therefore can not know the ringworm that gnaws the garment. All that is divided in itself, like the kingdom of Satan, can not last forever. There is also a rust of the heart: the spots of earthly lusts blunt attention to holy things, or the purity of faith is altered by the mist of error. The rust of the soul is the desire of riches; the rust of the soul is negligence; the rust of the soul is the passion of honors, if we place in these goods all the hope of the present life. Let us turn then to the things of God, sharpen our spirit, let us exercise our love, to keep always ready, always bright, hidden, so to speak, in the scabbard of the soul, the sword for the purchase of which the Lord order to sell the garment (Lc, XXII, 36). For spiritual weapons, "powerful in the eyes of God to overthrow, strongholds" (II Cor., X, 4), must always be within reach of the soldiers of Christ, lest upon his arrival the leader of the militia Heavenly, shocked by the bad state of our arms, does not exclude us from the ranks of his legions.
Luke I, 5-25. Announcement in Zachariah
"There was in the days of Herod king of Judea a priest named Zechariah of the class of Abia, and his wife was of the lineage of Aaron and was named Elizabeth; and both were righteous, behaving according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord, without reproach. "
Divine Scripture teaches us that among those who deserve praise it is fitting to praise not only their manners, but also their parents; so it is in the manner of a transmitted inheritance that a spotless purity will distinguish those whom we want to celebrate. In fact, what is the sacred evangelist aiming for here? Does he not want to claim for St. John the Baptist the nobility of parents, prodigies, life, function, martyrdom? Thus is celebrated Anne, mother of Samuel the saint, that Isaac received from his parents the nobility of piety, then bequeathed it to his descendants.
So Zachariah is a priest, and not only a priest, but also of Abia's class, which distinguishes him from the oldest families. "And his wife, it is said, was of Aaron's lineage. So it is not only to his parents but to his ancestors that the nobility of St. John goes back, not enhanced by the power of this world, but venerable by a religious lineage. Such ancestors were needed by the herald of Christ: thus would he preach, not for having suddenly conceived it, but as having received from his ancestors, as infused by right of birth, faith in the coming of the Lord.
"They were both righteous, behaving according to all the commandments and prescriptions of the Lord, without reproach. What will those who, seeking excuse for their sins, think that man can not remain without sin frequently, and use this verse, which is written in Job: "No one is free from defilement, not even he has only one day of life; and on earth he still has many months to go through "(Job, XIV, 4, Septuagint)? Here is how to answer them: first, that they specify what it means to be without sin; has it absolutely never sinned, or stopped sinning? If they think that to be without sin, it is to have stopped sinning, I am of their opinion, because "all have sinned and need the glory of God" (Rom., III, 23). But if they deny that having corrected their old errors to pass to a kind of life where sin is avoided, we can abstain from failures, I can not agree with their opinion; for we read that "the Lord loved the Church to the point of presenting it to Himself glorious, without spot or wrinkle, nor anything like it, but holy and immaculate" (Ephesians 5: 25,27). For the Church being recruited among the Gentiles, therefore among the sinners, how, made of defiled, can it be immaculate, if not because first the grace of God has purified it of sin, and then because imposing a life without sin, she protects herself from mistakes? Thus it is not from the beginning unblemished - it is impossible for human nature - but by the grace of God and by his kind of life, no longer sinning, it comes to appear without spot.
And it is not without reason that they are said "righteous before God, behaving according to the commandments and regulations of the Lord," which implies the Almighty Father and the Son. It is the Son who brought the Law, imposed the precepts: in turn the holy evangelist declares it.
And it is fitting to say "righteous before God": for those who are righteous before man are not all equally righteous before God. Other is the gaze of men, other than that of God; men see the face, God the heart (I Sam., XVI, 7, Septuagint). And so it may happen that such, who seeks the good graces of the popular, seems to me just and not to be so before God, if his justice is not the act of a simple soul, but is feigned by adulation; hides in it, man can not disentangle it. The perfect merit is therefore to be right before God, which makes the Apostle say: "His praise does not come from men, but from God. (Rom., II, 29.) Blessed truly, he who in the sight of God is just; happy he from whom the Lord deigns to say: "Behold, a true Israelite, in whom there is no dissimulation" (Jn, I, 47): for the true Israelite is the one who sees God, who knows that God sees him and who reveals to him the secrets of his heart. One is truly perfect only if one is recognized by the One who can not be deceived; for "the judgments of the Lord are true" (Ps. 18, 9) and the judgments of men are often wrong, to the point that they often attribute to the unjust the merit of justice, while the just is pursued for their hatred or dirty with their lies. "The Lord Himself knows the ways of men without blemish" (Ps. 36, 18); He does not take for a sinner the one who is commendable, nor the laudable sinner, but judges each one to the measure of the merits which belong to him; He appreciates both thought and act. Divine judgments measure the merit of the righteous to the dispositions of his soul, not to the result as such of his acts; for often the good intention is disfigured by leading to a reprehensible act, while a bad thought is veiled by the beautiful appearance of an act. But the very good that you may have done, the divine judgment, if your calculation was perverse, can not approve it; for it is written, "You rightly pursue what is right" (Deut., XVI, 20); now, if it were not possible to do an unfair act, it would never have been said: "You rightly pursue what is right. And indeed the Savior Himself has taught us that one can do a righteous act justly, saying, "When you give alms, do not blow the trumpet before you" (Matt. VI, 2). and "when you pray, do not be like hypocrites" (Ib.t 5). It is good that mercy is a good thing than prayer; but it can be done unjustly, if it is by gloriole that one gives to the poor to be seen by men.
So the holy evangelist says that they were not only "just before God and behaving according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord," but also behaving "without reproach." This fits perfectly with the prophetic word used by Solomon the saint in the Proverbs:
"Watch," he says, "to do well always before God and men" (Prov., III, 4). One is therefore without reproach when there is agreement between the goodness of the intention and that of the act. Often, too stiff justice excites the complaints of men.
But note carefully about the choice of words, the suitability of their order: "They behaved, it is said, according to all the commandments and prescriptions of the Lord. In the first place the command; then justification: thus, when we obey the heavenly commandments, we walk according to the commandments of the Lord; when we judge and judge properly, it appears that we are observing the righteousness of the Lord.
It is therefore a complete eulogy that embraces race, conduct, function, activity, judgment: race by ancestors, conduct by equity, function by priesthood, activity by the commandment, and by justice the judgment.
"And it came to pass, as Zacharias fulfilled the priestly office according to the turn of his class, according to the custom of the priests, that fate appointed him to offer incense upon entering the temple of the Lord; and all the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. "
It seems that here S. Zachary is indicated as sovereign pontiff: for this one, as we read, of the first tabernacle in which the priests continually entered to perform their functions, passed once a year only in the temple: "In the second sanctuary, once a year, the only high priest (penetrates), and with the blood that he offers for himself and for the faults of the people "(Heb., IX, 7). This is the supreme priest who is still asked for fate, because we are still unaware of the true one: if he is drawn by lot, it is because human judgment can not discern it. This is the one we were looking for and another was the figure. The one sought after is the true and eternal priest, to whom it is said:
"You are a priest for eternity" (Psalm 109: 4): He who, not by the blood of the victims, but by his own blood, was to reconcile his Father, God, with the human race. But then the blood was shed in the figure, in the figure the priest was ordained; now that the truth has come, let's face it, let's follow the truth.
So also there was a turn, now it's perpetuity. There was, yes definitely there was someone who was taking the place.
Thus, the priest who entered the temple was drawn. And if, in the time of the figures, no one could assist him, was it not a sign that a priest would come whose sacrifice would not be common to others: He who would not sacrifice for us in temples made of man's hand, but in the temple of his body would eliminate our sins?
So we drew lots for the priest. It is for this reason perhaps that the soldiers drew lots of the Lord's clothes (Lk. XXIII, 34): for the Lord was ready to present for us in his temple his sacrifice, and for him also the recourse to the lot had to fulfill the precept of the Law (that is why he said, "I came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfill it"): one would see by this that it was He who was waiting for it Old Testament and that designated the choice of God. Moreover, on the apostle Mathias also the fate has fallen, so that the choice of an apostle would not seem to disagree with the precept of the old law.
"And an angel appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense." It is not without reason that the angel appears in the temple: finally is announced the coming of the true priest and prepares the heavenly sacrifice of which the angels will serve.
And it is said that he appeared to him who suddenly perceived him. Besides, it is the special turn which is loved for use by angels, or for God the divine Scripture, and by which what can not be foreseen is said to appear; you read indeed: "God appeared to Abraham near the yam of Mamre" (Gen., XVIII, 1). The one that was not hinted until then but suddenly becomes visible is deemed to appear. In fact, we do not see in the same way the sensible objects and the object of the will from which it depends on being seen, the nature of which is such that we do not see it, the will we see it; for if he does not want it, one does not see it; if he wants to, we see him. God appeared to Abraham because he wanted it; to another, unwilling, He did not appear. In the same way, Stephen, being stoned by the people, saw the sky open; he also saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God (Acts, vii. 55), and the people did not see him. Isaiah saw the Lord of Hosts (Is., VI, 1), but no one else could see him, because he appeared to whom he pleased Him.
But why speak of men, when we read about the virtues and celestial powers themselves that "no one has ever seen God" (Jn, I, 18)? And we add, which exceeds the heavenly powers: "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed Himself to us" (Ib.). It is therefore necessary to admit, if no one has ever seen God the Father, that it is the Son who has shown himself in the Old Testament, and the heretics must renounce to make him begin from the Virgin, and then -Before being born of the Virgin II was shown. In any case, it can not be denied that the Father, or the Son, or even the Holy Spirit, if the Holy Spirit is visible, manifest themselves according to the appearance chosen by their will and not shaped by their nature, since The Holy Spirit himself, as we know, was shown in the form of a dove. And if no one has ever seen God, it is because the fullness of the divinity that dwells in God has not been perceived by anyone: no one has grasped it by thought or sight; because "has seen" must be understood of both. As well, adding: "The only-begotten Son Himself revealed it", it is the souls rather than the bodies whose eyes are indicated: the appearance is seen, the power is revealed; one is grasped by the eyes, the other by the soul.
But why speak of the Trinity? The Seraphin appeared when he wanted to, and Isaiah alone heard his voice (Is., VI, 6). The angel also appeared, he is there at the moment, but we do not see him; for it is not in our power to see it, but in its power to appear. Yet, if we do not have the power to see it, grace is there to get us the means to see it. So he who had grace has obtained this faculty; we do not get this faculty because we do not have the grace to see God.
And what is so surprising if, in this world, the Lord is only seen when he wants it? At the resurrection itself It is given to see God only to those who have a pure heart; also "blessed are the pure ones, for they are the ones who will see God" (Matt, V, 8). How many blessed people had already listed! And yet He had not promised them the faculty of seeing God. If therefore those who are pure-hearted will see God, surely others will not see it: for the unworthy will not see God, and whoever does not want to see God can not see God.
It is not in a place that we see God, but by a pure heart. It is not the eyes of the body that seek God; He is not embraced by the gaze, nor touched, nor heard in conversation, nor recognized by his approach. It is believed to be absent, we see it; He is present, and we do not see him. Besides, even the Apostles did not see Christ; so says II: "For so long that I am with you, you do not know me yet" (Jn, XIV, 9)! Whoever has indeed known "what is breadth and length and height and depth, and superior to knowledge, the charity of Christ" (Ephesians 3: 18-19), he also saw the Christ, saw also the Father. For we are no longer according to the flesh that we know Christ (II Cor., V, 16), but according to the spirit: "The spirit that is before us is the Lord Christ." (Lam., IV, 20, Septuagint): may he deign, in his mercy, to fill us with all the fullness of God, that we may see him!
If, then, the angel appeared to Zechariah, "to the right of the altar of incense", it is because he appeared when he wanted to, and did not appear so much as he did not want to.
Now he appeared to the right of the altar of incense because he brought the mark of divine mercy; for "the Lord is on my right hand so that I will not be shaken" (Psalm 15: 8), and elsewhere: "The Lord is your protection on your right hand" (Psalm 120: 5). And it pleases God that we too, when we incense altars, when we present the sacrifices, we are assisted by the angel, or better than he makes himself visible! For there can be no doubt that the angel is there when Christ is slain; "For it is Christ who was sacrificed as our Passover" (I Cor., V, 7).
Do not be afraid that your heart will be troubled at the sight of the angel? for we are troubled and out of our senses when we are seized by the meeting of some higher power? this same angel who comes to us may strengthen us, as he has confirmed the troubled soul of Zechariah at first, saying to him, "Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for here is your prayer answered, and your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. and you will give him John's name; it will be a joy for you, and many will rejoice at its birth. ". The divine benefits are always plenary, overflowing, not restricted to a small number, but piled up in an abundant accumulation of goods: here we promise first to prayer its fruit, then the maternity of a sterile wife, then joy of many, greatness in virtue, a prophet of
Very high ; and even, so that no hesitation subsists, we designate the name of the one who is coming. With such gifts, which overflow the desire, it is right that defiance is punished by the silence: we will explain it later.
There is a special joy in the origin and birth of the saints: it is that a saint is not only the happiness of his parents, but also the salvation for many; so this passage teaches us to rejoice at the birth of the saints.
It is also a warning to parents to give thanks for birth no less than the merits of their sons: for God does not make a mediocre present when he grants the children who will continue the race, the heirs who will succeed. Read how Jacob rejoices at having begotten his twelve sons. Abraham receives a son, Zechariah is granted: it is therefore a gift of God that the fertility of parents. As the fathers give thanks for having begotten, the sons of having been begotten, the mothers of the honorable reward of marriage, for their children are the pay of their service. May the earth flourish in praise of God because it is cultivated, the world because it is known, the Church because the number of the faithful people increases.
And it is not in vain that, from the beginning of Genesis, the order of God creates the bond of marriage: is it not to ruin heresy? God has so well approved marriage that he has made the link; He has so well rewarded that when infertility denied children, the goodness of God has granted them. "And he will be great before the Lord. It is not the body, but the soul, whose greatness is here announced. There is in the sight of the Lord a greatness of the soul, a greatness of virtue; there is also a smallness of the soul and a childhood of virtue. For the soul as for the body we calculate the ages, not on the basis of time, but according to the degree of virtue: man does, shall we say, is the one who is exempt from the errors of childhood and does not experience plus the inconstancy of adolescence, his soul being at maturity; on the contrary, that which has not yet been seen to make any progress in virtue. Hence the text of Jeremiah, when the Lord takes pity on Ephraim crying and lamenting his sins: "From my youth," he says, "Ephraim is my beloved son, a child in his enjoyments" (Jer. XXXI, 20) For if he had not been a child in his enjoyments, he would never have sinned. And he said the two things well: in enjoyments, and child; there is the child who does not sin: "Here is my child whom I have chosen" (Is., XLIII, 10). So it was by enjoyment that sinned whom the Lord had formed ignorant of error. If, therefore, he had not been a child in enjoyment, and if he had grown and grown old by virtue of being a man, he would never have fallen, nor would he have needed to beg for forgiveness. of his faults, having rather reason to hope for the reward of his merits. This is still what the Lord seems to express in the Gospel, when He says: "Beware of despising one of these little ones" (Matt. Xviii. 10): but reserve the surplus for this place.
So the little is opposed to the big one; and since, according to the Apostle, the little one is under the elements - "as long as we were children, we were under the elements of this world" (Gal., IV, 3) - the great surpass therefore the elements of the world. Thus John will be great, not by bodily strength, but by greatness of soul. He has not retreated the frontiers of some empire, he has not aspired to some triumph with the spoils conquered by war; but, what is greater, preaching in the desert, he has overthrown the human enjoyments and the softness of the flesh by the greatness and strength of his soul. He was therefore small according to the world, great in spirit. Finally, since he was tall, even life could not hold him to his lures: the desire to live did not make him change the firmness of his sentence.
"And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. "
There is no doubt that this promise of the angel is true, since St. John, before he was born, still living in the bosom of his mother, manifested the benefit of the Spirit which he had received. In fact, while neither his father nor his mother had performed any marvel before, while shuddering in his mother's breast he announced the coming of the Lord. That's what you read: when the Lord's Mother came to Elizabeth,
she said to him, "Behold, when your salvation reached my ears, the child shuddered in my bosom"; he did not yet have the spirit of life, but the Spirit of grace. As well we have seen elsewhere the reality of life preceded by grace which sanctifies, since the Lord said:
"Before forming you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you and made you a prophet among the peoples" (Jer., I, 5). Another is the spirit of this life, other than that of grace: he takes his principle at birth, expires at death; it is not limited by time or age, nor extinguished by death, nor hatched from the maternal breast. As Saint Mary, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied, Elisha revived the dead body of a dead man in contact with his body (II Kings, XIII, 21), and Samuel, already dead, did not, in the testimony of the Scripture, kept silent about the future (I Sam., XXVIII, 16 ff.) 34. "And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit": to whom has the Spirit of grace nothing is lacking, and whoever receives the Holy Spirit has the fullness of the greatest virtues. Finally, it is said, "He will bring many children of Israel back to the Lord their God." That St. John has converted many hearts, the certificates are not lacking. On this point we have the support of the scriptures, prophetic and evangelical; for "a voice cries out in the wilderness, prepare the way to the Lord, straighten out his paths" (Is. xl. 3), and the search for baptism by the crowds shows that there was a considerable movement of conversions among the people. . Now, believing in John, we believed in Christ: for it is not He himself, but the Lord preached by the Precursor of Christ. Also "he will precede the presence of the Lord in the spirit and with the virtue of Elijah". Happy rapprochement: for there is never a spirit without virtue or virtue without a spirit. Perhaps also "in the spirit and with the virtue of Elijah" because Elijah the saint possessed a great virtue and grace: virtue to divert from impiety to faith the soul of the peoples, virtue of abstinence and patience, and spirit of prophecy. Elijah was in the desert, John in the desert; This one was fed by the crows, the latter, in the thickets, repressed all the attractions of pleasure, preferred austerity and despised luxury. One did not seek the favor of King Ahab, the other disdained that of Herod. One has separated the waters of the Jordan, the other has made a bath savior. He lives with the Lord on earth, he appears with the Lord in glory. This precedes the first advent of the Lord, the latter the second. One has made the rain fall on the ground for three years dried up, the other after three years bathed the earth of our body waters of faith. You will ask me: what are these three years?
"Behold, it is said, three years that I come to seek fruit on this fig tree and I can not find it" (Lc, XIII, 7). A mysterious number was needed to give salvation to the people: one year for the patriarchs - for finally the harvest of men of that year was such that it never was since on earth - another for Moses and the the rest of the prophets, the third at the coming of the Lord and Savior: "This is the favorable year of the Lord and the day of the reward" (Lk IV, 19). In the same way the father of a family who had planted a vineyard did not send once to collect the fruits, but very often: he sent first servants, a second time other servants, third his Son .
John therefore came in the spirit and with the virtue of Elijah, because one can not go without the other, as we will see later, when it will be said: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the virtue of the Most High will overshadow you "(Lk, I, 35).
But perhaps this passage concerns us and concerns the Apostles. For when Elijah shared the flow (He Kings II, 14), the return of the waters of the river to their source - according to the scripture: "The Jordan went back" (Ps 113: 5) - meant the coming mysteries of the saving bath, by which the baptized are, like children, brought back from evil to their primordial nature. Why does the Lord Himself promise His Apostles to grant them the virtue of the Spirit? "You will receive," he says, "virtue through the coming into you of the Holy Spirit" (Acts, 1, 8), and in the sequel "there was suddenly a noise coming from heaven, like a breath carried away with great power "(Act, II, 2); yes, great power, for "it is the breath of his lips that has made all their strength" (Ps 32, 6), and this force is that which the Apostles received from the Holy Spirit.
It is also true that St. John will walk before the Lord, precursor by birth and precursor by his death. And perhaps this mystery is fulfilled even today in our present life. There is a virtue of John which comes first in our soul, when we are ready to believe in Christ, to prepare for the faith the paths of our soul and make the tortuous trail of this life the straight paths of our lives. pilgrimage, lest we fall into some ravine of error: so that all the valleys of our souls may be filled with fruits of virtue, and all elevation of the dignities of this world will prostrate themselves before the Lord in humble fear, knowing that nothing can be bred of what is fragile.
"And Zachariah said to the angel, How shall I know it? I am old, and my wife is advanced in age. And the angel answered him, saying, I am the angel Gabriel, who is with me in the presence of the Lord, and I have been sent to make this announcement to you. And you will be silent, unable to speak until the day when all this will happen, for not wanting to believe my word, which will be fulfilled in its time. "
The lack of faith of the priest is punished by silence, and the faith of the prophets attested by their word. "Shout," he said. And I said: What to cry? All flesh is grass "(Is., XL, 6). You see the order given, the eagerness to obey, the attitude that questions, the obedience that makes the oracle. He believed when he asked for shouting and, because he believed, he prophesied. But Zechariah, not believing, could not speak, but "he made signs to them and he remained silent". This mystery is not for one, nor for one, silence. The priest is silent, the prophet is silent. If I am not mistaken, in one, it is the voice of all the people who is silent, since one was all the people who spoke to God by Moses. The cessation of sacrifices and the silence of the prophets are the muteness of the prophet and the silence of the priest. "I will take away, it is said, the powerful virtue, the prophet and the counselor" (Is., III, 1, 3). And indeed he took away the prophets from them by taking away the word that used to speak in the prophets, and indeed he took away their virtue when the virtue of God withdrew from them; he took away their counselor when "the Angel of the great council" (Is., IX, 6) left them; he has taken away their voice, for the voice is for the word, not the word for the voice, and if that word does not work in us, the voice makes no sound. The voice is John, "voice crying in the desert"; Christ is the word: it is this word that acts, and from then on, when it has ceased to act, suddenly silent and deprived of inspiration, the language of the soul, so to speak, is silent. The Word of God has come to us and in us is not silent; the Jew can no longer say what the Christian can say: "You seek to put to the test the One who speaks in me, the Christ" (II Cor., XIII, 3).
"And he was making signs to them. "
Zechariah therefore remained silent, and he made signs to them. What is the sign, if not a gesture of the body without speech, which endeavors to indicate but does not express the will? It is, when the approaches to death have made the word go, the silent language of the dying. Do not you think that sounds like the people of the Jews? He is so unreasonable as to be unable to explain his actions; having reached the ultimate obliteration of the hope that made him live, he lost the word he had and, by the gestures of a shaky body, he would like to formulate the sign of the word, not the word. Mute, then, is this people, without reason, without words. Why indeed look at the one who can not speak as more dumb than the one who ignores the mystery? There is certainly a language of works and a cry of faith, according to what we read: "The blood of your brother cries to me" (Gen., IV, 10). And he cries out, who in his heart cries all day long (Ps 87: 10). Whoever has lost the cry of the heart has lost that of the tongue: for if one does not keep the discernment of the faith, how can one keep the word? Moses had said at first that he could not speak; but after having said it, he received the word and spread the brightness of his good works. Thus, as Moses was a figure of the people and a figure of the Law, so too Zachariah was silent.
It is necessary to notice the convenience of every detail: the word exists in the breast, the law is silent; John is appointed and Zachariah speaks; the word is uttered, the law is loosed; but the deliverance of the law is the expression of the word: so he who spoke the word speaks, even if he did not speak before.
The angel orders Zechariah to be silent, the angel removes the word from the Jews: because it is an order of authority not human but divine, that no one speaks to God if he does not believe in Christ. So believe in order to speak; that the Jew believes in order to speak. Let's talk spiritually about mysteries; understand the meaning of ancient sacrifices, the riddles of the prophets. No one who does not understand the Law is dumb, who is silent and does not understand the sequence of Divine Scriptures; because our voice is our faith. So, "I would rather say to the assembly five words with my intelligence, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in language" (I Cor., XIV, 19); because languages "are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers" (Ib., 22).
"After these days, Elizabeth, his wife, conceived and kept herself hidden for five months; she said: What did the Lord do for me, when it pleased Him to put an end to my shame among men? "
The saints have a great concern for the reserve, to the point that they often feel the modesty of their desires. This is what we notice here for St. Elizabeth: she certainly wanted to have children, she is hidden for five months. Why hide, if not out of modesty?
It is that for each function it is an assigned age; what befits in one time is not appropriate in another, and the difference of ages often modifies the character of the acts. It is for the marriage itself a definite time when it is honorable to think of children: in the vigor of the age, when there is hope of having children, when their procreation is authorized by example, when conjugal union is an object of desire. But once the maturity of advanced age has arrived, better able to control children than to engender them, we are ashamed to bear the marks of a legitimate union, to support a burden that is of another age, and swollen bowels of an off-season fruit. The old men are indeed captives of their very age, and a just shame of being untimely keeps them from going to the works of marriage. Adolescents themselves often emphasize the desire to have children and believe they excuse the warmth of their age by the lure of engendering: how much more shame do old people have to do what the children do? teens blush to confess! And even young people, whose fear of God calms and moderates the heart, often renounce, as soon as they have a posterity, the works of youth. Is it surprising in humans, when the animals themselves tell us, by their mute conduct, that they have the concern to engender, not the desire to mate? For once they feel their heavier bosom and the seed received in the land of the bowels, they no longer engage in carnal commerce and no longer cultivate the abandonment of love but the care of fatherhood. Humans have no regard for children or for God; they defile those, they irritate him. "Before," he says, "to form you in the womb, I knew you, and from the womb I sanctified you" (Jer., I, 5). To contain your outbursts, you see, so to speak, the hands of your Creator shaping man in the bowels. He works, and this sacred mystery of the bowels, you profane, you, by your passion? At least imitate animals, or respect God. And what do I say, animals? The earth itself often rests upon the work of generation, and if the impatient ardor of men overwhelms it with repeated sowing, it punishes the recklessness of the farmer, and transforms his fertility into sterility. Thus the elements themselves and the animals have a natural shame not to interrupt the work of generation.
It is therefore rightly that St. Elizabeth blushed with her grace, without recognizing herself in fault. Although she had conceived of a man - it is not permissible to think otherwise of a human birth - she blushed at the age when she was a child and at the same time rejoiced to see her affront end: for is a shame for women not to have the wedding reward, since this is their only reason for getting married. She consoled herself by seeing her affront end at the price of her shame: that shame of which I spoke, the shame she had because of her age.
All this suggests that they no longer had conjugal relations between them; for if she had not blushed at an old man's business, she would not have blushed to give birth; and yet she blushes with her maternal burden, as long as she does not know the religious mystery. She who was hiding because she had conceived a son, came to congratulate herself on giving birth to a prophet. She blushed before, she gives thanks; she doubted, here she is confirmed: "For," said she, "as soon as the sound of your salvation has sounded in my ears, joy has made the child tremble in my bosom. So she uttered a loud cry when she felt the arrival of the Lord, because she believed in the holiness of her childbirth; there was no shame, as long as the birth of a prophet was proof that his generation had been granted, not sought after.
Luke I, 26-38
"At that time the angel Gabriel was sent by the Lord to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin married to a man by the name of Joseph, from the house of David; and the virgin was named Mary. No doubt the divine mysteries are hidden, and, as the prophet has said, it is not easy for any man to come to know the purposes of God (Is. 13). Yet the whole of the actions and teachings of our Lord and Savior gives us to understand that a well-intentioned design has made to choose preferably, to give birth to the Lord, the one who had married a man. But why was not she made mother before her nuptials? Perhaps it could not be said that she had conceived in adultery. And the Scripture, aptly, has indicated these two things; she was a wife and a virgin; virgin, which shows her free from any relation with a man; wife, to remove from the infamous stigma of lost virginity the one whose pregnancy would have seemed to manifest decay. And the Lord preferred to let some question his origin rather than the purity of his Mother: he knew how delicate is the honor of a virgin, how fragile its reputation for purity; and he did not think it expedient to establish the truth of his origin at the expense of his Mother. Thus was the virginity of St. Mary preserved, without detriment to her purity, without damaging her reputation; for the saints must have a good reputation even with outsiders (I Tim. iii. 7), and it would not be proper to leave to virgins whose conduct is an unfortunate fame the cover and the excuse to see defamed until to the Mother of the Lord. What could be blamed on the Jews, on Herod, if they had seemed to pursue the child with adultery? And how did He Himself say, "I did not come to destroy the Law, but to do it" (Matt. V, 17), if He had appeared to begin with a breach of the Law, since childbirth outside marriage is condemned by the law? Better yet, purity finds a witness of all safety: a husband, able and to feel the insult and avenge the affront, if he had not recognized a mystery. Let us add that this gives more credit to Mary's words, and spares her every reason to lie; for she would have seemed to wish to cover her fault with a lie, if without marriage she would have been pregnant; she would have had to lie, not being a wife; wife, she had none, since the reward of marriage and the blessing of marriage is, for women, fertility.
Another reason, which is not negligible: the virginity of Mary was to deceive the prince of the world, who, seeing her united to a husband, could not be wary of her birth. That there was an intention to deceive the prince of the world, the very words of the Lord proclaim him, when he commands the Apostles not to speak of Christ (Matt. XVI, 20), forbids those whom he heals from to publish their healing (Ib., VIII, 4), orders the demons not to speak of the Son of God (Lk, IV, 35). That there was, as I said, an intention to deceive the prince of the world, the Apostle in his turn proclaimed it: "We preach," he says, "the wisdom of God hidden in mystery, that none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty "(I Cor., II, 7 ff.): in other words, they would never have made me redeemed by the death of Lord. He deceived him for us; He deceived him to conquer him; He deceived the devil when he tempted him, when he prayed to him, when he called him Son of God, never agreeing with his own divinity. Yet he has deceived the prince of this world even more: for the devil, despite a moment of uncertainty, when he said: "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down" (Matt. IV, 6), at least ended up recognizing it and withdrew from it; the demons also knew him, since they said, "We know who you are, Jesus, the Son of God; why did you come before time to torture us? (Matt., VIII, 29); and they recognized his coming precisely because they knew in advance that he would come. But the princes of this world did not know him; what better proof can we claim than the text of the Apostle: "Had they known it, would they never have crucified the Lord of majesty? In fact, the malice of the demons is able to penetrate even the hidden things, but those absorbed by the vanities of the world can not know the things of God.
There was a happy division among the evangelists. St. Matthew shows us Joseph warned by the angel not to send Mary away, the Evangelist Luke also testifies that they had not united (Lk 1:27) and Mary herself recognizes it here, when she said to the angel, "How shall it be, since I know no man? But in addition St. Luke proclaimed her a virgin, saying, "And the virgin was called Mary," and the prophet had taught us by these words, "Behold, a virgin will conceive." (Is. 14); Joseph also showed it, since, seeing the pregnancy of the one he had not known, he was preparing to dismiss her; and the Lord Himself, on the cross, made it manifest by saying to his Mother, "Woman, behold your son," and to the disciple, "Behold your mother"; even the one and the other, the disciple and the mother, are witnesses of it, since "from that hour the disciple took it home" (Jn, XIX, 26 ff.). If there had been a union, she would never have left her husband, and this just man would not have suffered her to go away. How, moreover, did the Lord prescribe this divorce, having himself pronounced that no one should repudiate his wife except in the case of fornication?
As for St. Matthew, he shows what a righteous man ought to do when he sees his wife's fault, to keep himself from a homicide, pure of adultery; because "who unites with a debaucher is only a body with her" (I Cor., VI, 16). Thus, in all circumstances, Joseph keeps the merit and is a fair figure, which raises his testimony; for the mouth of the righteous ignores falsehood, and his tongue speaks righteousness, his judgment utters the truth.
Do not be moved if the Scripture often calls her a wife: she does not express the loss of her virginity, but testifies to the nuptials and the wedding celebration; but no one repudiates that which he has not taken for a wife; so to want to repudiate her is to acknowledge that he had married her. Nor should one be moved by the words of the evangelist: "He had no intercourse with her until she gave birth to a son" (Matt. I, 25). Or else this is a scriptural phrase that you meet elsewhere: "Until your old age, I am" (Is., XLVI, 4); after their old age did God cease to be? And in the psalm, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet" (Psalm 109: 1); after that, will he not be seated? Or again, it is by pleading a case that it is sufficient to say what is connected with the cause, and we are not inquiring about the surplus; it is sufficient to treat the cause of which we have been charged, by postponing the incident. Having thus undertaken to show that the mystery of the Incarnation was free from all carnal commerce, it has not been thought necessary to further the attestation of Mary's virginity, so as not to appear to defend the Virgin more than to affirm the mystery. Certainly, in telling us that Joseph was just, it is sufficiently stated that he could not profane the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Mother of the Lord, the breast consecrated by the mystery.
We have learned the order of facts, we have learned the design; let's also learn the mystery. It is good that she was a wife, but a virgin, since she represents the Church, which is spotless, but wife: virgin she conceived of the Spirit, virgin she gives us birth without pain. Perhaps St. Mary was also made fruitful by someone other than her husband because the particular churches, fertilized by the Spirit and grace, are visibly united to a mortal pontiff.
"And when he came to him, the angel said to him," I greet you full of grace, the Lord is with you; you are blessed among women. But she, at her sight, was troubled by her entrance. "
Recognize the Virgin for her conduct, recognize the Virgin in her modesty, recognize the Virgin in her words, recognize her in mystery. It is the fact of the virgins to be disturbed and intimidated every time a man approaches them, to dread any conversation with a man. Let the women learn to imitate this inclination for modesty: only in her retreat, so that no man may see her, only the angel find her; alone, without a companion, alone, without a witness, so as not to diminish in vulgar interviews, she is greeted by the angel. Learn, virgin, to avoid words that have been little remembered: Mary dreaded the very salvation of the angel: "She, however, was wondering what was this salvation"; by modesty, for she was troubled; for prudence, for she was surprised at this new formula of blessing, which was nowhere to be read, had never been encountered until then. To Mary alone this salvation was reserved: only, indeed, it is aptly called full of grace, having alone obtained that grace, which no other had received, to be filled with the Author of grace.
So Mary blushed, and Elizabeth blushed. Let us learn what distinguishes the modesty of women from that of the virgin. This one blushed by having subject, this one by modesty. For the woman one indicates a measure to his modesty; in the virgin modesty flourishes her grace.
"And the angel of the Lord said to him, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you will give him the name of Jesus. He will be tall. "
No doubt the angel also said of John: "he will be great"; but he is as great as a man, great as God; because "the Lord is great, worthy of all praise, and his greatness has no limit" (Ps 144, 3). And it is very true that this other was great, since "there is not, among the children of women, a prophet greater than John the Baptist" (Lk, VII, 28). Yet he is greater than he, for "the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than him" (Ib.). John is great, but before the Lord. And Jean, so great, drank neither wine nor intoxicating drink; he eats and drinks with publicans and sinners (Mc, II, 16). To that one to wait for his merit of abstinence, having no power by nature; but Christ, who by nature had the power to forgive sins, why would He have avoided those whom He could make better than abstainers? There is also a mystery: He does not refuse to be their guest, to give them his sacrament. One therefore eats, the other fast: figure of the two peoples, one fasting in that one, the other is nourished in it. Besides, Christ also fasted, so that you did not swear the precept; He has eaten with sinners, to show you his grace, to make you recognize his power.
So John is also great, but his greatness has a principle, an end, while the Lord Jesus is both end and principle, both first and last (Rev., XXII, 13). Nothing before this first, nothing beyond this last. And that the laws of the human generation do not lead you to the error of believing that he is not first, since he is a Son. Attach to the scriptures: you can not wander. The Son is called first. It is also read that the Father is alone: "He alone possesses immortality and dwells in the inaccessible light" (I Tim. VI, 16); so you have read, "And to the only immortal God" (I Tim., 1,17). But He is not first before the Father, and He is not alone without sons. If you deny one, you prove the other: hold on to both, and you both confirm them. He did not say, "I am anterior and I come next," but: "I am the first and I am the last." The Son is prime, and therefore co-eternal: for He has a Father with whom He is eternal. I dare say it: the Son is the first, but He is not alone; and I say well and I say piously, but He is not alone; and I say well and I say piously.
Why make an impious ear, heretics? The nets that you have stretched, you have fallen. The Son is first, and He is not alone: first, because always with the Father, He is not alone, because He is never without the Father. It is not I who says it, but He who said: "And I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (Jn, xvi, 32). The Father is alone, because there is only one God; the Father is alone, because there is one deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to be unique is to be alone. The Father is alone, only the only Son, only also the Holy Spirit: for neither he who is Son is also Father, nor he who is Father also Son, nor he who is Holy Spirit also Son. Other is the Father, other the Son, other the Holy Spirit; for we read, "I will pray to my Father, and he will give you another Paraclete" (John 14:16). The Father is alone, for there is only one God, from whom all proceeds; the Son is alone, for there is only one Lord, by whom all things exist (see I Cor., VIII, 6). To be alone is the fact of divinity; the generation testifies that there is Father and Son, so that one never sees the Son to be without Father or the Father without Son. So (the Father) is not alone, for He is not alone immortal; He is not alone in inhabiting the inaccessible light, since "no one has ever seen God, except the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father" (Jn, I, 18), who sits at the right hand of the Father . And it is to say that he does not have access to the light that the Father inhabits! Is the light better than the Father? So what light is inaccessible to Him for whom the Father is not inaccessible? He is the true light and the author of the eternal light, of which it is said: "He was the true light that enlightens every man coming into this world" (Jn, I, 9). See if it would not be this inaccessible light that the Father inhabited, that the Son also inhabited, since the Father is in the Son and the Son in the Father.
So He is truly great: for the power of God is widespread, the greatness of the divine nature extends widely. The Trinity has no bounds, no boundaries, no measure, no dimension; no place confines it, no thought embraces it, no calculation evaluates it, no age modifies it. Doubtless the Lord Jesus has given men greatness, for "their voice has spread throughout all the earth, and their words to the ends of the earthly spaces" (Ps. 18: 5), but not until the limits of the universe, not to the limits of heaven, not beyond the heavens, while "in the Lord Jesus were created all things, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible; and He is first and foremost, and all things abide by Him "(Col., I, 16 ff.). Contemplate the sky, Jesus is there; consider the earth, Jesus is there; go up by the word to heaven, go down by the word to hell, Jesus is there. For if you go up to heaven, Jesus is there; if you descend to hell, He is there (Ps. 138, 8). Today, as I speak, He is with me now, right now; and if now a Christian speaks in Armenia, Jesus is there; because "no one says that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit" (I Cor., XII, 3). If by thought you plunge into the abyss, there too you will see Jesus act; for it is written, "Do not say in your heart, who ascended to heaven? ? no doubt to bring down Christ! ? or: who went down to the abyss? ? obviously to remove Christ from the dead "(Rom., X, 6 ff.). Where, then, is He not, since He has completed all things in heaven, in hell, and on earth? He is therefore truly great, He whose power has filled the world, who is everywhere and always will be, since "his reign will have no end".
And Mary said to the angel, How shall it be, since I know no man? "
It would seem here that Mary did not have faith, if we did not take careful care of it; so it is not permissible for an unbeliever to appear to be the father of the only begotten Son of God. And how could it be done - except, of course, the privilege of a mother, who certainly deserved more consideration, but, finally, because her privilege was greater, a greater faith had to be assured to her - so how could Did Zacharie, for not having believed, be condemned to silence and Mary, who would not have believed, honored by the penetration of the Holy Spirit? But Mary could not refuse to believe,
nor to rush lightly: to refuse to believe in the angel, to rush on divine things. It was not easy to know "the mystery hidden for centuries in God" (Ephesians III, 9, and Colossians 1, 26), which even the powers above could not know. And yet she did not refuse her faith, nor did she hide from her role, but she arranged her will, promised her services; for saying, "How will that be? She did not question the effect, but asked how that effect. How much more in this answer than in the words of the priest! She says, "How will that be? He replied, "How will I know? She is already dealing with the affair, he still doubts the news. He declares that he does not believe in declaring that he does not know, and he seems, to believe, to seek yet another guarantor; she declares herself ready for the realization and does not doubt that it will take place, since she asks how it can happen; for you read: "How will it be, since I know no man? This unbelievable and unprecedented childbirth, it was necessary to hear it exposed before you believe it. That a virgin gives birth is the mark of a divine, non-human mystery; "Take this sign for yourself, it is said: behold, a virgin will conceive and bear a son" (Is., vii. 14). Mary had read it, so she believed in accomplishment; but how would it be accomplished, she had not read it, for that was not revealed to even such a great prophet. The proclamation of such a mystery must have fallen from the lips of a man, but of an angel; today for the first time we hear: "The Holy Spirit will descend on you. "
We hear it and believe it. As well: "Behold," said she, "the servant of the Lord; let it happen to me according to your word. " See the humility, see the dedication. She calls herself the servant of the Lord, chosen to be his Mother, and this unexpected promise did not exalt her. At the same time, as a servant, she claimed no privilege as a result of such grace; she would accomplish what would be ordained to her; for, to give birth to the Sweet and the Humble, she had to show humility.
"Behold the servant of the Lord; let it happen to me according to your word. Here you have his obedience, you see his desire; "Here is the servant of the Lord": it is the disposition to serve; "Let it happen to me according to your word": it is the desire conceived.
As Mary was quick to believe, even at abnormal conditions! For is there more dissimilarity than the Holy Spirit and a body? more unprecedented than a virgin who has become fruitful despite the Law, despite the customs, in spite of this modesty which is the dearest concern of a virgin? In Zacharias, it is not a dissimilarity of conditions, but the advanced age which prevented him from believing; for the conditions were normal: of a man and a woman a child is a regular thing, and nothing must seem incredible which is in conformity with nature. As age depends on nature and not on the nature of age, it often happens that age hinders nature; but it is not against reason that the inferior cause yields to the superior cause, and that the privilege of nature is stronger than the habits of a weakened age. Add to this that Abraham and Sarah had a son in their old age, and that Joseph is "the son of old age" (Gen. XXXVII, 3). But if Sara is taken back for laughing, even more just is the condemnation of the one who believed neither the message nor the precedent. Mary, on the contrary, saying:
"How will it be, since I do not know a man? Does not seem to have doubted the event, but asked how it would be accomplished; it is clear that she believed in her accomplishment, since she asked how it would be accomplished. So she deserved to hear: "Blessed are you to have had faith! Yes, truly blessed, for she prevails over the priest: the priest had stolen away, the Virgin has rectified the error.
And it is not surprising that the Lord, wishing to redeem the world, began his work with Mary: the one who prepared the salvation of all would be the first to receive the fruit of salvation from his Son.
And she was about to inquire how the event would be accomplished, for she had read that a virgin would give birth, she had not read how she would give birth. She had read, as I said, "behold, a virgin will conceive" (Is., VII, 14); but how would she conceive? It is in the gospel that, for the first time, the angel has said it.
Luke I, 39-56 The Visitation
"And Mary, rising up in those days, set out hastily for the mountain, for the city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. "
It is normal for anyone who wants to be believed to provide reasons to believe. So the angel who announced the mysteries, to make him believe by a precedent, he announced to Mary, a virgin, the maternity of an old and sterile woman, thus showing that God can all that he please. As soon as she had learned of it, Mary, not because of a lack of faith in the prophecy, not out of uncertainty of this announcement, not out of doubt about the precedent provided, but in the joy of her desire, to fulfill a pious duty, in the eagerness of joy, went to the mountains. From now on filled with God, could she not rise hastily to the heights? Slow calculations are foreign to the grace of the Holy Spirit. Learn also, pious women, how eager you are to testify to your relatives near being mothers. Marie, until then, lived alone in the strictest retreat; it has not been retained either to appear in public by virginal modesty, nor of its design by the escarpments of the mountains, nor of the service to be rendered by the length of the road. Towards the heights the Virgin hastens, the Virgin who thinks to serve and forgets her pain, whose charity is strength and not sex; she leaves her house and goes. Learn, virgins, not to run the houses of others, not to hang out in the squares, not to engage in conversations on public roads. Marie lingers at home, rushes on the road. She remained at her cousin's for three months; for, having come to render service, she had this service at heart; she remained for three months, not for the pleasure of being in a foreign home, but because he disliked her from showing herself often outside.
You have learned, virgins, the delicacy of Mary; learn his humility. She comes as a relative to her relative, as a younger sister to her elder sister; and not only does she come, but she is the first to salute; it is fitting that the more chaste is a virgin, the more humble she is; that she knows how to honor her elders, that she be mistress of humility, the one who makes profession of chastity.
Here again there is a motive of piety, there is even a doctrinal teaching: it must indeed be remarked that the superior comes to the inferior to help the inferior: Mary to Elizabeth, Christ to John; as well, later, to consecrate the baptism of John, the Lord came to this baptism (Matt., III, 13).
And immediately the blessings of the arrival of Mary and the presence of the Lord manifest themselves: for "when Elizabeth heard the salvation of Mary, the child shuddered in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. ". Notice the choice and precision of each word. Elizabeth first heard the voice, but John was the first to feel grace: the latter, according to the order of nature, heard, the latter shuddered under the effect of mystery; she perceived the arrival of Mary, that of the Lord: the woman that of the woman, the child that of the child. They speak grace; they realize it inside and approach the mystery of mercy for the benefit of their mothers; and, by a double miracle, the mothers prophesy under the inspiration of their children. The child shuddered, the mother was filled; the mother was not fulfilled before her son, but the son, once filled with the Holy Spirit, also filled his mother.
Jean shuddered, the spirit of Mary also shuddered. At the thrill of John, Elizabeth is satisfied; for Mary, we do not learn that she was (then) filled with the Spirit, but that her spirit shudders: for He who can not be understood acted in his Mother in a way that was not understandable.
Finally this one is filled after having conceived, this one before conceiving.
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed the fruit of your womb! And how is it that the Mother of my Lord comes to me? "
The Holy Spirit knows his word; He never forgets it, and the prophecy is realized not only in the miraculous facts, but in all rigor and property of terms. What is this fruit of the womb, except He from whom it was said, "Behold, the Lord giveth the inheritance of children, the reward of the fruit of the womb" (Ps. 126,3)? In other words, the Lord's inheritance is children, the price of this fruit that comes from Mary's womb. He is the fruit of the breast, the flower of the stem, of which Isaiah prophesied well: "A stem," said he, "will rise from the stock of Jesse, and a flower spring from this stalk" (Is., XI, 1): the stock is the race of the Jews, the stem Mary, the flower of Mary the Christ, who, like the fruit of a good tree, according to our progress in virtue, now flourishes, now fruiting in us, now reborn by the resurrection that brings life to his body.
"And how is it that the Mother of my Lord come to me? It is not ignorance that makes her speak - she knows well that there is grace and operation of the Holy Spirit that the mother of the prophet be saluted by the Mother of the Lord for the benefit of her child - but she recognizes that it is the result not of a human merit but of divine grace; so she says: "How is it given to me", that is to say, what happiness comes to me, that the Mother of my Lord comes to me! I admit to being there for nothing. How is it given to me? by what justice, what actions, for what merits? These are not the customary steps between women "that the Mother of my Lord come to me". I sense the miracle, I recognize the mystery: the Mother of the Lord is fruitful of the Word, full of God.
"For, behold, when your salvation was heard in my ears, the child trembled with joy in my bosom. And blessed are you to have believed! "
You see that Mary did not doubt, but believed, and thereby obtained the fruit of faith. "Blessed," said she, "who have believed? But you too blessed, who have heard and believed! for every soul that believes, conceives and engenders the word of God and recognizes his works. May all of you have the soul of Mary to glorify the Lord; that in all lies the spirit of Mary to exult in God. If there is corporeally only a Mother of Christ, by faith Christ is the fruit of all: for every soul receives the Word of God, provided that without spot, preserved from vices, it keeps chastity in purity without attack. Every soul, therefore, who achieves this state magnifies the Lord, as the soul of Mary magnified the Lord, and as his spirit shuddered in the Savior God. The Lord is indeed magnified, as you have read elsewhere: "Magnify the Lord with me" (Ps. 33, 4): not that the human word can add anything to the Lord, but because it grows in us; because "Christ is the image of God" (II Cor., IV, 4; Coloss., I, 15) and, therefore, the soul that does right and religious work magnifies this image of God, at the whose likeness she was created; hence, in magnifying her, she participates in her grandeur to a certain extent and finds herself elevated in it: she seems to reproduce in her this image by the brilliant colors of her good works, and as copy her by virtue.
Now the soul of Mary magnifies the Lord and his spirit trembles in God because, dedicated soul and spirit to the Father and the Son, she venerates with a pious love the one God, where all things come from, and the one Lord by whom are all things (see I. Cor., VIII, 6).
Follows the prophecy of Mary, whose fullness responds to the excellence of her person. And it is not without interest, it seems, that Elizabeth prophesies before the birth of John, Mary before that of the Lord. The salvation of men is already being sketched and outlined; for sin having begun with women, good, too, begins with women, so that women, in their turn, abandon effeminate manners, renounce their weakness, and the soul, which has no sex. Mary, ignorant of error, religiously applies herself to imitate her chastity.
"Marie stayed at home for three months and came back to her house. It is well that we are shown Mary rendering service and faithful to a mystical number: for kinship is not the only cause of this long stay, but also the profit of so great a prophet. Indeed, if the first entry has procured such a result that the salvation of Mary the child has shuddered in the breast, that the Holy Spirit has filled the mother of the child, what increments can we believe that such a space of time, the presence of St. Mary has earned him! "Marie stayed at home for three months. Thus the prophet received the anointing and, like a good athlete, was exercised from the maternal womb: for it was in preparation for a great struggle that his strength was being prepared.
At last Mary remained until the time of birth was fulfilled for Elizabeth. Now, if you take good care of it, you will find that it has never been noted except for the birth of the righteous; for "the days were fulfilled for the birth of Mary", "time was fulfilled" for the birth of Elizabeth, the time of life was fulfilled when the saints left the career of this life. Plenitude is for the life of the just, emptiness for the days of the wicked.
Luke I, 57-80. Birth of St. John the Baptist
"And Elizabeth gave birth to a son, and his neighbors were united with his joy. "
The birth of the saint is a joy for many, because it is a common good: because justice is a social virtue. Also at the birth of this righteous one already sees the marks of what will be his life, and the charm that his virtue will have is presaged and signified by the joy of the neighbors.
It is fortunate to mention the time spent by the prophet in the maternal womb, otherwise Mary's presence would not have been reported. But there is no question of the time of his childhood, because, the presence of the Lord having fortified him from the bosom of his mother, he did not know the shackles of childhood. So, in the Gospel, we read nothing more about him than his birth and his testimony: his thrill in his mother's womb, his word in the desert. It is because he never knew the age of childhood, since raised above the nature, above his age, he has, from the breast of his mother, begun with the measure of the perfect age of the fullness of Christ (Ephes., IV, 13).
"And his mother said, No, but his name is John. And they said to him, There is none in your kinsmen to bear this name. So they asked his father by signs how he wanted to be named. And, taking some tablets, he wrote these words: Jean is his name. And all were astonished. And immediately his tongue was loosed, his lips were opened, and he spoke to bless God. "
Remarkably, the holy evangelist thought it worth noting in the first place that many thought of giving the child the name of his father Zacharie: thus you will observe that his mother did not find the name of some foreigner displeasing, but that the The Holy Spirit communicated to him that which the angel had previously announced to Zechariah; He was unable to give the name of his son to his wife, but Elizabeth learned by revelation what she had not learned from her husband. "John," said he, "is his name; that is to say: it is not we who give him a name, since he has already received from God his name. It has its name: we recognize it, we did not choose it. The saints have the privilege of receiving a name from God; so Jacob is called Israel because he saw God; so our Lord was called Jesus before his birth; it is not the angel, but his Father who has imposed on him this name: "My son Jesus, is it written, will manifest itself with those who will share in his joy, who have been reserved for the four hundred years. And behold, after these years my son Christ will die and the age will be converted "(IV Ezra, VII, 28-30)" You see, the angels announce what they have heard, not what they have taken on them.
Do not be surprised if this woman testifies to a name she did not hear, since the Holy Spirit, who had entrusted it to the angel, revealed it to her. Besides, it was impossible for her to ignore the Precursor of the Lord, who had announced Christ. And it should be added that no one in his kinship bore this name: you thus understand that this name does not designate the family, but the prophet.
Zechariah in turn is questioned by signs; but as his lack of faith deprived him of speech and hearing, he could not express himself in a loud voice, he did so by hand and by writing; for "he wrote these words: John is his name": by which the name is not given but attested. And it is right that at once his tongue was loosed: chained by unbelief, faith loosed it. So, too, let us believe in order to speak (Ps. 115,1) so that our language, chained by the bonds of unbelief, will be loosed into spiritual words. Let us write in spirit the mysteries if we want to speak; Let us write the messenger of Christ "not on tablets of stone, but on the tables of flesh of our heart" (II Cor., III, 3). For to speak of John is to prophesy Christ: let us speak of John, let us also speak of Christ, so that our lips in turn can open, those lips which, in a priest so great, were, as for an animal without reason, bridled by the bit of a hesitant faith.
"And Zachariah his father was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied in these terms. "
See how good God is, quick to forgive sins: not only does He return what He has withdrawn, but He still bestows what we did not expect. This man, who has been silent for a long time, prophesies: for it is the height of God's grace that those who had denied him pay homage to him. So let no one lose confidence; that no one, at the thought of his past faults, despairs divine rewards.
God will know how to modify his sentence if you know how to correct your fault.
"And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High. "
It is good that in this prophecy concerning the Lord he speaks to his prophet to show that there is here a blessing of the Lord: for lack of what, in this enumeration of general goodness, it would have seemed, like a ungrateful, to silence those whom he had received, whom he recognized in his son. But some may find it unreasonable and extravagant to speak to an eight-day-old child. Yet, on reflection, we fully understand that he could, once born, hear the voice of his father, having heard the salvation of Mary before being born. Prophet (Zechariah) knew that there are other ears for a prophet, those opened by the Spirit of God, and not the growth of the body; he (John the Baptist) had the sense to understand, having felt to flinch.
Notice again how short is the prophecy of Elizabeth, how extensive is that of Zechariah. Yet both spoke of the fullness of the Holy Spirit; but the good order was respected, which requires the woman to be more applied to learning divine things than to teach them. So we find it difficult to find a woman who has prophesied more than the Mother of the Lord. Even the prophetess Mary, sister of Aaron, as she quickly finished her song! (Ex., XV, 20 ff.) Instead of the day when she spoke at length with her brother, she did not fail to be punished for her words (Num., Xii, 1 ff.).
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