Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
Homilies on the Gospels, Book I
The Venerable Bede
AD 673–735
Bede preached these homilies on the Gospel readings of the church year, and they were gathered into two books. This is the first book: twenty-five homilies from the feast of the Annunciation and the season of Advent through Christmas, Epiphany and Lent to Palm Sunday and the Lord’s Supper. Each begins with the Gospel reading and then explains it, verse by verse.
Homily 1: On the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary
Luke 1
At that time, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary, etc. The beginning of our redemption, dearest brothers, is commended to us in today's reading of the holy Gospel, which narrates the angel sent by God from heaven to the Virgin, to proclaim the new birth of the Son of God in the flesh, through which we, casting aside harmful oldness, might be renewed and counted among the Sons of God. Therefore, that we may be worthy to attain the gifts of the promised salvation, let us diligently endeavor to hear the beginnings thereof with attentive ears. It says, "The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph." Indeed, a fitting beginning for human restoration, that an angel was sent by God to the virgin consecrated by divine birth, because the first cause of human perdition was when the serpent was sent by the devil to deceive the woman with the spirit of pride: indeed, the devil himself came in the serpent, who stripped the human race of the glory of immortality by deceiving the first parents. Therefore, as death entered through a woman, fittingly also life returns through a woman. The former, seduced by the devil through the serpent, offered the taste of death to the man; the latter, instructed by God through the angel, brought forth the author of salvation to the world.
Therefore, the angel Gabriel was sent by God. However, we rarely read that angels appearing to humans are designated by name. But whenever that happens, it is indeed so that even by the name itself they may insinuate what they come to minister. For Gabriel means the power of God. And rightly does he shine forth by such a name, because he bears testimony to God about to be born in the flesh. Concerning whom the Prophet says in the Psalm: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle" (Ps. 24). Namely, that battle in which he came to conquer the aerial powers and to deliver the world from their tyranny. To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. What is said of the house of David pertains not only to Joseph, but also to Mary. For it was commanded by the law that each should take a wife from his own tribe and family, as also the Apostle attests, who, writing to Timothy, says: "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel" (II Tim. II). For truly Christ was born of the seed of David, because His mother's incorrupt origin descended truly from the stock of David. But why did the Lord choose to be conceived and born not from a simple virgin, but from one espoused to a man? Many reasonable causes are advanced by the fathers, among which the greatest is that she might not be condemned as guilty of unchastity, if, having no husband, she had given birth to a son: and further, that she might be supported by a husband's assistance in those things which domestic care naturally required. It was fitting, therefore, for the blessed Mary to have a husband, who would be both the most certain witness of her integrity and the most faithful guardian of our Lord and Savior, born of her: and who would offer sacrifices at the temple according to the law for Him, and would take Him to Egypt with His mother and bring Him back when the time of persecution was at hand.
There are many other things, as well, which the fragility of the assumed humanity required to be minstered. Nor did it greatly harm if someone for a time believed Him to be her son, since, after His ascension, with the Apostles preaching and everyone believing publicly that He was born of a virgin, it became clear. Nor should it be overlooked that the blessed mother of God also gave testimony by her very name to her eminent merits. For it is interpreted as "star of the sea. And she herself, as an illustrious star, shone with the grace of a special privilege amid the waves of this fleeting world. And the angel having entered to her, said: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women. This greeting, as unusual as it was in human custom, was as fitting to the dignity of blessed Mary. Truly she was full of grace, to whom it was granted by divine gift, that she might be the first among women to offer to God the most glorious gift of virginity. Therefore, she rightly deserved to enjoy at once the sight and speech of an angel, who strove to imitate the angelic life. Truly she was full of grace, to whom it was granted to bear Jesus Christ Himself, through whom grace and truth came into being, and afterwards, through the human nature, consecrated all fullness of divinity. Truly also blessed among women was she who, without example of female condition, rejoiced with the honor of motherhood along with the beauty of virginity, and who, as befitted a virgin mother, bore God the Son. When she was troubled after the manner of human frailty by the vision of the angel and the unusual greeting, the same angel soon encouraged her not to be afraid with repeated speech, and as is most accustomed to dispel fear, he called her by her own name as one well-known and familiar, and diligently explained why he called her full of grace.
Do not be afraid, he said, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you will call His name Jesus: He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The sequence of words is to be noted carefully, and it is to be impressed upon the heart all the more firmly because it is manifestly evident that in it the whole sum of our redemption consists. For it most manifestly proclaims the Lord Jesus, that is, our Savior, as both true Son of God the Father and true Son of a human mother. Behold, he said, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son. Acknowledge this true man, having assumed from the virgin's flesh the substance of flesh. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. Confess Him also as the true God from true God, and the Son of the eternal Father to be always coeternal. But when it is said in future time, He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, let no one understand it in such a way that the Lord Christ did not exist before the birth from the virgin, but rather let us understand this to be said, because the power of the divine majesty which the Son of God had eternally, this same man born in time received, so that there would be one person in two natures of our mediator and Redeemer.
And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. The throne of David signifies the kingdom of the Israelite people, which David, by the command and assistance of the Lord, governed with faithful devotion in his time. Therefore, the Lord gave our Redeemer the throne of David his father, when He willed that He would be incarnate from the lineage of David, so that the people whom David ruled with temporal authority, He might elevate with spiritual grace to the eternal kingdom, about which the Apostle says: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love (Colossians 1). Hence it is that this same people, prompted by divine instruction, as He was approaching Jerusalem to suffer, joyfully sang in His praise: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel (John 12). And according to another evangelist: Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David (Mark 11). For the time had come when the world would recognize the King who redeemed them by His blood, not only the house of David, but also the entire Church, indeed the Creator and Ruler of all ages. Hence rightly the angel, after saying, And the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, immediately added, And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
For Jacob's house refers to the entire Church, which through faith and confession of Christ belongs to the heritage of the patriarchs, whether in those who derived their origin in the flesh from the line of the patriarchs, or in those who, born carnally from other nations, have been reborn in Christ through spiritual washing. In this house, He will indeed reign forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end. He reigns in it in the present life, directing the hearts of the elect through faith and His love, and continuously guiding them with protection to receive the rewards of the heavenly retribution. He reigns in the future, when He brings the same ones, after the state of temporal exile is ended, to the dwelling place of the heavenly homeland: in which, always rejoicing in the vision of Him, they delight in doing nothing else than devoting themselves to His praises.
But Mary said to the angel: How will this be, since I do not know a man? How, she said, can it be that I will conceive and bear a son, I who have decided to complete my life in the chastity of virginity? Not, however, as an unbeliever in the words of the angel does she inquire how these things could be fulfilled, but certain that it must be fulfilled what she then heard from the angel, and had previously read was said by the prophet, she asks in what manner it should be fulfilled: because evidently the prophet who predicted this future event did not say how it could be, but reserved it to be told by the angel. Then the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God. The Holy Spirit coming upon the virgin in two ways demonstrated the efficacy of His divine power: because He purified her mind so much, as human fragility permits, from all stain of vice, that she was worthy of the heavenly birth; and in her womb, by His sole operation, created the holy and venerable body of our Redeemer: that is, without any male touch, He formed sacred flesh from the flesh of the unblemished virgin. For He who first plainly called Him the Holy Spirit, also called Him the power of the Most High: according to what the Lord said, when He promised the coming of the same Spirit to His disciples: "And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you: but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24). The power of the Most High overshadowed the blessed Mother of God: because the Holy Spirit, when He filled her heart, tempered all the heat of carnal desire, purified her from temporal desires, and consecrated both her mind and body with heavenly gifts. Therefore, the child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God: because what you conceive by the sanctification of the Spirit will be holy.
The birth corresponds to the conception, so that you who conceive as a virgin against the custom of human condition, give birth to the Son of God beyond the measure of human custom. For all men are conceived in iniquity and are born in sins: but as many of us as are predestined by God to eternal life are reborn from water and the Holy Spirit. But our Redeemer alone, who deigned to be incarnate for us, was born holy at once: because He was conceived without iniquity. Indeed, in what is said, "And the power of the Most High will overshadow you," we can understand something deeper about the mystery of the Lord's incarnation. For we say we are overshadowed when, the midday sun burning, we place a tree's middle or any other type of shade between us and the sun, in order to make its heat or light more tolerable for us. Therefore, our Redeemer is not wrongly represented by the light or heat of the sun, who illuminates us with the knowledge of truth and enflames us with love; hence He himself says through the prophet: "But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise" (Malachi 4). The Blessed Virgin received the rays of this very sun when she conceived the Lord. But this same sun, that is, the divinity of our Redeemer, covered itself with the veil of human nature as with some shade, so that the womb of the Virgin could bear Him:
and thus the power of the Most High overshadowed her, while the divine power of Christ both filled her with His presence and, so that He could be contained by her, obscured itself with our fragility. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age. Not as though he encourages to faith with examples as an unbeliever, but that she who had already well believed what she heard, might recall greater miracles of the divine dispensation, so that she, a virgin about to bear the Lord, would also know that the precursor of the Lord would be born from an old and long barren parent. Nor is it to be wondered at according to history, that Elizabeth is called the cousin of Mary, since it is narrated above that she is of the house of David, and that woman is said to be descended from the daughters of Aaron. We read that Aaron himself, from the tribe of Judah, from which David sprang, took a wife, namely Elizabeth, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Naashon, who was the chief of the tribe of Judah in the desert, when they went out of Egypt. Again, when the descendants of David were reigning, we read that the high priest Jehoiada had a wife from the royal tribe, that is, Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Joram. This Jehoiada was whose son Zachariah, a likewise very holy man, was stoned between the temple and the altar, as even the Lord Himself, mentioning the blessed martyrs, testifies in the Gospel. Hence both tribes, that is, the royal and the priestly, are always proved to be connected by kinship.
However, such a union could also occur in more recent times, given that women were given in marriage from tribe to tribe, so that manifestly the blessed Mother of God, who descended from the royal tribe, would be shown to have kinship with the priestly tribe, which most aptly aligns with heavenly services. For it was fitting that the mediator of God and men, appearing in the world, would have the origin of His flesh from both tribes, since indeed He was to have both the persona of a priest and a king in assumed humanity. Certainly, about His royal power, by which He grants His elect an everlasting kingdom, the present reading of the holy Gospel testifies: because He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Moreover, concerning His pontifical dignity, in which for our redemption He deigned to offer the sacrifice of His flesh, the Prophet bears witness, who says: Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm CX). Having received so great a grace, let us see in what height of humility the blessed Mary persists.
Behold, she says, the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word. Indeed, she holds great constancy of humility, who, while she is chosen as the mother of her Creator, calls herself his handmaid. She is proclaimed blessed among women by the angelic oracle, yet the mysteries of our redemption are still unknown to other mortals. However, she does not exalt herself singularly due to the uniqueness of her distinguished merit, but rather, mindful in all things of her condition and divine condescension, she humbly joins herself to the company of the handmaids of Christ. She devotes herself and performs what is commanded, saying: Let it be done to me according to your word. Let it be done that the Holy Spirit may come upon me and make me worthy of heavenly mysteries. Let it be done that the Son of God may take on the form of human substance in my womb and proceed as a bridegroom from his chamber for the redemption of the world. Following, as best we can, the voice and mind of her, dearest brothers, let us recall in all our actions and movements that we are servants of Christ. Let us ever commit all the members of our body to his service, and direct the whole attention of our mind to fulfill his will. Thus, gratefully acknowledging the gifts we have received, let us render thanks rightly, so that we may be deemed worthy to receive greater things.
Let us pray diligently with the blessed Mother of God that it may be done to us according to his word, that very word, whereby he, expounding the reason for his incarnation, says: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John III). Nor should we doubt that he will deign to hear us more quickly as we cry out from the depths, for it was for our sake, even when we did not yet know him, that Jesus Christ our Lord deigned to descend into this deep valley of tears, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Homily 2: On the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Mary
Luke 1
At that time, Mary arose and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias, and greeted Elizabeth, etc. The reading which we have heard from the holy Gospel proclaims to us the venerable beginnings of our redemption, and commends to us always the salutary remedies of imitable humility. For since the human race, touched by the pestilence of pride, had perished, it was fitting that immediately the first times of incipient salvation should foretell the medicine of humility by which it would be healed. And because through the recklessness of the deceived woman death had entered into the world, it was suitable that, as a sign of returning life, women should anticipate one another with the services of devoted humility and piety. Therefore, the blessed Mother of God shows us the path to the loftiness of the heavenly homeland by the example of humility, no less venerable for religion than for chastity. Indeed, the glory of a virginal and undefiled body hints at what the life of the heavenly city, to which we aspire, is like, where they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in heaven, and indicates the extraordinary strength of mind by which we ought to attain it.
For, as we learned from the preceding reading of the holy Gospel, after she was deemed worthy to be elevated by an angelic vision and address, after she learned that she was to bear a divine child, she did not lift herself up with pride as if due to heavenly gifts, but rather fixed her mind on the path of humility, so as to be more and more suited to divine gifts, responding to the archangel announcing to her: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word. But as we heard from today's reading, she also took care to show the same humility to people as she had displayed to the angel, and what is of greater virtue, even to those of lower rank. For who does not know that a virgin consecrated to God holds a higher rank than a woman devoted to God? Who doubts that the mother of the eternal King is to be preferred by right to the mother of a soldier? Nevertheless, she, mindful of the Scripture commanding, "The greater you are, humble yourself in all things" (Ecclus. 3), soon after the angel who spoke to her returned to heavenly matters, she arose and went into the hill country, bearing God in her womb, seeking the dwellings and conversations of the servants of God. And fittingly after the vision of the angel, she ascended into the hill country, which, having tasted the sweetness of the heavenly citizens, transferred herself to the heights of virtues with steps of humility.
Therefore, she enters the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, whom she knew was to bear the servant and forerunner of the Lord, greets them, not as doubting the oracle she had received, but as one who would congratulate on the gift, which she had learned her fellow servant had received: not to test the word of the angel by the testimony of a woman, but that a young virgin should diligently offer her services to a woman advanced in age. But when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. As the blessed Mary opened her mouth to greet, Elizabeth was immediately filled with the Holy Spirit, and John too was filled. Both being taught by the same Spirit, Elizabeth recognized who was greeting her and venerated with proper blessing as the mother of her Lord; John understood that it was the Lord himself who was carried in the womb of the virgin. And because his tongue was not yet able, he greeted with a rejoicing heart and indicated with the signs he could, the devotion and willingness with which he would fulfill his role as forerunner even before he was born at the coming of the Lord. For the time was at hand to fulfill the angel’s word which had said: That he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb (Luke 1).
Elizabeth was therefore filled with the Holy Spirit, and exclaimed with a loud voice. Rightly with a loud voice, because she recognized the great gifts of God; rightly with a loud voice, because she felt that he who is known to be present everywhere was also physically present. For the loud voice is to be understood not so much as clamorous, but as devout. For she, who was burning with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, could not praise the Lord with a small voice of devotion: she who carried in her womb the one than whom no one born of women is greater. And she rejoiced that he had come, who conceived from the flesh of the virgin mother would be called the Son of the Most High and would be. He exclaimed and said: Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Not only blessed among women, but among the blessed women, distinguished by a special greater blessing. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. He is not blessed merely in the general manner of saints, but as the Apostle says: Whose fathers, and of whom Christ came according to the flesh, who is over all God blessed forever (Rom. IX). The Psalmist also bears witness to His birth with mystical speech, saying: Indeed the Lord will bestow kindness, and our land will yield its fruit (Ps. LXXXIV). For the Lord bestowed kindness because He purposed to free the human race from the guilt of transgression through His only begotten: He bestowed kindness when He consecrated the temple of the virginal womb for its entry by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And our land yielded its fruit, for the same virgin who had a body from the earth, gave birth to a Son who was indeed divine and coequal with God the Father in divinity, but consubstantial with her in the reality of flesh. Regarding this, and foreseeing the time of human redemption, Isaiah says: In that day the branch of the Lord will be in majesty and glory, and the fruit of the earth will be exalted (Is. IV). For the branch of the Lord was in majesty and glory when the eternal Son of God, appearing temporally in flesh, shined brightly with the greatness of heavenly virtues upon the world.
The fruit of the earth was also exalted when the flesh, which God had taken from our nature to be mortal, was raised to the heavens, made immortal by the power of the resurrection. Properly it is said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. For she is incomparably blessed, who received the glory of the divine offspring, and preserved the crown of integrity. Blessed are you among women, through whose virginal birth the curse of the first mother among the offspring of women was excluded. Blessed is the fruit of your womb, through whom we have received the fruit both of incorruption and of the heavenly inheritance which we had lost in Adam. And truly and singularly blessed is He who, unlike us who receive the grace of blessing from the Lord after we are born, was blessed Himself to save the world, He who came in the name of the Lord.
And how is it to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? O how great in the mind of the prophetess is humility, how true is the word of the Lord which he spoke: Upon whom will my Spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet and one who trembles at my words? (Isa. LXVI.) Indeed the mother of the Lord, who had come to her, was soon recognized by her as she saw her: but finding no such merit in herself that she might be worthy to be visited by such a great guest, she said, "How is it to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" because certainly the same Spirit, who granted her the gift of prophecy, equally bestowed the gift of humility. Filled with the prophetic spirit, she understood that the mother of the Savior had come to her, but being circumspect with the spirit of humility, she deemed herself less worthy of his coming.
Behold, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the infant leaped for joy in my womb. Elizabeth understood, by the same Spirit with which she was filled revealing, what that exultation of her infant signified, that namely the mother of him of whom he would be the precursor and herald had arrived. And how wondrous, how swift is the operation of the Holy Spirit! For there is no delay in learning, where the Holy Spirit is the teacher. In one and the same moment, with the greeting voice, the joy of the infant is born, because while the voice reaches the bodily ears, the spiritual power entered the heart of the hearer, and inflamed both the mother and the offspring with the love of the coming Lord. Hence soon afterward, the mother of the preceptor of the Lord took care to openly proclaim to those who were present and listening the things which she had known in secret.
And blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment for those things which were told her from the Lord. For Elizabeth also learned from the Spirit what the angel had spoken to Mary, because she believed the one who immediately evangelized, that divine power was working such that everything would be fulfilled without any doubt. And in a miraculous way, the same Spirit, when it filled her, also endowed her with knowledge of present, past, and future things. She showed that she was informed about present things, for she called Mary blessed and the mother of her Lord, because she was carrying the Redeemer of the human race in her womb. Therefore, she also declared the fruit of her womb to be uniquely blessed. She indicated that she had received knowledge of past events as well, revealing that she knew both the angel's words to Mary and Mary's consenting belief. She also conveyed that the knowledge of future things was not denied to her, revealing that the things said to her would be accomplished by the Lord. But, my brothers, who can sufficiently describe or estimate the grace of the Spirit of God that filled the mother at that time, when such great light of heavenly gift shone in the mother of the forerunner? Let us indeed hear the words she said, if by any chance we may slightly discern what she held inside.
Having heard the response of Elizabeth, where she proclaimed her blessed among women, recognizing her as the mother of her Lord, praised her strong faith, marked herself as filled with the Holy Spirit along with her son at her entrance, she could no longer remain silent about the gifts she had received, but disclosed with devout confession of the mouth what she always carried in her mind whenever she found the right time. For as befits virginal modesty, she covered the divine oracle she received with silence for a while; she venerated the hidden mystery of heaven in the secret of her heart, waiting reverently until the distributor of gifts would show what special gifts he had bestowed on her and what secrets he had revealed, whenever he wanted. But after she saw that the same graces bestowed on her were also revealed to others by the Spirit, she immediately disclosed the treasure of heaven which she had kept in her heart. Therefore:
My soul magnifies the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. With these words, she truly first confesses the gifts especially granted to her, then she enumerates the general blessings of God by which He ceaselessly cares for the human race forever. But her soul magnifies the Lord, who dedicates all the affections of her inner man to divine praises and services, who constantly, by the observance of God's commandments, demonstrates that she is mindful of His power and majesty. Her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, who desires nothing earthly, is softened by no abundance of fleeting things, is broken by no adversity, but is delighted only by the memory of Him from whom eternal salvation is hoped, her Creator. Although these words rightly apply to all the perfect, it was above all fitting for the blessed Mother of God to utter them, who, by the privilege of singular merit, burned with the love of the Spirit, rejoiced in His bodily conception. Who rightly could exult in Jesus, that is, in her special Savior with special joy above all other saints, because she knew that He, the eternal author of salvation, would be born from her flesh in time, so that in one and the same person He might truly be both her Son and her Lord. She also teaches with the following words how lowly she considered herself, and that she received every good merit through heavenly grace, saying:
Because He has regarded the humility of His handmaid: for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. She indeed demonstrates that she was humble, yet by the judgment of Christ, she declares that she was suddenly exalted by heavenly grace, and was glorified to the extent that her distinguished blessedness deservedly astonishes the voice of all nations. She added still the gifts of divine mercy, which she received miraculously, deserving of grateful praise. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. Therefore, she attributes nothing to her own merits, ascribing the entire greatness to His gift, who, being essentially mighty and great, is accustomed to making His faithful strong out of the small and weak, and great. She rightly added, And holy is His name, to remind those listening, indeed all to whom her words would reach, instructing them to fly to the faith and invocation of the same name, so that they too might be participants in eternal holiness and true salvation, according to the prophetic word: And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2). For it is the name about which she said above, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Hence she even more clearly adds:
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He calls the lineage both of the Jewish people and the Gentiles, or certainly of all the nations throughout the world, whom he foresaw would believe in Christ: because, as Peter says, God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation anyone who fears him and works righteousness is accepted by him (Acts X). These words of the blessed Mary are in harmony with the Lord's own words, by which he declared not only his mother, who deserved to bear him physically, but also all who would keep his commandments, to be blessed. For while he was teaching the people in a certain place and performing miracles, and all were astonished at his wisdom and powers, a certain woman in the crowd, raising her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you (Luke XI). But he, willingly accepting the testimony of truth that was spoken, immediately responded: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it, so that that woman, indeed everyone who was listening, might be confident they would be blessed if they chose to obey the divine commands. As if to say openly: Although she has the singular privilege of blessedness, having been deemed worthy to carry, give birth to, and nurse the incarnate Son of God as a virgin, yet in that same eternal life blessedness will also be granted in an eminent way to those who conceive his faith and love in a pure heart, who bear in their minds the memory of his precepts with diligent care, who strive to nourish this in the minds of others with diligent exhortation. Moreover, since the venerable Mother of God taught that his mercy would be present to all throughout the world who fear him, it remains to indicate what the proud and those who despise the warnings of truth deserve.
He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts. By His arm, it signifies within the authority of His own power. For He does not need assistance from another to act, for as it is written, "to accomplish when He wills" is under His control. This pertains to our acts of good operation, not within the rights of our free will, but we perform virtue in God, and as it is written elsewhere: And their arm did not save them, but Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face (Psalm 43). And He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, because the beginning of all sin is pride, by whose merit the Lord, casting out the human race from the stable habitation of the heavenly homeland, dispersed far and wide into the exile pilgrimage of this world: but also to those who do not fear to persevere in sins, He has reserved a heavier punishment of future dispersion.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He calls the same rulers whom He previously called proud. They are indeed called proud because they elevate themselves above the measure of their condition; rulers, however, not because they are truly powerful, but because they, confident in their own power, refuse to seek the help of the Creator. However, those are truly powerful who know to say with the Apostle: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians IV). Concerning whom it is written: God does not reject the powerful, even though He Himself is powerful (Job XXXVI). Therefore, He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and has exalted the humble, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Although it can also be rightly understood that sometimes those who by the merit of their pride were cast down by the Lord, through His mercy return to the grace of humility, and thus by the merit of devoted humility are raised to glory. Finally, Saul was brought down from the throne of legal teaching due to pride, but soon, because of the submission of humility, was raised to preach the faith of Christ.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. Those who now perfectly hunger for the eternal, and ceaselessly strive with tireless diligence of righteous works to attain these things, will surely be satisfied when the glory of their Redeemer, which they desire, will appear. But whoever delights in preferring earthly riches over heavenly ones, at the time of the final judgment they are sent away by the Lord empty of all happiness, and hence are punished with the perpetual misery alongside the devil. This we see fulfilled to a large extent even in this life: that the humble, evidently, are filled with the nourishment of heavenly goodness and become rich with the abundance of celestial virtues; and those who, either boasting of earthly riches or exalted by the possessions as if they have them intrinsically, internally become empty of the light of truth. To each of these verses, which the blessed Mary uttered about the contrasting states of the proud and the humble, it must be added what she prefixed, "From generation to generation," because indeed, through all time of the passing age, the just and merciful Creator has been accustomed both to resist the proud and to give grace to the humble. Hence, after the general commemoration of divine mercy and justice, she rightly turns the words of her confession to the special dispensation of the new incarnation, by which he deigned to redeem the world, saying:
He has helped Israel his servant, in remembrance of his mercy. Israel, indeed, means "man seeing God." By this name, the entire assembly of redeemed men is designated, for whom, so that they may be able to see God, God himself appeared as a visible man among men. He took up Israel as a physician would take up a sick man to heal him, as a king would take up a people to defend them from the incursion of enemies, nay, to restore them free after defeating the enemy, and to grant them to reign with him perpetually. And he aptly added "his servant," signifying the humble and obedient, because no one can attain the lot of redemption except through the virtue of humility. Hence the Lord also said: "Unless you are converted, and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt. XVIII). He also aptly added, "in remembrance of his mercy," because that which God assumed to redeem man was not the merit of human condition, but the gift of divine mercy. For what did we merit after the sin of transgression, if not the just wrath of the Creator? Hence, it follows that as many as are recovered to salvation and eternal life, we attribute this not to ourselves, but to his grace, to whom it is said: "In wrath remember mercy" (Hab. III).
Just as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever. Making remembrance of the fathers, blessed Mary rightly names Abraham specifically, because although many fathers and saints mystically bore witness to the Lord's incarnation, they (the fathers) were the first to openly predict the same incarnation and the arcana of our redemption. To them specifically was said: And in you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Gen. XII): which pertains to the Lord Savior whom no faithful doubt that he, to grant us eternal blessing, deigned to come to us from the offspring of Abraham. The seed of Abraham does not only denote those chosen who are bodily born of Abraham's progeny but also us who, gathered to Christ from the gentiles, are joined to those fathers by the bond of faith from whom we are separated by a great distance of carnal lineage. For we too are the seed and children of Abraham when we are reborn with the sacraments of our Redeemer who took flesh from the lineage of Abraham. We are children of Abraham when we diligently seek to see Him intently, whose day Abraham himself rejoiced to see, and saw and was glad. Hence the Apostle says: If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise. Rightly, it is added in conclusion, In saecula (forever), because the aforementioned promise of the heavenly inheritance will never be enclosed by any end.
For even until the end of this age, there will be those who by believing in Christ will become the seed of Abraham, and the glory of future happiness will remain perpetual to that same seed. Whence it is necessary for us, dearest brothers, to whom an eternal reward is promised by the Lord, to strive with indefatigable effort of mind for its attainment. It is necessary that we endeavor to obtain the good which we desire to have without end, without any interruption until we receive it. Let us then frequently meditate on the words of the evangelical reading; let us always retain in our minds the examples of the blessed mother of God, Mary, so that being found humble in the sight of God and also submitted to our neighbors with due honor, we may merit to be elevated perpetually together with her. Let us be diligently careful that the undue favor of those who praise us does not exalt us, seeing that she maintained unwavering constancy in humility among words of true praise. If the immoderate desire for temporal things delights us, let us remember that our judge sends the rich away empty; if temporal affliction disturbs the mind strongly, let us think that He also exalts the humble. Let us never despair of obtaining pardon for sins because his mercy is from generation to generation on those who fear him.
Let no one under the evils he has done be overcome by the heavier fault of impenitence, for God resists the proud and separates them from the lot of the blessed, dispersing them through various places of punishment according to the variety of their sins. It happens, through the Lord's bounty, that if we always recall the actions and words of blessed Mary in us, both the observance of chastity and the works of virtue may persevere. And indeed the most excellent and salutary custom has grown in the holy Church that her hymn is daily sung by all with the psalmody of vespers praise, so that from this the minds of the faithful are kindled to the affection of devotion by the more frequent remembrance of the Lord's incarnation, and the examples of that mother often recalled confirm them in the solidity of virtues. And this has been fittingly arranged to be done at vespers, so that our minds, wearied and stretched with various thoughts during the day, might collect themselves at the time of approaching rest into the unity of their own contemplation; being healthily admonished, whatever superfluous or harmful things they had contracted by daily business, they might cleanse wholly through nocturnal prayers and tears anew at that time.
But as we have prolonged our speech, now turned to the Lord, let us ask His clemency that we may both venerate the memory of blessed Mary with fitting offices and merit to come with purified minds to the celebration of the Lord's nativity solemnities, he assisting us to perform spiritual works and receive heavenly gifts, who, for us willed to be incarnate, and to give a form of living among men to his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom he lives and reigns God in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages. Amen.
Homily 3: On the Coming of the Lord
Mark 1
At that time John was in the desert baptizing and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John, preceding the advent of the Lord's preaching, as you have heard from the reading of the holy Gospel, dearest brothers, was in the desert baptizing and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Where we should attentively observe the distinction of the words where it is said that he was baptizing and preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. For he indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance for the confession and amendment of sins, and preached the baptism of repentance to come in Christ for the remission of sins: in whose Baptism alone the remission of sins is granted to us, as the Apostle testifies, who says: One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God (Eph. IV). It is rightly called the baptism of repentance because no one desires to be baptized in the fountain of life for any other reason than that he repents of being bound by the guilt of the first transgression with the death of both soul and body. But if we ask why John baptized, whose baptized could not have their sins forgiven; the reason is clear and open, because he was keeping the office of his precursor, just as he was to be born, preach, and die before the Lord; so he also ought to baptize: lest an envious contention of the Pharisees and scribes should carp at the Lord's dispensation, if he first gave baptism to men: but if they wanted to ask in what power he baptized, they would immediately hear:
The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven, or from men? (Mark II. ) Because when they did not dare to deny it was from heaven, they would be compelled to acknowledge the works of him whom John preached as done from heaven. Yet, the baptism of John, although it did not forgive sins, was not wholly fruitless for those receiving it, because it was given, if not for the remission of sins, for a sign of faith and repentance: so that surely all who were initiated in this might remember to abstain from sins, to insist on almsgiving, to believe in Christ, and to hasten to His Baptism wherein they would be cleansed for the remission of sins as soon as He appeared. But that John gave his baptism in the desert, and preached the baptism of Christ, indeed, he lived his whole life in the deserts from a boy: therefore, it is so that the highest teacher might confirm by example what he preached by words; and he who urged his listeners to depart from sins by repenting, might himself avoid the vices of sinners, not only by the purity of mind but also by the position of the body.
Typically, however, the desert in which John dwelt signifies the life of the saints separated from the allurements of the world, who, whether they live alone or mixed among crowds, always entirely scorn the desires of the present age with a watchful mind, prefer to cling to God in the hiddenness of the heart, and delight to place their hope in Him: which the Prophet, desirous of reaching the solitude of the mind most cherished by God, with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit, said: Who will give me wings like a dove? and I will fly and be at rest (Ps. LV); and having immediately attained it with God's help, rejoicing, as if mocking the common entanglements of earthly desires, he adds: Behold, I have fled far away and lodged in the wilderness (Ibid.). Finally, the Lord, having freed the people by the blood of the lamb from Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea, first instructed them in the desert for forty years, and then led them into the promised land: because indeed the faithful people cannot immediately after baptism enjoy the heavenly homeland’s joys, but first, having been exercised in the long struggles of virtues, must afterwards be rewarded with the perpetual gifts of heavenly beatitude. But the fruit with which John preached is shown by what follows, when it is said:
And all the region of Judea and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him, and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. The sense of the letter is evident, for those who were closer or more learned were the first to abundantly accept the word of salvation. But since Judea means confession, and Jerusalem means vision of peace, we can understand mystically those who have learned the confession of true faith, who have loved the vision of heavenly peace, to be designated under the appellations of Judea and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. For such people are mostly to be believed to have gone out to John in the desert for receiving baptism. Such people also now, upon hearing the word of God, depart from their former way of life and undertake the solitude of a spiritual life after the example of faithful teachers; for evidently, chastised daily by the new way of life, as if daily baptized in the Jordan by the tears of their compunction, they are purified from every contagion of creeping vices, according to him who says: I will wash my bed every night, I will water my couch with my tears (Psalm VI). Hence rightly the stream of the Jordan is interpreted as judgment: for the elect, the more diligently they examine their conscience by scrutinizing it, the more they pour out broader streams of tears from the depths of their heart, so that, finding themselves to be less perfect, they wash away the filth of their frailty with the waves of repentance.
And John was clothed with camel's hair, and a leather girdle around his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey. As for the literal meaning of his garment and food, the humility fitting for a solitary and a herald of penance is shown. But figuratively, the camel's hair, from which sackcloth is made, represents penance or continence, which he himself practiced and taught others. The leather girdle, taken from a dead animal, signifies that he mortified his earthly members and taught his hearers to do the same. It is well known that loins often signify lust: hence the Lord's command concerning this and for acquiring the glory of chastity is: "Let your loins be girded, and lamps burning in your hands" (Luke 12). He who has utterly vanquished lustful desires has surely girded his loins with a leather girdle. By the locusts, which quickly fly from the ground but soon return to it, and the wild honey which he ate with them, the brevity and sweetness of his preaching are intimated, for he was listened to gladly by the people when he preached, and quickly ended his preaching and baptizing with the coming of the Lord. If anyone wishes to interpret John's attire and diet as prefiguring the Lord Savior, believing it is appropriate that he signified by his life what he proclaimed by prophecy, this intention is to be gladly followed; understanding that camel's hair, on account of sackcloth, signifies those who cleanse their sins by penance, fasting, and weeping;
the leather girdle, on account of the death of the animal from which it is made, signifies those who have crucified their flesh with its vices and desires. And because it is written: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3), when such people adhere to Christ with diligent love, they are clothed as it were with camel's hair and girded with a leather belt around their loins. The locust, because of its brief flight, suggests the fickle mind of the Jewish people, who wavered between the Lord and idols. Wild honey signifies the sweetness of natural talent by which the uncultivated people of foreign nations were refreshed. And while the Lord selects from both peoples those whom he teaches to join into the unity of his body, which is the Church, he is indeed fed by locusts and wild honey; for from those who eagerly sought heavenly things despite their instability, and those who only knew the taste of earthly philosophy, he converted many into his members. After describing John's place, ministry, attire, and food, the form of his preaching is immediately added.
And he preached saying: There comes one mightier than I after me. Indeed, he is very strong who confesses sins, stronger who baptizes in forgiveness; strong, who is worthy to have the Holy Spirit; strong, who bestows: strong, in whom no one born of women is greater; stronger, to whom a little lower than the angels, all things are subjected under his feet: strong, who first came to preach the kingdom of heaven; stronger, who alone could give it: Whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose (Mark I). And if he confessed himself worthy of this only ministry whereby he stoops to unloose the shoe latchet, it would indeed be an indication of great devotion; but now, because of the virtue of remarkable humility, he testifies that he is not even worthy to perform this ministry. But if we intend this in mystery, the decree of the law is clear: because he who, by the right of kinship, did not wish to take his owed wife himself, but allowed another to take her, was commanded to give his shoe loosed from his foot to the one who would take her as a sign of permission. And since the people rightly believed John to be Christ by his virtues, they believed him to be the bridegroom of the Church. But John himself, to show who he is, says: He who has the bride is the bridegroom;
but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice (John III). Therefore he does not suffer himself to be believed the bridegroom, lest he lose the friendship of the bridegroom, which is to testify that he is not worthy to unloose his shoe latchets. Finally, when Moses and Joshua were set as leaders of the synagogue, they were commanded to loose their shoes, that they might understand that he who commanded these things should be believed to be the bridegroom, that is, the Lord of the synagogue, but themselves to be friends of the bridegroom, in that they were set over the same synagogue, they both should be called and should be. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. According to the evangelist Matthew, it is said that John said: "I indeed baptize you in water for repentance" (Mt. III). Therefore, John baptized with water so that all whom he could persuade to repent and believe in Christ, he might separate from the crowd of unbelievers and unrepentant with the mark of his Baptism: so that they would not think that this martyrdom would suffice for salvation, but rather hasten to the Baptism of Christ, he added: "But he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, he baptizes with the Holy Spirit who forgives sins by the gift of the Holy Spirit; and upon receiving the remission of sins, he also bestows the grace of the same Spirit. For the very giving of the charismata in the baptism of the Spirit is rightly called the baptism of the Spirit, as testified by him who, about to ascend into heaven, promises his disciples, saying: "John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence" (Acts I), signifying that the Holy Spirit would come down upon them on the tenth day of his ascension in flaming tongues. It is rightly asked whether the Lord, who baptizes all believers with the Spirit, also baptized anyone with water.
Neither should the ministry of baptizing be deemed unworthy of such majesty, which he might have exhibited through some of his disciples, by whom he propagated the gifts of baptism to the rest of his members, since he did not disdain the memorable office of washing the disciples' feet. But whether he then baptized with water personally or subsequently through his own, he alone baptizes with the Holy Spirit, who gives us the Spirit and works virtues in us. Let us always strive to keep his grace in us intact and uncorrupted, my brothers, always persisting in good works, but especially now when we must soon celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, being more diligent than usual, so that whatever negligence we find creeping into us, we may quickly strive to remove; whatever virtue we lack, we may more quickly seek to acquire, uprooting the thorns of discord, reproach, quarrels, murmuring, and other vices; and plant in ourselves charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faith, gentleness, self-control, and other fruits of the Spirit, so that on that day we may approach the Lord's altar with pure bodies and clear consciences and be deemed worthy to partake of his holy mysteries, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Homily 4: On the Second Day of the First Week of Advent
John 1
At that time John bore witness concerning the Lord and cried out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke, he who is coming after me was made before me, because he existed before me. The forerunner of our Redeemer, bearing witness about him, proclaims with a clear voice the certainty of his humanity and the eternity of his divinity. For he cries out, saying, as your fraternity heard when the Gospel was read: This was he of whom I spoke, he who is coming after me was made before me, because he existed before me. For in saying, he who is coming after me, he alludes to the order of human dispensation in which he was born after him, was to preach after him, baptize, perform signs, and suffer death. But in what he adds, He was made before me, he designates the sublimity of that same humanity, which deservedly was to be preferred to all other creatures. For when he says, Before me, it pertains not to the order of time, but to a distance in dignity, just as it is written concerning Joseph's sons when Jacob was blessing them: And he put Ephraim before Manasseh (Gen. XLVIII), where it could rightly be said: Manasseh, who came after me, was made before me. That is, who was born after me surpassed me in the power of the kingdom. Therefore John says of the Lord, He who is coming after me was made before me: that is, who was coming after me to preach, excelled me in the summit of the eternal kingdom and priesthood. And why he who was to come after him would surpass him in dignity, he revealed when he added, because he existed before me, that is, because as the eternal God before the ages, he surpasses me in the glory of majesty even in assumed humanity, although born later. But with the testimony that the forerunner of the Lord gave about him having been explained, the evangelist immediately provides the testimony of his own assertion which he began to give to him.
And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For he had said above, because the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John I). When He had confirmed it with the testimony of His forerunner, who said: This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has surpassed me, because He was before me (Ibid.); He again follows through what He had begun, saying: And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace (Ibid.). The Lord was indeed full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace and truth, because, as the Apostle says, In Him dwells the whole fullness of the deity bodily (Col.II); from whose fullness we have all received according to the measure of our capacity, because grace has been given to each of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. For it could truly be said only of the mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety, and He shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord (Is. XI). But all the saints receive from His fullness not the fullness of His Spirit, but as much as He grants. For through the Spirit, to some is given the word of wisdom;
to others, the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing by the one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, the discernment of spirits; to another, various kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as He wills (1 Cor. XII). Because, therefore, from the fullness of our Creator we have received everything good that we have, it must be carefully guarded that no one presumptuously exalts himself because of a good deed or thought; lest, remaining ungrateful to the Giver, he loses the good he has received, and is justly reproved by this apostolic reprimand: What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? (1 Cor. IV). Therefore, the Apostle himself, since he could know or do nothing worthy if he did not receive from the fullness of Christ, elsewhere clearly testifies, saying: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God (II Cor. III). And in another place: And His grace towards me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (1 Cor. XV). This very thought he diligently inculcates in his hearers to consider humbly; hence it is said:
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil. II). But when the evangelist said that we all have received from the fullness of Christ, he immediately added and said: Grace for grace. Therefore, he testifies that we have received a double grace, one namely in the present, the other in the future: in the present indeed faith which works through love, in the future however eternal life. For the faith which works through the love of God is a grace of God; because as we believe, as we love, as we work good which we know, not through any preceding merits of ours, but we receive from Him, who says: You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide (John XV). And that we may receive eternal life because of faith, love, and good works is a grace of God, because we always need Him as the guide lest we depart from the good way, who says: Lead me in your way, and I will walk in your truth (Psalm LXXXVI); as if it were clearly said: Unless you, guiding, I enter the way of truth which I have begun, I am by no means sufficient to hold. That we may not fail in good works, we ought always to lean on His help, who says: Because without me you can do nothing; whence well the Psalmist, to indicate that both the beginning of faith and good action is given to us by the Lord, says:
My God, His mercy will go before me (Psalm LIX). And to teach that the good things we do are to be completed with His help, he again says: And your mercy will follow me all the days of my life (Psalm XXIII). To show that the reward of eternal life, which is given for good works, is generously bestowed to us, he says: Who crowns you with mercy and compassion (Psalm CIII). By mercy and compassion indeed He crowns us, when for good works which He Himself mercifully granted us to perform, He gives the rewards of heavenly blessedness. And this is what is meant by receiving grace for grace, for surely for the grace of good conduct which He gave, and lest it might fail, He Himself preserving helps, He will give the grace of blessed remuneration, in which we may sing His mercies forever. Finally, the Apostle did not doubt to call the very reception of eternal life, which certainly is given for preceding merits, a grace: who when he had first said that the wages of sin is death, he did not want to say on the contrary the wages of justice is eternal life; but said: The grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. VI). Not because it is not justly given for good merits by a just judge, but because those merits by which they are given are first freely granted by a gracious Savior.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law was indeed given through Moses, in which it is divinely ordained what must be done and avoided; but what it commands is only fulfilled through the grace of Christ. It could indeed show sin, teach righteousness, and point out its transgressors as guilty; moreover, the grace of Christ, poured out by the Spirit of love in the hearts of the faithful, enables what the law commands to be fulfilled; hence what is written: You shall not covet (Deut. 5), through Moses it is law because it is commanded, but through Christ it becomes grace when what is commanded is fulfilled. But truth came through Christ, for the law had a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of things. And as the Apostle says elsewhere: All these things happened to them as a figure (1 Cor. 10); but instead of a shadow, Christ has shown the light of truth, instead of the figure of the law, the very image of the things foreshadowed, when he gave the grace of the Spirit, and opened the minds of his disciples to understand the Scriptures. The law was given through Moses when the people were commanded to be purified by the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb; grace and truth, prefigured in the law, came through Jesus Christ, when he himself suffered on the cross and washed us from our sins in his blood.
The law was given through Moses, who instructed the people with salutary precepts, declaring that if they observed them, they would enter the promised land and live there perpetually; otherwise, they would be overthrown by enemies. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, for he gave the gift of his Spirit, enabling both the spiritual understanding and observance of the law, and introducing those who keep it into the true blessedness of heavenly life, signified by the promised land. But the evangelist manifests the sum of the grace and truth which came through Jesus Christ by adding: No one has ever seen God. The only begotten, who is at the bosom of the Father, he has told us. For no greater grace can be given to men, no higher truth can be known by men, than that of which the only begotten Son of God narrates to his faithful: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt. V); and of which he prays to the Father, saying: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John XVII). Indeed, this most blessed perception of grace and truth, since it cannot occur in the life of this world, is rightly stated: "No one has ever seen God" (1 John IV), that is, no one still surrounded by corruptible and mortal flesh can behold the inexpressible light of divinity; whence the Apostle more clearly says: "Whom no one has seen or can see" (1 Tim. VI). For it is said that no man, no one yet burdened with human condition, fleeting in human conversation. Consequently, Moses, who saw God in the angel, desiring to see him in his very nature, prayed: "If I have found grace in your sight, show me your glory" (Ex. XXXIII), and he heard: "You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live" (Ibid.). Nor should it be thought contrary to this assertion that sometimes the patriarchs or prophets are reported to have seen God.
For the Lord appeared to Abraham in the valley of Mamre. And Jacob said: "I have seen the Lord face to face" (Gen. XXXII). Similarly, Isaiah: "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up" (Isa. VI). But it is rightly understood in all such visions that holy men saw God not through the very aspect of his nature, but through certain images. Hence, the saints saw God through the created subjects, for instance, fire, angel, cloud, electrum; yet John truly testifies that "No one has ever seen God" (1 John IV). It is truthfully said to Moses: "For no man shall see me and live" (Ex. XXXIII); for enclosed in the fragile vessel of flesh, they can see him through defined images of things, but by no means are they able to see him through the indeterminate light of his eternity.
By what reason the evangelist must reach the vision of the unchangeable and eternal light, he explained as follows, saying: "The Only Begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him" (John XIV). Which is similar to what the Lord himself said: "No one comes to the Father except through me" (Mt. XI). And elsewhere: "No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Certainly, by his guidance we must come to the Father, by his teaching we must know the Father and the Son, as well as the Holy Spirit, one God and Lord; because indeed he, made man for us, speaking in human form, clearly revealed to us by the bright light what should be rightly thought about the unity of the Holy Trinity, how to be appropriated towards its contemplation by the faithful, and by which acts to reach this. He, clothing us with the sacraments of his incarnation, sanctifying us with the gifts of his Spirit, so that we may be able to come to this, he assists. He, completing the final judgment in human form, will sublimely introduce us to the vision of the divine majesty, and will wonderfully explain to us the secrets of the heavenly kingdom.
Indeed, what He says: "He who is in the bosom of the Father," signifies the secret of the Father. For the bosom of the Father is not to be thought of childishly, in the likeness of our own bosom which we have in our garments; nor is God, who is not bound together in the form of human members, to be thought of as sitting in the same manner as we do; but because our bosom is within, speaking in our manner, Scripture says that "He is in the bosom of the Father" to signify He who always remains in the secret of the Father, where the human gaze cannot reach. The only begotten Son will not only reveal God then, that is, the glory of the holy and undivided Trinity, which is one God, to men when He will introduce all the elect to the vision of His brightness after the universal judgment. But He also narrates daily, when He begins to fulfill what He promised to each of the faithful freed from the corruption of the flesh: "Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him" (John XIV). “I will manifest myself,” he says, “to my lovers, so that they who know me in my mortal state can already see me in my nature equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit. But it must be believed that this happens with apostles, martyrs, confessors, and others of a more austere and perfect life;
among whom one, conscious of his struggles, did not hesitate to testify about himself: "I desire to depart and be with Christ" (Phil. I). Moreover, there are many righteous in the Church who, after the dissolution of their flesh, are immediately received into the blessed rest of paradise, waiting in great joy, in the choirs of the rejoicing, when they will return with their bodies and appear before the face of God. But indeed some, although preordained to the lot of the elect because of good works, are severely punished by purifying flames after death because of certain evils with which they were stained when they departed from the body. And either until the day of judgment, they are cleansed from the filth of their vices by this prolonged testing; or certainly, sooner, through the prayers of the faithful friends, alms, fasts, tears, and offerings of the saving sacrifice, freed from their punishments, they too reach the rest of the blessed: to all of whom, however, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, will reveal God according to their capacity when He grants them the blessing at the time of the resurrection, that, following the law given to them, they who walk from the virtue of faith and hope to the virtue of contemplation may see the God of gods in Zion, that is, in unchangeable contemplation, whose benefits and eternal gifts merit praise and thanksgiving for all ages upon ages. Amen.
Homily 5: On the Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord
Matthew 1
At that time, when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by which the eternal Son of God, who existed before all ages, appeared as the son of man in time, is described briefly yet with complete truth by the evangelist Matthew. After tracing the generations of the fathers from Abraham to Joseph, the husband of Mary, and showing all those begotten and begetting in the common order of human creation, he immediately speaks of him whose birth is distinct from the others in a revealing manner; because, indeed, others were born through the usual union of man and woman, but he was to be born through a virgin, fittingly since he is the Son of God entering the world. And indeed, it was wholly fitting that when God willed to become man for the sake of humanity, he would be born of no other than a virgin mother; just as it was fitting for the virgin to bear no other than the Son who is God.
He says, when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. In what order or in what city this conception took place, the evangelist Luke sufficiently explains; since this is well known to your holiness, it is thus needful to speak briefly of what Matthew writes and to note first in that word which he says: Before they came together, the word "coming together" does not insinuate carnal union but the time usually preceding nuptials, when she who was first betrothed begins to be united in marriage. Therefore, "before they came together" signifies before they celebrated the nuptial solemnities in customary rite, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, they later came together in the mentioned order, when Joseph, at the command of the angel, took his wife, but they did not consummate, because it follows, and he did not know her. But she was found with child by none other than Joseph, who, having marital rights of a future wife, knew almost everything, therefore, with a curious look he immediately detected her swelling womb.
But Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not willing to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Seeing that his betrothed had conceived, which he knew well had not been by any man, and being just and wishing to act justly in all things, he thought it best neither to disclose this to others nor to take her as his wife, but, with a secretly altered intention of marriage, to allow her to remain in the condition of a betrothed as she was. For he had read in Isaiah that a virgin would conceive and bring forth the Lord from the house of David, and he also knew that Mary was descended from that house, and therefore did not doubt that this prophecy was to be fulfilled in her. But if he were to quietly dismiss her and not take her as his wife and she, being betrothed, were to give birth, very few would believe that she was a virgin and not rather think that she was a harlot. Hence, Joseph’s plan suddenly changed into a better plan, namely that he would, to preserve Mary’s reputation, take her as his wife in a celebrated marriage feast, but he would keep her chaste perpetually. For the Lord preferred that some might be ignorant of the manner of His generation rather than dishonor the chastity of His mother.
While he was considering this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you will call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. These words indeed teach the manner of conception and the dignity of birth; namely, because she conceived by the Holy Spirit and is going to give birth to Christ, whom the angel does not explicitly call Christ, but in explaining the etymology of the name Jesus, he shows Him to be the author of salvation and the Savior of the people, as he calls them His people. This clearly implies that He is Christ, to teach Joseph what he did not know, and to wholly remove any intention of contact with the Mother of God. However, he is ordered to take her as his wife for just reasons of necessity, so that she would not be stoned by the Jews as an adulteress, and that she would have a male companion while fleeing to Egypt, who, with domestic care, would be both protector of her female frailty and witness to her perpetual virginity. Catholic commentators also disclose other reasons why Joseph had to accept the Mother of God as his wife, which can be found in their proper places.
Additionally, the evangelist attributes an example of prophetic speech to the virginal birth, so that the miracle of such majesty would be more confidently believed, since it was proclaimed not only by him but also predicted by the prophet. For it is Matthew's custom to affirm everything he narrates with prophetic testimonies, having written his Gospel mainly for the sake of those who believed from among the Jews, but who, though reborn in Christ, could not be detangled from the ceremonies of the law; and he therefore endeavored to uplift them from the carnal sense of the law and prophets to the spiritual sense concerning Christ, so that they would more securely receive the sacraments of the Christian faith, recognizing these as being what the prophets had foretold. Behold, a virgin will conceive, and will bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us (Isa. VII). The name of the Savior, which the prophet calls God with us, signifies both natures in one person of Himself. For He who was born of the Father before time, God, is in the fullness of time Emmanuel, that is, God with us, made in the womb of the mother, because He deigned to take the frailty of our nature into the unity of His person, when the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us: marvelously beginning to be what we are, without ceasing to be what He was, thus assuming our nature without losing what He Himself was.
Rising from sleep, Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife, but did not know her. He took her as his wife for the reasons we have previously stated, and did not know her in a conjugal act due to the mysteries he had learned. But if someone wishes to oppose this explanation and contend that the blessed mother of God was never taken as a wife by Joseph through a celebrated marriage, let him offer a better explanation of this passage of the holy Gospel, and equally show that it was lawful for Jews that anyone should cohabit carnally with his betrothed, and we will readily concede to his sound understanding: as long as we do not believe anything occurred towards the mother of the Lord that could be publicly defamatory. But what is added, "Until she gave birth to her firstborn son," should not be understood as if he knew her after she bore the son, as some perversely believe. Your fraternity should indeed know that there were heretics who believed Mary was known by Joseph after the birth of the Lord, interpreting this from the phrase "he did not know her until she gave birth to a son," and from there arose those whom the Scripture calls the brothers of the Lord, and they support their error with this, that the Lord is called the firstborn.
May God avert this blasphemy from the faith of all of us, and grant us to understand with catholic piety that the parents of our Savior were always illustrious for their intact virginity, and that not sons, but cousins, of theirs are called the brothers of the Lord by customary Scriptural usage; but the evangelist did not care to say whether he knew her after she bore a son, because he thought it should be questioned by none. And indeed it should be questioned by no one that the just spouses, to whom, while remaining in the purity of virginity, it was granted by singular grace for the Son of God to be born, could in no way transgress the laws of chastity because of it, and defile the sacred temple of God with the corruption of their seed. It is also to be noted that according to Scripture authority, all who open the womb first are called first-born, regardless of whether they are followed by other brothers or none. Yet the Lord can be understood as called the firstborn for a special reason, according to what John says of him in Revelation: who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:5). And the apostle Paul: for those he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29).
He is called the firstborn of the dead indeed, because although he followed many brothers in the flesh, he was the first of all to rise from the dead and opened the way from death to heavenly life for believers. He is the firstborn among many brothers, because to those who received him, he gave the power to become children of God, and he is rightly called the firstborn of them all, for, though they are adopted children, he even takes precedence in dignity over those who were born before his incarnation. Indeed, they can most truthfully testify with John because he who comes after us has been made before us, that is, though born in the world after us, he is rightly called the firstborn of all of us due to the merit of virtue and kingdom. And in the divine nativity itself, he can not improperly be called the firstborn, for before he begot any creature by making, the eternal Father begot the Son coeternal with himself; before engendering some by redeeming them through the word of truth, the eternal Father begot for himself the Word coeternal with him: whence the Word, the Son of God, namely virtue and wisdom, speaks: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, the firstborn before all creatures (Eccl. 24:5). Therefore Mary gave birth to her firstborn Son, that is, the son of her substance;
she bore him who was born God from God before any creature, and in the nature in which he was created, he rightfully precedes all creation. And you shall call, he says, his name Jesus. Jesus in Hebrew is called Savior or Soter in Latin; whose calling by this name is made most certain by the prophets, from which are those sung with great desire of his vision: But my soul shall exult in the Lord, and shall delight in his salvation (Psalm XXXV). My soul has fainted for your salvation. But I will glory in the Lord (Psalm CXVIII). I will rejoice in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk III). And especially that: Save me, O God, by your name (Psalm LIII), as if saying: Glorify the glory of your name which is called Savior by saving me. Therefore, Jesus is the name of the son who was born of the virgin, as the angel explained, meaning that he himself saves the people from their sins. And the one who saves from sins will indeed also save from the corruptions of mind and body, which happened because of sins. But Christ is the term of priestly or royal dignity. For even priests and kings in the law were called Christ, from the chrism, that is, the anointing of holy oil, signifying him who appearing in the world as the true king and high priest was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. From which anointing, that is chrism, Christ himself; and the partakers of the same anointing, that is, spiritual grace, are called Christians. Who by the fact that he is the Savior, saves us from sins; by the fact that he is the high priest, reconciles us to God the Father; by the fact that he is the king, he deigns to give us the eternal kingdom of his Father, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through all ages of ages. Amen.