Luke, II, 1-20. Nativity of Christ
"Now it was in those days that an edict was made by Caesar Augustus for the census declaration of the whole world. " Having to speak of the birth of the Savior, it does not seem out of place to era II was born. What is the relationship, indeed, between this declaration of temporal order and the birth of the Lord, unless we here again notice a divine mystery: under the guise of this temporal declaration, it is a spiritual that does and does not do to the king, not of the earth, but of heaven; it is the profession of faith, the censor of souls. With the abolition of the ancient censorship of the Synagogue, a new census was being prepared, that of the Church, which, instead of inflicting torture, would repeal them; and, by a spiritual figure, the people already enlisted for Christ. It is not a question here of assessing the extent of the land, but of the minds and souls, nor of delimiting the frontiers, but of postponing them further. No age difference, but all are listed; no one, indeed, is exempt from this cens, for all ages pay their tribute to Christ whom the wailing children confess by their martyrdom, to whom testifies the thrill of those who are still in the womb. Do not dread, in this cens, anything terrible, hard, unpleasant: it is faith alone that signals each. Do you want to learn who are the collectors of Christ? They are commanded to perceive the cens without sticks (Matt., X, 10), to conquer the people not by terror but by benevolence, to return the sword (Matt., XXVI, 52), not to possess Now these are the censors who conquered the universe. Finally, to teach you that it is not the census of Augustus but of Christ, the whole universe receives an order to declare itself. At the birth of Christ, all declare themselves: the world being summoned, all are put to the test. Who, then, could demand the declaration of the entire universe, except He who had power over the entire universe? For it is not to Augustus, but "to the Lord that the earth is and which fills it, the universe and all who dwell in it" (Psalm 23: 1). Augustus did not rule the Goths, he did not govern the Armenians; Christ governed them. They certainly received the enumerator of Christ, since they provided martyrs of Christ. And perhaps that is the reason why they triumph over us, as we see now: they confessed Christ by the offering of blood, while the Arians questioned his nature. "This census, it is said, was the first accomplished. But many parts of the universe had already been, and often have been, recorded, as history shows. It is therefore the first census, but souls, to which all are registered, without any exception, on the summoning not of a herald, but of the prophet who had said a long time in advance: "Nations, applaud all, celebrate God by songs of joy, because God is sovereign, fearful, the great King of all the earth. "(Ps 46: 2). Finally, to let you know that the tax demanded is justice, here comes Joseph and Mary, the righteous and the Virgin, one who will keep the Word, the other who must bring it into the world. Where are the righteous and the Virgin, if not instead of the birth of Christ? For "every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is of God" (I Jn, IV, 2). But, in a deeper sense, where is Christ born, if not in your breast? "For the Word is near, on your lips and in your heart" (Rom., X, 8). It is good that the name of the governor has been added to mark the continuation of the times. "Syria, it is said, had as governor Cyrinus when this first census took place; it is as if the evangelist had taken a consul as a landmark to authenticate this book; for, if we mention the consuls in the purchase contracts, how much more did the redemption of all demand that his date be marked! So you have here all that is customarily put in the contracts: the name of the one who exercised the sovereign power there, the day, the place, the title. It is also customary for witnesses to intervene: Christ also made sure of his birth and generation according to the flesh, to subscribe to the gospel, when he said: "you will serve me as witnesses in Jerusalem" (Act., 1.8). "And it came to pass, when they were there, that the days were fulfilled of his birth. And she gave birth to a son, his firstborn; she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and placed him in a manger, because there was no place in the inn. " In a few words Luke explained how and in what time and in what place Christ was born according to the flesh. But if you inquire of his heavenly generation, read the Gospel of St. John, who began with heaven to descend to earth. You will find there and when He was and how He was and what He was; what he did, what he did, where he was and where he came from; How He came, in what time He came, why He came. "In the beginning," said he, "was the Word." You see when He was; "And the Word was with God": you see how He was. You still see what it was: "And the Word," he says, "was God?" what he did: "All things were done by Him"? what he was doing: "It was the true light that enlightens every man at his coming into this world"? and where He was, "He was in this world"? where He came: "He came to Him"? how He came: "The Word became flesh" (Jn, I, 1 sqq.)? when he came, "John testifies to him in these words: It is he of whom I said, He who comes after me was put before me because he was before me" (Jn, I, 30) . For what reason He came, John Himself testifies: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold, he who taketh away the sin of the world" (Ib., 29). Knowing therefore the double generation and the role of each, if we notice for what reason He has come: to take upon Himself the sins of the moribund world to abolish the defilement of sin and the death of all in Himself, which could not be defeated the normal result is that now the evangelist St. Luke teaches us in turn and shows us the ways of the Lord who grows up according to the flesh. And no one should be moved if, having attributed the omission of the childhood of John 1 to a profound plan, we justify the description of the childhood of Christ; for it is not for everyone to say, "I have become weak with the weak to win the weak; I made myself completely to all "(I Cor., IX, 22); and no one else could say, "He was wounded because of our iniquity, made weak because of our sins" (Is., LIII, 5). He was therefore little, He was a child, that you might be a complete man; He is wrapped in swaddling clothes, that you may be free from the bonds of death; He in the manger, to place you on the altars; He on earth, for you to be among the stars; He had no other place in this caravanserai, so that you have several mansions in heaven (Jn, XIV, 2). "He who was rich, it is said, became poor because of you, so that his poverty would enrich you" (II Cor., VIII, 9). It is therefore my heritage that this poverty, and the weakness of the Lord is my strength. He preferred for Him the indigence, in order to be prodigal for all. It is I who purify the tears of his wailing childhood, it is my faults that have washed these tears. I am therefore, Lord Jesus, more indebted to your affronts of my redemption than to your works of my creation. To be born would have served me nothing without the benefit of redemption. But let no one imprison in the usages of the body all the condition of divinity. Other is the nature of the flesh, other the glory of the deity. Because of you infirmity, by itself power; because of you the need, by itself the opulence. Do not calculate what you see, but acknowledge that you are redeemed. That he is in the swaddling clothes, you see him; you do not see that He is in heaven. You hear the child's cries, you do not hear the roars of the ox who recognizes his Lord; for "the ox recognizes his owner and the donkey the manger of his master" (Is., I, 3), I will even say the creed, as the translator has written; because for me there is no difference between words, if there is no difference in meaning. If, indeed, the orator of those who seek the embellishments of style does not admit that the fortune of Greece depends on what he uses such or such word, but thinks that it must be considered; if their very philosophers, who spend whole days in discussions, have used terms little Latin and little received in order to use the proper terms, how much more must we neglect the words, consider the mysteries, which assure the victory to the poverty of style! for the wonders of divine works have shone forth, without any literary ornament, by the light of their truth. For, finally, the spiritual donkey has not been nourished with feigned delights, but with a nourishment of a substantial nature, by the holy manger. Here is the Lord, here is the manger by which this divine mystery was revealed to us: that the Gentiles, living in the manner of animals without reason in the stables, would be satiated by the abundance of the sacred food. So the donkey, image and model of the Gentiles, recognized the manger of his Lord. So she says, "The Lord feeds me, and I will not miss anything" (Psalm 22: 1). Are they any, the signs to which God is acknowledged, the ministry of angels, the adoration of the Magi, the testimony of the martyrs? He leaves the maternal womb, but He shines in heaven; He is sleeping in an inn below, but bathed in heavenly light. A wife gave birth to her, but a virgin conceived it; a wife conceived it, but a virgin gave birth to it.
Matt. II, 1-18. The Magi
St. Matthew, in fact, has taught us a mystery which is not to be neglected, but that St. Luke, finding him already narrated all along, has thought himself obliged to silence, rich enough, in his opinion, if he claimed among all the manger of his Lord. So this little child, whom lack of faith makes you despicable, wizards from the East followed him on such a long journey, prostrate to worship him, call him king, and recognize that he will rise again, drawing from their treasures gold, frankincense and myrrh. What are these gifts of true faith? Gold is for the king, incense for God, myrrh for the dead; other, in fact, is the insignia of kingship, other than the sacrifice offered to the divine power, other the honors of a burial which, far from decomposing the body of the dead, will preserve it. We, too, who hear and read these things, draw from our treasures, my brethren, like presents; for "we have a treasure in vessels of clay" (II Cor., IV, 7). If then, even in you, you should not consider what you are as coming from yourself, but of Christ, how much more in Christ should you consider not what is yours but what is of Christ! So the mages draw from their treasures presents. Do you want to know what a beautiful reward they collect? The star is visible to them, but invisible where is Herod; where is Christ, it is visible again and shows them the way. So this star is the way; and the way is Christ (Jn, XIV, 6); that in the mystery of the Incarnation Christ is the star: for "a star will rise from Jacob, and a man will arise from Israel" (Num., xxiv, 17). As well, where is Christ, the star is also: for He is "the shining star of the morning" (Rev. XXII, 16); it is therefore by his own clarity that he signals himself.
Listen to another lesson. By one way the Magi have come, by another they return; for after having seen Christ, understood Christ, they certainly leave better than they had come. There are in fact two ways, one leading to death, the other leading to the Kingdom; this is that of sinners, which leads to Herod; this is the Christ, and through it one returns to the fatherland: for here on earth it is only a transient exile, as it is written: "My soul has long been exiled" (Ps. , 6). Let us, then, beware of Herod, who holds for a time the power of this world, in order to conquer an eternal home in the heavenly homeland. Elected officials are not the only ones who are offered these rewards, since "Christ is all and in all" (Col., III, 11). You see it indeed, it is not in vain that, among the Chaldeans, who pass to best possess the secrets of numbers, Abraham believed in God, or that the magi, who give themselves to the artifices of magic by desire to render favor to the divinity, believed in the birth of the Lord on earth; it is not in vain, I say, but so that the enemy's people may give a testimony to holy religion and an example of the fear of God. However, who are these Magi, if not, as a story tells us, descendants of that Balaam, who prophesied: "A star will rise from Jacob" (Num., XXIV, 17)? They are therefore his heirs by faith not less than by descent. He saw the star in spirit, they saw it with their eyes and believed. They had seen a new star that had not been seen since the creation of the world; they had seen a new creature, and they sought not only on earth, but also in heaven, the blessing of the new man, according to the prophetic text of Moses: "A star will rise from Jacob and a man will emerge from Israel " and they recognized that this was the star that signals the Man-God. They loved the little child: for sure they would not have loved him if they had thought he was only a small child. The mage therefore realized that his artifices were over; and you, do you not understand that your riches have arrived? He pays homage to a stranger; Do you not recognize Him who was promised? He believes him, although he loses there; you, do not you think to believe in your interest?
The Magi therefore announce the birth of a king: Herod is troubled; he gathers scribes and princes of priests and inquires of the place where Christ is to appear. The magi simply announce a king; Herod inquires of Christ: it is He, therefore, whom he acknowledges to be the king of whom he inquires. Finally, if one looks for where he must be born, it is a sign that he was announced: one could not have looked for him if he had not been announced. O foolish Jews! you do not believe in the coming of Him whom you see, you do not believe in the coming of Him whom you say you must come!
"Inform me," said he, "that I may come to adore him. Herod is a trap, but he does not dispute the divinity of Him whom he speaks of worshiping. Finally he had children put to death: to what other than God did such a sacrifice? Although deprived of feeling, childhood nevertheless pays homage to this God for whom it is immolated. We have touched these few passages of St. Matthew to highlight that the time of childhood was not devoid of works of divinity. If the age of his flesh was incapable of acting, God, in any case, was there, who employed in the works of the divinity the age of his flesh, which even made watch in this region the herdsmen "observing the watches of at night on their flock. See the origins of the early Church: Christ is born, and pastors begin to watch; By them the flocks of the nations, living until then the life of the animals, will be gathered in the fold of the Lord not to be exposed, in the darkness that spreads the night, to the incursions of the spiritual beasts. And pastors can keep watch, being trained by the good Shepherd. Thus the flock is the people; the night is the world; the pastors are the priests unless, perhaps, that one too is a pastor, to whom it is said, "Be alert, and strengthen" (Rev. III, 2): for the Lord does not not only instituted the bishops to watch over the flock, there is still destined the angels.
"Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them. See what care God takes to establish faith. An angel instructs Mary, an angel Joseph, an angel the shepherds. It is not enough to have once sent; it is
"Out of two and three witnesses that rest all speech" (Deut., XIX, 5, Matth., XVIII, 16).
"And behold, the angel was joined by the multitude of the heavenly host, who praised God, and said, Glory to God in the heights, and peace to men of good will. "
It is good to mention the army of angels, who followed the leader of their militia (Jos., V, 14). To whom could the angels address their praise, except to their Lord, as it is written, "Praise the Lord from heaven, praise him in the heights, praise him all, his angels" ( Ps. 148, 1ff.). This is the fulfillment of the prophecy. The Lord is praised from the heavens and shows Himself on earth, whom St. Mark said: "He was with the beasts and the angels served Him" (Mark I, 13), to make us recognize on the one hand the marks of his mercy, and on the other hand the signs of his divine power. It is in your nature that he bears the beasts, in his own, that he is celebrated by the angels.
And they say, "Let's see this word fulfilled, as the Lord has revealed to us. And they came in haste. You see the shepherds hurry: for it is not with nonchalance that one seeks Christ. You see that the shepherds believed in the angel: and you, believe in the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the angels, the prophets, the Apostles. See how accurately the Scripture calculates the weight of each word: "They hasten," she said, "to see the Word"; and in fact, seeing the body of the Lord, we see the Word, that is, the Son.
Do not judge this example of faith as negligible, nor despise the person of the shepherds; it is certain that, the more despicable it is for prudence, the more it is prized for the faith. The Lord did not search for the academies filled by circles of sages, but the simple people, unable to arrange what he heard or to embellish. It is the simplicity that he demands, He does not desire pretension. And do not judge as insignificant, as being any, the words of the shepherds. It is shepherds whom Mary herself gathers the elements of her faith; it is the shepherds who agree with the people to render homage to God; because "we were amazed by what we heard from the shepherds".
"As for Mary, she kept all these words, ironing them in her heart. "
Let us recognize the chastity of the Blessed Virgin in all circumstances; No less modest in her lips than in her body, she passed over in her heart the elements of faith. If Mary went to the school of shepherds, why refuse to be at the school of priests? If Mary remains silent before the Apostle orders (I Tim., II, 11-12, I Cor., XIV, 34), why, you, after the Apostle has ordained it, are you more eager to teach than to learn? Know that this fault is due to people, not to sex; for your sex is holy. In short, Mary had not received the precept, she gave the example.
Luke II, 21. Circumcision
The child is circumcised. Who is this child, except the one of whom it has been said: "A child is born to us, a son has been given to us" (Is., IX, 6)?
He placed himself under the Law to win those who were under the Law (I Cor., IX, 20).
Luke II, 22-40. Presentation at the Temple.
What would be presented to Jerusalem, to the Lord, I would say if, in my comments on Isaiah, I had already said. Circumcised of vices, He was judged worthy of the sight of the Lord; because "the eyes of the Lord rest on the righteous" (Ps. 33, 16). As you can see, the whole of the old Law has been a figure of the future - for even circumcision is the purification of sins - but as, inclined by lust to sin, human weakness, body and soul, is embraced by the inextricable bonds of vices, the eighth day assigned for circumcision was that the cleansing of all faults was to be accomplished at the time of the Resurrection. This is the meaning of the text "every male who first opens the breast (maternal) will be called holy to the Lord" (Ex., XIII, 12): these words of the Law promised the fruit of the Virgin, truly holy, because without stain. Moreover, let him be the One whom the Law designates, the repetition by the angel of the same expressions manifest it: "The child who will be born," he says, "will be called holy, Son of God" (Lk, I , 35). For no human commerce has penetrated the mystery of the virginal breast, but a spotless seed has been deposited in its entrails immaculate by the Holy Spirit. The only one, indeed, of the children of the woman who is perfectly holy, is the Lord Jesus, to whom every attack of the earthly corruption has been spared by the novelty of his childlessness, rejected by his celestial majesty. In fact, to keep to the letter, how to call holy any male child, when it is known that many were great scoundrels? a saint, Ahab? saints, the false prophets that at the prayer of Elijah a vengeful fire of outrage made to heaven has devoured (I Kings, XVIII)? But here is the Holy One in whom the mystery of which the holy prescriptions of the Divine Law will draw the figure will be fulfilled, since only He was to give to the Church, holy and Virgin, to give birth to her half-opened womb, by a fecundity without blemish, the people of God. Only then has the maternal womb opened; and what's amazing? He who had said to the prophet, "Before forming you in the womb of your mother, I knew you, and in her bosom I sanctified you" (Jer., I, 5), so who sanctified another breast for the prophet to be born, he too opened the breast of his mother to leave it unblemished.
"And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem by the name of Simeon. And he was a righteous man and God fearing, who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. "
Not only angels and prophets, shepherds and parents, but also the old and the righteous bear witness to the birth of the Lord. All ages, both sexes, miraculous events are proof of this: a virgin begets, a sterile child, a dumb speaks, Elizabeth prophesies, the magician adores, the child in the breast trembles, a widow makes thanks, a righteous person is waiting. He was a righteous man, because he was not expecting his profit but that of the people, wishing on his behalf to be delivered from the bonds of this fragile body, but waiting to see the (Messiah) promised: for he knew the happiness of the eyes that would see (Lc, X, 23).
"Now," he said, "let your servant go. You see this righteous man, shut up, so to speak, in the prison of this heavy body, to wish his deliverance to begin to be with Christ: for "to be delivered and with Christ is much better" (Phil. 23). But whoever wants to be released must come to the temple, come to Jerusalem, wait for the Lord's Anointed, receive in his hands the Word of God and embrace him in the arms of his faith. Then he will be released and will not see death, having seen life. You see what abundance of grace has spread over all the birth of the Lord, and how prophecy is denied to unbelievers (1 Cor., XIV, 22), but not to the righteous. Behold, in his turn Simeon prophesies that Our Lord Jesus Christ came for the ruin and resurrection of many, to make between righteous and unjust the discernment of merits and, according to the value of our deeds, to bestow upon us, in a truthful and equitable judgment, either tortures or rewards.
"And your soul," he said, "will be pierced by a sword. Neither Scripture nor history teaches us that Mary left this life by suffering martyrdom in her body; it is not the soul, but the body, that a material sword can pierce. This shows us therefore the wisdom of Mary, who does not ignore the celestial mystery; for "the word of God is alive, powerful, more acute than the sword best sharpened, penetrating to divide the soul and the spirit, the joints and the marrow; it searches the thoughts of the heart and the secrets of souls "(Heb. IV, 12): for everything in souls is bare, uncovered before the Son, to whom the folds of consciousness do not escape.
Thus Simeon prophesied, a married woman had prophesied, a virgin had prophesied; a widow was needed to ensure that there was no lack of life, no sex. That is why Anne is presented to us: the merits of her widowhood and her conduct oblige her to judge her completely worthy to announce the coming of the Redeemer of all. Having detailed his merits in another place, in our Exhortation to the Widows, we do not think we should repeat them here, in a hurry as we are to approach another subject. Yet it is not without intention that were mentioned the eighty-four years attained in his widowhood; for these seven dozen and these two quarts seem to indicate a sacred number.
Luke II, 41-52. Jesus in the midst of the doctors.
"And when he was twelve years old."
It is in his twelfth year, as we say, that the teaching of the Lord takes his point of departure: for the same number of messengers was reserved for the preaching of the faith. Nor is it without purpose that he forgives his parents according to the flesh - He who, even in his incarnate life, was filled with the wisdom of God and his grace - after three days He is found in the temple; it was the sign that, three days after his triumphant Passion, he was to be resuscitated, to present himself to our faith on the throne of heaven, and among the divine honors, Him whom we thought to be dead.
"What to say? you were looking for me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father's business? "
There are two filiations in Christ: one is from his Father, the other from his Mother. The first, by his Father, is all divine, while by his Mother II is lowered to our labors and our uses. Henceforth, anything in his acts that goes beyond nature, age, custom, should not be attributed to the human faculties, but related to the divine energies.
Elsewhere his mother pushes him to a mysterious act (Jn, II, 3); here this Mother is resumed to claim again that he acts as a man. But, as here we see him twelve years old, as we are taught that he has disciples, you see that this Mother was informed about her Son to the point of claiming a mystery from her maturity, which she was puzzled by child this prodigy.
"And he came to Nazareth, and was subject to them."
Master of virtue, could he do less than fulfill the duties of filial piety? And we are astonished at his deference to his Father when He submits to His Mother? It is certainly not weakness, but piety, which makes this dependence, although, coming out of its tortuous lair, the serpent of error raises its head and, from its entrails of viper, vomits venom. When the Son says he is sent, the heretic appeals to the greater Father to declare imperfect that son who may have greater than him, to affirm that he needs foreign help, since he is sent. Is it also by the necessity of a human help that he obeyed the orders of his Mother? He deferred to the human creature, He deferred to his servant - for it is she who says it: "Behold the servant of the Lord" - He deferred to his putative father; and his deference to God surprises you? To defer to a man would be piety, to defer to God, weakness? That at least the human make you appreciate the divine and recognize what love is due to a father. "The Father honors the Son" (Jn, VIII, 54): You do not want the Son to honor the Father? The Father, speaking of Heaven, declares to be pleased with his Son: you do not want the Son, clothed in the garment of human flesh, expressing in the language of man a human feeling, declares his Father greater than Him ? For if "the Lord is great, and worthy of all praise, and his greatness is boundless" (Ps 144, 3), it is certain that a greatness that has no bounds can not receive growth. But why not hear and not admit with religion the obedience of the Son to the Father in the body he has taken, when I confess with religion the homage of the Father to the Son? Learn the precepts that will be useful to you, and recognize examples of filial piety. Learn what you owe to your parents when you read that the Son does not separate from the Father by will, activity, or time. If they are two people, by the power They are one. And yet this heavenly Father did not know the work of generation; you have cost your mother the loss of her integrity, the sacrifice of her virginity, the perils of childbirth, your mother's prolonged fatigues, your mother's prolonged anxiety, for the unfortunate woman! in these much desired fruits she risks even more, and the birth she has desired, frees her from her work, not from her fears. What about the concern of the fathers for the education of their sons, their burdens multiplied by the needs of others, sowing thrown by the plowman and who will benefit at the following age? Should not all this at least be paid in submission? How! the ungrateful finds that his father lives too long, II, 66-68 102 and the community of inheritance embarrasses him, when Christ does not dismiss co-heirs!
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